News of the apprehension of one of the most notorious serial killers in history,
the Golden State Killer, was nearly upstaged by the innovative means police
used to discover his identity. Publicly available information on a genealogy
website allowed police to use an extended family tree to create a list of
suspects that included DeAngelo. Then, police took a piece of discarded tissue
paper from the DeAngelo's trash and
matched it with the DNA from the crime
scene. No warrant or court order was ever
sought or required. In the decade that he
is believed to have terrorized
California with a string of r@pes and
murdærs, the suspect acquired a roster of
nicknames that testified to how large he
loomed in the public's nightmares. The Visalia Ransacker. The East Area
r@p|st. The Golden State killer. The
original Night Stalker. Typically armed
with a knife and wearing a ski mask,
the suspect would tie women up and
threatened to kill them if they
protested. If a couple was home he would
bind husbands and then stacked dishes on
them saying that if he heard plates
rattle or fall, he would kill them both.
Then he would r@pe the wives. Joseph
DeAngelo committed at least 12 murdærs
more than 50 r@pes and over 100
burglaries in California from 1974 to
1986. Authorities charged 72 year old
Navy veteran and former police officer
with eight counts of first degree murder,
based upon DNA evidence on April 24th
2018. Due to California statute of
limitations on pre 2017 r@pe cases
D'engelo cannot be charged with
late-1970s r@pes. The case was a factor
in the establishment of California's DNA
database which collects DNA from all
accused and convicted felons in
California. Solving cold cases will prove
difficult because concerns were raised
about the ethics of the
secondary use of personal identifiable
information
 
