THEY THINK THEY CAUGHT THE EAST AREA RAPIST WHICH MEANS THEY CAUGHT THE GOLDEN STATE KILLER!!! https://t.co/a39JW7qsn7
— Karen Kilgariff (@KarenKilgariff) April 25, 2018
That is the tweet that threw me, and many other true crime junkies into a tailspin of excitement. For those uninitiated into the world of true crime, the Golden State Killer, also known as the East Area Rapist, is allegedly responsible for 12 homicides, 45 rapes, and 120 home invasions in California in the 1970s and ‘80s.
The Daily Beast is reporting that a suspect, Joseph James DeAngelo, 72-years-old, was arrested on two counts of murder early Wednesday morning, according to the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department.
DeAngelo’s arrest was also huge news because he was the suspect named in the book I’ll Be Gone in the Dark. The book was written by the late Michelle McNamara, who worked with investigators on the Golden State Killer case. When McNamara died the book was finished by Billy Jensen, researcher Paul Haynes, and McNamara’s husband, the comedian Patton Oswalt.
Help me airport coffee to make it to the #GoldenStateKiller press conference at noon PST. #IllBeGoneInTheDark #MichelleMcNamara #stepintothelight pic.twitter.com/ROWXoIqNyC
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) April 25, 2018
When you read the suspect was once arrested for shoplifting “dog repellant and a hammer” in Sacramento. #goldenstatekiller #michellemcnamara #IllBeGoneInTheDark pic.twitter.com/KjWDbwIboH
— Billy Jensen (@Billyjensen) April 25, 2018
Oswalt called the news “surreal” and in a touching Instagram video said: “Think you got him, Michelle.” Eventually, NBC News did confirm that DeAngelo is the suspect in the Golden State Killer case, citing law-enforcement sources.
DeAngelo was a former police officer who was fired after he was accused of shoplifting a can of dog repellent and a hammer at a drug store in Sacramento in 1979. He was then terminated after he “failed to answer any of the city’s investigations and did not request an administrative hearing.”
According to the FBI, The Golden State Killer would lurk around neighborhoods, thoroughly casing homes before his attacks, then he “gained entry into the homes of his victims by prying open a window or door while they slept.”
“Precision and self-preservation were his identifying features,” wrote McNamara in her book. “When he zeroed in on a victim, he often entered the home beforehand when no one was there, studying family pictures, learning the layout. He disabled porch lights and unlocked sliding glass doors. He emptied bullets from guns.”
As an act of further psychological torment, he would take small, personal items from his victims’ homes, including mementos and wedding rings. He was even thought to have sometimes called to torment them afterward.
In 2001, he allegedly called a woman he’d attacked twenty-four years earlier, according to McNamara’s book.
He whispered: “Remember when we played?”
If you want to listen to the best podcast covering The East Area Rapist/Golden State Killer, I’d recommend Casefile’s 5 part series on the case. Just beware it can be very triggering. And of course, Michelle McNamara’s amazing book.
A press conference about the arrest is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET/12 p.m PT today.
(via The Daily Beast, image: courtesy of FBI)
Want more stories like this? Become a subscriber and support the site!
—The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—
