The 74-year-old California man accused of being the Golden State Killer will plead guilty to avoid the death penalty.
Joseph James DeAngelo Jr., a former police officer who prosecutors say terrorized numerous California communities in the 1970s and 1980s and avoided capture until DNA evidence led to his arrest in 2018, will admit to a litany of charges including murder, serial rape, kidnapping, robbery and burglary at a hearing two weeks from now, according to an exclusive report by The Sacramento Bee, which cited four sources close to the case.
The office of Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert, whose office is leading the prosecution, said final details of the plea deal are being finalized, according to the Bee.
The deal would vacate what was sure to be a lengthy and costly trial, and bring a sense of closure to the families of the victims, said DeAngelo’s attorney Joseph Cress.
“We feel this is a just resolution of this case and that the resolution provides some finality and closure for the victims,” Cress told the Bee just after noon Monday. “This also avoids the stress and financial costs of a lengthy trial.”
A voluminous case
The voluminous case of the Golden State Killer involves innumerable crimes committed over 12 years in Sacramento, Contra Costa, Orange, Santa Barbara, Tulare and Ventura counties.
The elusive prowler relocated place to place, committing his crimes with renewed intensity. The suspect started burglarizing homes, then elevated to rape and eventually murder.
The perpetrator worked by night and would enter a home through an unlocked door or window. He would hold a gun to his victim as he tied them up.
Some of those lucky to have survived the attacks were later stalked and threatened by messages the man left on their answering machines. The suspect was also known to have taunted authorities at least once in the same way.
Local media in several cities dubbed the mysterious suspect the Visalia Ransacker, the East Area Rapist, the original Night Stalker and the Diamond Knot Killer. But no one knew it was the same man.
Late in the crime spree, the killer went off the radar for five years before committing one final murder on May 4, 1986. Thirty-two years later, DeAngelo was arrested on April 24, 2018.
How they caught him
All the attacks around the state were linked to the same suspect about 2001 through DNA evidence, but investigators could find no match for the unknown perpetrator in national law enforcement databases.
In early 2018, investigators came up with idea of uploading the killer’s DNA profile to the personal genomics website GEDmatch, which identified several distant relatives of the Golden State Killer.
Investigators then worked with a genealogist to construct a family tree and narrow to one suspect.
Charges he faces
On June 29, DeAngelo is expected to plead guilty to 88 charges, the Bee reported.
Twenty-six of those charges were brought in Sacramento Superior Court, including 13 counts of murder — two killings in Sacramento, one in Tulare County, four in Orange County, four in Santa Barbara County and two in Ventura County, according to the Bee.
He could potentially admit guilt in another 62 crimes.
DeAngelo’s temperamental nature could still derail the plea deal before the hearing, in which case a preliminary hearing has been set for August.
Under that scenario, 150 witnesses, many of whom have aged well into their 80s, would have testified over eight to 10 weeks, the Bee reported.
From the start, DeAngelo’s lawyers sought to resolve the case through a plea deal. Timing may have also been a factor in saving DeAngelo from execution because California’s death penalty is under a moratorium imposed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, making “it easier for prosecutors to agree not to press the issue,” the Bee reported.
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