A needle in a haystack: how the Internet helped find a California maniac who has been hiding for 40 years - ForumDaily
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A needle in a haystack: how the Internet helped find a California maniac who has been hiding for 40 years

The criminal, dubbed the “Golden State Killer,” committed at least 12 murders, 45 rapes and broke into homes across California hundreds of times, he writes. Air force.

Photo: Shutterstock

In 2018, the police arrested the man who, in their opinion, did all this. How did the person who committed all these crimes manage to avoid arrest for 40 years?

Warning: the material below provides details of some of the crimes committed

On the evening of May 3, 1986, Janela Cruz was left at home alone - her parents were on vacation. Taking advantage of this, an 18-year-old girl who worked in a restaurant invited a friend to visit.

He later recalled that at least twice the couple noticed strange sounds from the street and from the garage. But Janela Cruz, who was described by her family as a good and kind girl, did not give much meaning to these sounds.

Around midnight, her friend left.

The next morning, a real estate agent who had come to show the house to potential buyers found Janela's body in her bedroom. She was raped and beaten to death. It was difficult to recognize the girl, everything was covered in blood, and her teeth were crushed.

Traces of tennis shoes were found near the house, and a heavy wrench disappeared from the back garden.

At first, people who last saw Cruz alive, as well as her former boyfriends, fell under suspicion. However, the investigation has reached a dead end.

The police collected biological samples from the crime scene and the victim's body, but at this time the practice of DNA testing as evidence in criminal cases was still in its infancy. Biomaterials have been stored for many years.

Janela Cruz's family tried to live on, but the thought that the girl's killer remained free did not give them rest.

“I couldn't stay home alone for 32 years,” said Michelle Cruz White, Janela's younger sister. “I lived in constant fear, and so did my mother.”

In 1986, the Cruz family could not yet guess that their native Janela was the last known victim of the so-called “Golden State Killer.” He committed crimes for ten years and during this time became known as one of the most terrible sadists in American history.

Since the early 1970s, an unknown criminal has carried out attacks in different parts of California - from Sacramento to Los Angeles. He was given different nicknames: “rapist of the eastern regions”, “real night hunter” and others.

Only with the advent of DNA testing did the police realize that they were dealing with one criminal. But even after that, it took them another two decades to find him.

“This is part of our history, generations of investigators have worked on this,” Sacramento County Sheriff's Office Sergeant Shawn Hampton said after the suspect's arrest was reported.

"Eastern Area Rapist"

On July 18, 1976, a masked criminal entered the bedroom of a 23-year-old girl. She woke up and saw a man above her, completely naked from the waist down. He tied her hands, stuffed a shirt in her mouth and raped her. After he left, the victim managed to dial 911, although her hands remained tied.

This girl became the first victim. Over the next 12 months, the man who became known as the "East Area Rapist" carried out attacks again and again.

Sometimes attacks occurred at intervals of only a few days. Usually the sadist chose one-story houses, entered them through the windows and tied the hands of the victims. He blinded women with bright light and threatened them with death.

The attacks have made the quiet life in Sacramento history. Residents of the city began to arm themselves with pistols and baseball bats, buy fighting dogs, and for the first time in their lives began to lock the doors.

The criminal took “trophies” from his victims, such as jewelry.

Before raping a 13-year-old girl, he put the plates on the back of her mother, who was in the next room, and threatened to cut off the girl's fingers if he heard the sound of falling plates.

Another woman received a phone call at home, which was recorded. The “rapist of the eastern regions”—investigators believe it was him—whispered one phrase: “I will kill you. I'll kill you".

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The perpetrator raped over two dozen women before committing his first known murder in 1978.

Katie, 20, and Brian Maggiori, 21, were walking their dog on the night of February 2, 1978, when they had a conflict with a stranger. No one knows what they were talking about and why they had a falling out. The couple were killed with firearms. Several witnesses saw a man wearing a ski mask flee the crime scene.

A few months earlier, Katie had complained that someone was harassing her at work. Her colleagues said that someone kept calling her and saying, “It’s your turn.” A stranger in a blue Volkswagen had been following her for hours. After she tried to approach him, he left, but then returned a few hours later. After this, Katie quit her job.

"Night Hunter"

After the murders of Kathy and Brian, the "East Rapist" began carrying out attacks in Contra Costa County, where he raped more than 20 people and then committed murder.

This time his victims were surgeon Robert Offerman and his girlfriend Alexandria Manning. Both were killed in Offerman's house.

After this incident, he no longer left his victims alive.

In the early 1980s, a criminal known as the "real night stalker" began killing in Santa Barbara, Ventura and Orange counties.

He developed a new habit: he raped women in front of their partners, and then killed both.

He killed spouses Lyman and Charlene Smith, newlyweds Keith and Patty Harrington, as well as Sheri Domino and her boyfriend Greg Sanchez.

He also raped and killed in 1981 a woman named Manuela Vitun while her husband was in the hospital. In the end, in 1986, he raped and killed Janela Cruz, after which he disappeared without a trace for 32 years.

How did you find the killer?

The police were confused by the fact that rape and murder took place hundreds of miles apart. The police suspected men who were not reciprocated, family members or other acquaintances of the victims.

"We had great investigators who worked the case tenaciously," said Lt. Paul Belle, who has worked the case since 2008. According to him, no one then could have imagined that the criminal from Southern California would turn out to be the killer everyone was looking for.

Ten years after Cruz's murder, it was revealed that the DNA from her body matched the DNA from the bodies of the Harringtons and Manuela Vitun. Subsequently, it turned out that the DNA coincided with DNA from the murder scenes of Domino and Sanchez, as well as the Smiths and from several rape sites in the Contra Costa in the late 1970s.

Police had DNA from the Golden State Killer for decades, but found no match in the database. This means that this person was never prosecuted.

A task force was formed with the participation of representatives of the FBI. They offered a reward for information on the killer or in this case. Police and journalists received thousands of reports, but the suspect was never found.

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Everything changed in April 2018.

On April 25, Sacramento District Attorney Anna Maria Schubert announced that 72-year-old Joseph James DeAngelo had been arrested and charged with the murders of the Smiths, the Harrington newlyweds and other victims.

The night before, information about the arrest appeared in the community of surviving victims of the killer and relatives of the victims. Janela Cruz's chief homicide detective called her sister Michelle and their mother for the latest news.

“I cried and cried,” Michelle Cruz White said. Her mother was also shocked, she says.

The breakthrough in the investigation came after Paul Holes, an investigator from the Contra-Kostra County Attorney's Office who had already retired but had been on the case for a long time, decided to search the free genealogy site GEDmatch. Users of this resource leave information about themselves.

According to the newspaper Sacramento Bee, the site was created so that people can find relatives who have long been lost.

GEDmatch has a database of 800 DNA profiles. Sacramento County Deputy Attorney General Steve Grippy confirmed that a member of the DeAngelo family used the service.

“We were looking for a needle in a haystack and we found it,” said prosecutor Anna Schubert. She has been involved in the investigation of a series of murders since 2000.

DeAngelo (center) at the time of sentencing. Photo: video frame Youtube / Global News

Who is Joseph James DeAngelo

DeAngelo is a former police officer who worked in Auburn. He was released after he was caught shoplifting in 1979. DeAngelo tried to steal a sledgehammer and dog repellent.

He is married and has a daughter. For 27 years, he worked as a truck mechanic for a local grocery store chain.

After his arrest, police began searching his home to find “trophies” from crime scenes, masks and weapons.

When DeAngelo first appeared at the Sacramento court, he was in a wheelchair, wearing an orange prison uniform, and speaking in a whisper.

The Sacramento County Sheriff has called on all survivors of sexual assault who did not call the police in those years to do so now.

“This investigation will continue for a very long time,” says Sergeant Sean Hampton.

Michelle Cruz White could not contain her emotions in a telephone interview with the BBC. She says she burst into tears for the first time since she learned that her sister's rapist and murderer could face trial.

According to her, she was finally able to understand how what happened influenced her life, and the arrest proved that her decision to speak publicly two years ago and tell about the murder was the right one.

“[My family] thought that if I became known to the whole world, it would put all of us in danger, the whole family would be in danger,” she says. “It’s such a relief to me that it’s all over and my sister can rest in peace.”

DeAngelo can still try to prove his innocence.

Michelle Cruz White says she was able to calm down and relax for the first time in 32 years.

“The whole world will know about its secrets. He will no longer be able to hide and die in peace. We did it. He is where he should be,” she rejoices.

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Court and sentence

As reported in Wikipedia at the end of 2020, after his arrest, DeAngelo referred to his inner personality, "Jerry", which forced him to commit crimes until his sudden disappearance in 1986.

According to Sacramento County Attorney Thin Ho, after his arrest in April 2018, the suspect, while in the detention center, said to himself: “I did not have the strength to expel him. He created me. He followed me. He seemed to be in my head, that is, he was a part of me. I didn't want to do all this stuff. I've ruined people's lives. Now I have paid the bills. "

DeAngelo cannot be charged with rape or burglary at this time, as the statutes of limitation have expired in these cases, but he was charged with 13 murders and 13 cases of kidnapping. The suspect first appeared in court on 23 August 2018.

In November 2018, prosecutors in six counties estimated that about $ 20 million was spent on the investigation of the case. During the trial on April 10, 2019, prosecutors announced that they would seek the death penalty, and the judge ruled that during the trial, the cell with the suspect could be right in the courtroom.

On March 4, 2020, DeAngelo offered to admit his guilt if he was not sentenced to death, although such transactions were impossible at that time. On June 29, DeAngelo pleaded guilty to 13 counts of murder in the first degree and in special circumstances (including murder committed during theft and robbery), in order to avoid the death penalty, as well as 13 counts of kidnapping.

On August 21, 2020, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

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