As the most dangerous criminal of California managed to hide 40 years

US police said the nickname perpetrator Golden State killermade at least 12 murders, 45 rapes, and broke into hundreds of homes throughout California.

Janel Cruz and suspected rapist and murderer Joseph James Deangelo. Photo: MICHELLE CRUZ WHITE (sister of the deceased, family archive) / SACRAMENTO SHERIFF

This week, the police arrested a man who, in their opinion, did all this. How did he manage to avoid being arrested for 40 years?

Warning: The material published below contains details of some of the crimes committed.

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

Later he recalled that at least twice they noticed strange sounds coming from the street and from the garage. But Cruz, whom her family described as a kind-hearted and beautiful girl who was just entering adult life, did not attach much importance to these sounds.

Around midnight, her friend left.

The next morning, an estate agent, who came to show the house to potential buyers, found Janel in her bedroom.

She was raped and crammed to death, her teeth were crushed, and her face was so bloody that it was hard to recognize her. Near the house traces of tennis shoes were found, and a heavy wrench was missing from the back garden.

Initially, people who were the last to see Cruz alive, as well as her former boyfriends, came under suspicion, but the investigation was stalled.

At the same time, the police collected biological samples from the crime scene and the victim's body, but at this time the practice of DNA analysis as evidence in criminal cases was in its infancy. The biomaterials were stored for many years.

Michelle Cruz White with sister Janelle shortly before her murder. Photo: MICHELLE CRUZ WHITE (sister of the deceased, family archive)

The Cruz family tried to live on, but the thought that the assassin Dzhanel remains free, did not give them peace of mind.

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

In 1986, the family did not know about it yet, but their Janel was the last known victim of the so-called Golden State Killers. He wielded for almost 10 years and during that time became known as one of the worst sadists in American history.

Since the early 1970s, an unknown assailant has carried out attacks in various 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, the police realized that they were dealing with the same criminal. But even after that, it took them another two decades to find it.

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

«Rapist of the Eastern Regions"

18 July 1976, the malefactor in a mask entered the bedroom of an 23-year-old girl, who, waking up, saw a man hanging over her, completely naked from the waist down. He tied her hands, put a nightgown in her mouth, and raped her. After he left, she managed to dial 911, although her hands were still tied.

She became the very first victim. Over the next 12 months, the man dubbed the "East Area Rapist" attacked his victims again and again.

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

The attacks have turned the quiet life in Sacramento. The townspeople began to arm themselves with pistols and baseball bats, buy guard dogs and for the first time in their lives lock the doors.

The “Eastern Area Rapist” committed increasingly sadistic crimes.

From his victims, he took trophies, such as jewelry. Before raping an 13-year-old girl, he put the plates on her mother’s back, who was in the next room, and threatened her that he would cut off her daughter’s fingers if he heard the sound of falling plates.

Another woman received a phone call at home, which was recorded. The “Eastern Area Rapist”—investigators believe it was him—whispered and repeated the same phrase: “I will kill you. I'll kill you".

Katie and Brian Maggiore were killed in 1978. Photo: FBI

The offender raped more than two dozen women before committing his first assassination known to investigators in 1978.

Kathy and Brian Maggiore walked out with 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 quarreled. But 20-year-old Katie and 21-year-old Brian were killed from a firearm. Several witnesses saw a man running away in a ski mask.

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 osteopathic surgeon Robert Offerman and his girlfriend Alexandria Manning. Both were tied up and killed at Offerman's home.

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.

In place of one of the robberies. Photo: FBI

He killed the spouses Lyman and Charlene Smith, the newly married Ceta and Patty Harrington, as well as Shari Domino and her boyfriend Greg Sanchez. Smiths were clogged with logs for the fireplace.

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

How did you find the killer?

What confused the police was that the rapes and murders sometimes took place hundreds of miles apart. The police suspected the most obvious people - spurned lovers, family members or other acquaintances of the victims.

"We had great detectives who worked hard on this case," said Lt. Paul Belli, 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 the murder, Cruz found out that the DNA from her body coincides with the DNA from the bodies of the Harringtons and Vitun. Over time, it turned out that the DNA coincides with the DNA from the sites of the killing of Domino and Sanchez, as well as the Smiths and from several rape sites in Contra-Costa at the end of the 1970s.

The cops for decades had DNA the killers of the Golden Statebut they did not find a match in the database. This means that this man has never been brought to justice.

As a result, a task force was formed from all affected jurisdictions, as well as representatives of the FBI. A reward was offered for information about the killer or the case. Police and journalists received thousands of reports, but the suspect was never found. That all changed two weeks ago.

On April 25, Sacramento District Attorney Anna Maria Schubert stated that 72-year-old Joseph James Deangelo was arrested and charged with killing Smith, Harrington and other victims.

The night before, rumors of arrest appeared in the community of survivors of the murderer and relatives of the victims. The lead detective in the Cruz case called her sister Michelle and their mother to talk about the news.

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

The charges against Deangelo were announced at a press conference in Sacramento. Photo: FBI

A breakthrough in the investigation happened after Paul Holes, a retired investigator from the office of the prosecutor of the Contra-Bonfire district, who had been involved in this case for a long time, decided to search the free website for genealogy GEDmatchwhere users leave information about themselves.

According to the newspaper Sacramento BeeThe site was created so that people can find long-lost relatives. Have GEDmatch There is a database with 800 thousands of DNA profiles. Sacramento County Deputy Attorney General Steve Grippi confirmed that one member of the Deangelo family used this service.

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

Who is Joseph James Deangelo

DeAngelo is a former police officer who worked in Auburn. He was fired after he was caught shoplifting in 1979. DeAngelo tried to steal a sledgehammer and dog repellent. He is married with a daughter and worked as a truck mechanic for a local grocery store chain for 27 years.

After his arrest, the police began to search his house for trophies carried by the killer, as well as masks and weapons.

On Friday, Deangelo first appeared in a Sacramento court. He was in a wheelchair, he was wearing an orange prison uniform, and he spoke in a whisper. He asked for a public defender. The next trial in his case is scheduled for 14 May. It is unclear whether the state will ask for the death penalty.

Meanwhile, the sheriff of Sacramento County called on all victims of sexual violence who did not go to 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 cried for the first time since she learned that the perpetrator and the killer of her sister could be brought to justice.

According to her, she was finally able to realize how the incident affected her life, and the arrest proved that her decision two years ago to publicly speak and tell about the murder was correct.

“[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 his secret. He will no longer be able to hide and die in peace. We did it. He's where he needs to be."

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