Joseph James DeAngelo

It was long suspected that the training ground of the criminal who became the East Area Rapist was Visalia, California[51][52][53][54][55] (although earlier Visalia crimes dating back as early as May 1973 and other sprees like that of the "Cordova Cat Burglar",[56] as well as burglaries that took place after the McGowen shooting, are now suspected to be linked as well).[57][58] Over a period of 20 months, DeAngelo is believed to have been responsible for one murder and around 120 burglaries.[59]

In late April 2018, the Visalia chief of police stated that while there was no DNA linking DeAngelo to the Central Valley cases, his department had other evidence that played a role in the investigation; and he was "confident that the Visalia Ransacker has been captured".[60] Though the statutes of limitations for the burglaries have each expired,[7][61] DeAngelo was formally charged on August 13, 2018, with the first degree murder of Claude Snelling in 1975.[61][62] In 2020, DeAngelo pleaded guilty to the murder of Claude Snelling.[63]

A composite sketch of the Visalia Ransacker

The first recorded ransacking was on March 19, 1974, when a sum of $50 in coins was stolen from a piggy-bank.[64] Most of the Ransacker's activities involved breaking into houses, rifling through or vandalizing the owner's possessions, scattering women's underclothes, and stealing a range of low-value items while often ignoring banknotes and higher-valued items in plain sight.[65] The Ransacker would also often arrange or display items in the house. Items emptied included piggy banks and coin jars; and stolen items often included Blue Chip Stamps, foreign or historic coins, and personal items (such as single earrings, cuff-links, rings, or medallions) but also included six weapons and various types of ammunition.[64][66][67] Multiple same-day ransackings were common as well,[68][69] including twelve separate incidents on November 30, 1974.[64]

Common MOs of the burglaries included:[70][64][71]

• scaling fences and moving through established routes such as parks, walkways, ditches, and trails
• attempting to pry open multiple points of entry, particularly windows
• leaving multiple points of escape open, especially windows, as well as the house, garage, and garden doors
• moving removed window screens onto beds or into bedrooms
• placing "warning items" such as dishes or bottles against doors and on door handles
• wearing gloves (given the absence of fingerprint evidence)

On September 11, 1975, DeAngelo broke into the home of Claude Snelling, 45, at 532 Whitney Lane (now South Whitney Street).[72] Snelling, a journalism professor at the College of the Sequoias, had previously chased a prowler discovered under his daughter's window around 10:00 p.m. on February 5, 1975.[64] On September 11, he was awakened around 2:00 a.m. by strange noises.[73] Upon leaving his bedroom, Snelling shouted and ran through the open back door and confronted a ski-masked intruder in his carport attempting to kidnap his daughter, who had been subdued with threats of being stabbed or shot.[74][75] Snelling was then shot twice, staggered back into the house to his wife, and later died.[65][76] After the shooting, the assailant fled the scene,[77] leaving behind a stolen bicycle at 615 Redwood Street.[65] After the murder, Beth Snelling, 16, a cheerleader at Mt. Whitney High School, underwent hypnosis in order to gather further details.[76] The Visalia Police Department also committed more resources to apprehending the Ransacker,[73] and a $4000 reward (equivalent to $19,366 in 2021) was posted. Nighttime stakeouts were set up near houses that he had previously prowled, but the ransackings continued.

Around 8:30 p.m. on December 12, 1975,[78] a masked man entered the back yard of a house at 1505 W. Kaweah Avenue, near where the Ransacker had been reported to frequent.[79][80] When Detective William McGowen (on stakeout inside the garage) attempted to detain the man, the suspect shrieked, removed his mask, and feigned surrender after McGowen fired a warning shot.[80][81] However, after jumping the fence to house 1501, he also pulled out a revolver with his left hand and fired once near McGowen's face, shattering his flashlight.[82] Nearby officers rushed to aid McGowen, and the shooter was able to escape.[81] Items collected as evidence included the flashlight, tennis shoe tracks, and dropped loot, namely Blue Chip Stamps and a blue sock full of coins.[80]

Three sketches on which the FBI focused when it reopened the case in June 2016

DeAngelo moved to the Sacramento area in 1976, where his crimes escalated from burglary to rape. The crimes initially centered on the then-unincorporated areas of Carmichael, Citrus Heights, and Rancho Cordova, east of Sacramento.[6] His initial modus operandi was to stalk middle-class neighborhoods at night in search of women who were alone in one-story homes, usually near a school, creek, trail, or other open space that would provide a quick escape.[83] He was seen a number of times but always successfully fled; on one occasion, he shot and seriously wounded a young pursuer.[2]^:187–188

Additional sketches of the suspect[84]

Most victims had seen (or heard) a prowler on their property before the attacks, and many had experienced break-ins. Police believed that the offender would conduct extensive reconnaissance in a targeted neighborhood — looking into windows and prowling in yards — before selecting a home to attack. It was believed that he sometimes entered the homes of future victims to unlock windows, unload guns, and plant ligatures for later use. He frequently telephoned future victims, sometimes for months in advance, to learn their daily routines.[5][85]

Although he originally targeted women alone in their homes or with children,[9][86] DeAngelo eventually preferred attacking couples.[9][87][88] His usual method was to break in through a window or sliding glass door and awaken the sleeping occupants with a flashlight, threatening them with a handgun.[9] Victims were subsequently bound with ligatures (often shoelaces) that he found or brought with him, then blindfolded and gagged with towels that he had ripped into strips. The female victim was usually forced to tie up her male companion before she was bound.[89] The bindings were often so tight that the victims' hands were numb for hours after being untied.[2]^:434 He separated the couple, often stacking dishes on the male's back and threatening to kill everyone in the house if he heard them rattle. He moved the woman to the living room and often raped her repeatedly, sometimes for several hours.[9][89][90]

A victim described the East Area Rapist's face as young and round, with wide eyes and a broad mouth.[3]

DeAngelo sometimes spent hours in the home ransacking closets and drawers,[91] eating food in the kitchen, drinking beer, raping the woman again, or making additional threats. Victims sometimes thought he had left the house before he "jump[ed] from the darkness".[89] He typically stole items — often personal objects and items of little value, but occasionally cash and firearms. He then crept away, leaving victims uncertain if he had left. He was believed to escape on foot through a series of yards and then use a bicycle to go home or to a car, making extensive use of parks, schoolyards, creek beds, and other open spaces that kept him off the street.[2]

The rapist operated in Sacramento County from the first attacks in June 1976 until May 1977. After a three-month gap, he struck in nearby San Joaquin County in September before returning to Sacramento for all but one of the next ten attacks. The rapist attacked five times during the summer of 1978 in Stanislaus and Yolo counties before disappearing again for three months. Attacks then moved primarily to Contra Costa County in October and lasted until July 1979.

Sketches of two suspects in the Maggiore murders

A young Sacramento couple — Brian Maggiore, a military policeman at Mather Air Force Base, and his wife Katie Maggiore — were walking their dog in the Rancho Cordova area on the night of February 2, 1978, near where five East Area Rapist attacks had occurred.[130] The Maggiores fled after a confrontation in the street but were chased down and shot to death.[131] Some investigators suspected that they had been murdered by the East Area Rapist because of their proximity to the other attacks' locations, and a shoelace was found nearby.[2] The FBI announced on June 15, 2016, that it was confident that the East Area Rapist had murdered the Maggiores.[132] On June 29, 2020, DeAngelo entered a plea of guilty to these murders.[133]

Shortly after the rape committed on July 5, 1979, DeAngelo moved to southern California and began killing his victims, first striking in Santa Barbara County in October. The attacks lasted until 1981 (with a lone 1986 attack). Only the couple in the first attack survived, alerting neighbors and forcing the intruder to flee; the other victims were murdered by gunshot or bludgeoning. Since DeAngelo was not linked to these crimes for decades, he was known as the Night Stalker in the area before being renamed the Original Night Stalker after serial killer Richard Ramirez received the former nickname.[134]

On October 1, an intruder broke in and tied up a Goleta couple.[2]^:434 Alarmed by hearing him say, "I'll kill 'em" to himself,[2]^:435 [9] the man and woman tried to escape when he left the room; and the woman screamed. Realizing that the alarm had been raised, the intruder fled on a bicycle.[9] A neighbor (an FBI agent) responded to the noise and pursued the perpetrator, who abandoned the bicycle and a knife and fled on foot through local backyards.[2]^:435 The attack was later linked to the Offerman–Manning murders by shoe prints and twine used to bind the victims.[2]^:438

On December 30, 44-year-old Robert Offerman and 35-year-old Debra Alexandra Manning were found shot to death at Offerman's condominium on Avenida Pequena in Goleta.[142] Offerman's bindings were untied, indicating that he had lunged at the attacker. Neighbors had heard gunshots.[142] Paw prints of a large dog were found at the scene, leading to speculation that the killer may have brought one with him.[2]^:446 The killer also broke into the vacant adjoining residence and stole a bicycle, later found abandoned on a street north of the scene, from a third residence in the complex.[3]

On March 13, 33-year-old Charlene Smith and 43-year-old Lyman Smith were found murdered in their Ventura home;[143] Charlene Smith had been raped.[9] A log from a woodpile on the side of the house was used to bludgeon the victims to death.[2]^:440[144] Their wrists and ankles had been bound with drapery cord.[2]^:441[9] An unusual Chinese knot, a diamond knot, was used on Charlene's wrists;[2]^:441 the same knot was noted in the Sacramento East Area Rapist attacks, at least one confirmed case of which was publicly known.[3] The murderer was, therefore, briefly given the name Diamond Knot Killer.[145]

On August 19, 24-year-old Keith Eli Harrington and 27-year-old Patrice Briscoe Harrington were found bludgeoned to death in their home on Cockleshell Drive in Dana Point's Niguel Shores gated community.[146] Patrice Harrington had also been raped.[9][147] Although there was evidence that the Harringtons' wrists and ankles were bound, no murder weapon or ligatures were found at the scene.[146] The Harringtons had been married for three months at the time of their deaths.[146] Patrice was a nurse in Irvine, and Keith was a medical student at UC Irvine.[2][146] Keith's brother Bruce later spent nearly $2 million supporting California Proposition 69, authorizing DNA collection from all California felons and certain other criminals.[9][136]

On February 6, 28-year-old Manuela Witthuhn was raped and murdered in her Irvine home.[9][148] Although Witthuhn's body had signs of being tied before she was bludgeoned,[9] no murder weapon or ligatures were found. Though the victim was married, her husband was away, hospitalized; and she was alone at the time of the attack.[148] Witthuhn's television was found in the backyard, possibly the killer's attempt to make the crime appear to be a botched robbery.[2]

On July 27, 35-year-old Cheri Domingo and 27-year-old Gregory Sanchez became the Original Night Stalker's tenth and eleventh murder victims.[149] Both were attacked in Domingo's residence on Toltec Way in Goleta[2]^:444 (several blocks south of Robert Offerman's condominium), where she was living temporarily; it was owned by a relative and up for sale.[150] The offender entered the house through a small bathroom window. Sanchez had not been tied[2]^:445 and was shot and wounded in the cheek before he was bludgeoned to death with a garden tool.

Some believe that Sanchez may have realized he was dealing with the man responsible for the Offerman–Manning murders and tried to tackle the killer rather than be tied up. Again, no neighbors responded to the gunshot.[2]^:445[150] Sanchez's head was covered with clothes pulled from the closet.[2]^:444 Domingo was raped and bludgeoned; bruises on her wrists and ankles indicated that she had been tied,[2]^:445 although the restraints were missing.[151] A piece of shipping twine was found near the bed, and fibers from an unknown source were scattered over her body.[152] Authorities believed that the attacker may have worked as a painter or in a similar job at the Calle Real Shopping Centre.[151][153][138]

On May 4, 18-year-old Janelle Lisa Cruz was found after she was raped[49][141] and bludgeoned to death in her Irvine home.[154] Her family was on vacation in Mexico at the time of the attack.[9][148] A pipe wrench, reported missing by Cruz's stepfather, was thought to be the murder weapon.[2]^:458

Initially, investigators in respective jurisdictions did not think the southern California murders were connected. A Sacramento detective strongly believed that the East Area Rapist was responsible for the Goleta attacks, but the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department attributed them to a local career criminal who was later murdered. Unaware of the Goleta murders, local police in surrounding jurisdictions followed false leads related to men who were close to the female victims. One person, later cleared, was charged with two of the murders. Many years later, the cases were linked almost entirely by DNA testing.[2]

In December 1977, someone claiming to be the East Area Rapist sent a poem, "Excitement's Crave", to The Sacramento Bee, the Sacramento mayor's office, and television station KVIE.[2] On December 11, a masked man eluded pursuit by law-enforcement personnel after alerting authorities by telephone that he would strike on Watt Avenue that night.[155]

Excitement's Crave

All those mortal's surviving birth / Upon facing maturity,
Take inventory of their worth / To prevailing society.
Choosing values becomes a task; / Oneself must seek satisfaction.
The selected route will unmask / Character when plans take action.
Accepting some work to perform / At fixed pay, but promise for more,
Is a recognized social norm, / As is decorum, seeking lore.
Achieving while others lifting / Should be cause for deserving fame.
Leisure tempts excitement seeking, / What's right and expected seems tame.
"Jessie James" has been seen by all, / And "Son of Sam" has an author.
Others now feel temptations call. / Sacramento should make an offer.
To make a movie of my life / That will pay for my planned exile.
Just now I'd like to add the wife / Of a Mafia lord to my file.
Your East Area Rapist
And deserving pest.
See you in the press or on T.V.[2]^{:p. 304}

Front of "Mad is the Word"

Reverse of "Mad is the Word"

Front of the "punishment" map

Reverse of the map, with the word "punishment" scrawled across the page

During the investigation of the 42nd attack in Danville, investigators discovered three sheets of notebook paper near where a suspicious vehicle had reportedly been parked. They believe the pages were dropped accidentally, such as falling out of a bag.[5] The first sheet appears to be a homework essay on General George Armstrong Custer.[5]

The second sheet contains a journal-style entry describing a teacher who made students write lines, which the author found humiliating:[5]

"Mad is the word, the word that reminds me of 6th grade. I hated that year ... I wish I had know what was going to be going on during my 6th-grade year, the last and worst year of elementary school. Mad is the word that remains in my head about my dreadful year as a 6th grader. My Madness was one that was caused by disapointments that hurt me very much. Dissapointments from my teacher, such as feild trips that were planed, then canncled. My 6th-grade teacher gave me a lot of dissapointments which made me very mad and made me built a state of haterd in my heart, no one ever let me down that hard before and I never hated anyone as much as I did him. Disapointment wasn't the only reason that made me mad in my sixth-grade class, another was getting in trouble at school espeically talking thats what really bugged me was writing sentances, those awful sentance that my teacher made ... me write, hours and hours Id sit and write 50-100-150 sentance day and night I write those dreadful Paragraphs which embarrased me and more inportant it made me ashamed of myself which in turn, deep down in side made me realize that writing sentance wasn't fair it wasn't fair to make me suffer like that, it just wasn't fair to make me sit and wright until my bones aked, until my hand felt every horrid pain it ever had and as I wrote, I got mader and mader until I cried, I cried because I was ashamed I cried because I was discusted, I cried because I was mad, and I cried for myself, kid who kept on having to write those dane sentances. My Angryness from Sixth grade will scar my memory for life and I will be ashamed for my sixth grade year forever"

On the last sheet was a hand-drawn map of what appears to be a suburban neighborhood, with the word "punishment" scrawled across the reverse side.[156] Investigators were unable to identify the area depicted in the map, although the artist clearly had knowledge of architectural layout and landscape design.[157] According to Detective Larry Pool, the map is a fantasy location representing the rapist's desired striking ground.[5]

On March 18, 1977, the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office received three calls from a man claiming to be the East Area Rapist; none were recorded.[158] The first two calls, received at 4:15 and 4:30 p.m., were identical and ended with the caller laughing and hanging up. The final call came in at 5:00 p.m., with the caller saying: "I'm the East Side Rapist and I have my next victim already stalked and you guys can't catch me."

A man claiming to be the rapist called the Sacramento Police, saying: "You're never gonna catch me, East Area Rapist, you dumb fuckers; I'm gonna fuck again tonight. Be careful!" The call was recorded and later released.[85] As with the previous call, the next victim was attacked that night.

During the 1977 Christmas season, a previous victim received a phone call that she attributed to her attacker. The caller said, "Merry Christmas, it's me again!"[2]^:301

Shortly before 10:00 p.m. on December 10, 1977, Sacramento authorities received two identical calls, saying, "I am going to hit tonight. Watt Avenue." Both were recorded, and the caller was identified as the same person who placed the call on December 2. Law-enforcement patrols were increased that night;[2] and at 2:30 a.m., a masked man eluded officers after being seen bicycling on the Watt Avenue bridge. When spotted again at 4:30 a.m., he discarded the bicycle[155] and fled on foot. The bicycle had been stolen.

The first known rape victim received a wrong-number call asking for "Ray" on January 2, 1978. The call was recorded, and police suspect that it may be the same caller who made a threatening call to her later that evening.[159] That call was also recorded and identified by the victim as the voice of her assailant.[2][5] The caller said, "Gonna kill you ... gonna kill you ... gonna kill you ... bitch ... bitch ... bitch ... bitch ... fuckin' whore."[85]

A man claiming to be the East Area Rapist called the Contact Counseling Service and said, "I have a problem. I need help because I don't want to do this anymore." After a short conversation the caller said, "I believe you are tracing this call" and hung up.[2]^:310–315[160]

In 1982, a previous victim received a call at her place of work — a restaurant — during which the rapist threatened to rape her again. According to Contra Costa County investigator Paul Holes, the rapist must have chanced to patronize the restaurant and recognized his victim there.[161][162]

In 1991, a previous victim received a phone call from the perpetrator and spoke with him for one minute. She could hear a woman and children in the background, leading to speculation that he had a family.[6]

On April 6, 2001, one day after an article in the Sacramento Bee linked the Original Night Stalker and the East Area Rapist, a victim of the rapist received a call from him; he asked, "Remember when we played?"[162]

After DeAngelo was arrested, he was also suspected of committing the November 15, 1974 Visalia rape and murder of Jennifer Armour, the December 26, 1975 rape and murder of Donna Jo Richmond north-east of Exeter and a November 11, 1978 murder of a woman and her son in Simi Valley, California but was cleared as a suspect in all three murders by DNA testing.[173][174][175][176][177][178]

• McNamara, Michelle (2018). I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-231978-4.
• Shelby, Richard (2015). Hunting a Psychopath: The East Area Rapist / Original Night Stalker Investigation – The Original Investigator Speaks Out. Booklocker. ISBN 978-1-63263-509-9.
• Michael Morford, Michael Ferguson (2018). The Case of the Golden State Killer: Based on the Podcast with Additional Commentary, Photographs and Documents. WildBlue Press. ISBN 978-1947290556.

• "Help Us Catch a Killer". Los Angeles. Archived from the original on March 2, 2013.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) (includes numerous photos and maps)
• Unmasking a Killer. CNN. A seven-part series that profiles California's most prolific uncaught serial killer.

• 3 Golden State Killer Podcasts That Go Deep on the Case – Time
• Man in the window – Los Angeles Times
• The Creep Among Us – Stitcher

• "The Original Nightstalker". Cold Case Files (Season 2, Episode 22). A&E Television Networks.
• Dark Minds: The Original Nightstalker Investigation Discovery.
• "Golden State Killer: It's Not Over". Investigation Discovery.
• I'll Be Gone in the Dark, a 2020 HBO documentary series.

• Zabel, Joseph (2019). "The Killer Inside Us: Law, Ethics, and the Forensic Use of Family Genetics". SSRN 3368705.