Police Capture Golden State Killer

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

One of the most wanted and feared serial killers in the history of the United States was detained by California state authorities.

Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, was arrested Wednesday and faces charges of having committed more than 12 murders (of women ages 13 to 41), 45 rapes, and more than 120 robberies between 1976 and 1986.

The "Golden State Killer" (or murderer of the golden state in Spanish) frightened for years the residents of the state of California, where the vast majority of their crimes were committed.

As revealed in a report by People magazine on its online site, the first attack on the feared criminal occurred on June 18, 1976, when he raped a woman in Sacramento County.

Part of the information presented by the authorities after the arrest, reveals that DeAngelo was a police officer until 1979, so part of his crimes were committed while serving as an officer in the cities of Visalia and Auburn.

For his attacks, DeAngelo covered his face with a ski mask and used a flashlight to intimidate and chain his victims, revealed Anne Marie Schubert, the district attorney in charge of the case. Information about the man's mode of operation adds that his crimes were committed in affluent neighborhoods and he chose homes for single women or couples.

Investigators in charge of the investigation also said that the DNA found within the evidence of the crimes was the key that allowed them to identify the dreaded criminal, who lived in the area of Citrus Heights, in the outskirts of Sacramento, during the last days.