California's notorious 'Golden State Killer' faces sentencing
Send a link to a friend
[August 20, 2020]
SACRAMENTO (Reuters) - A former
California police officer dubbed the "Golden State Killer" who confessed
to 13 murders and dozens of rapes during the 1970s and '80s faces a life
prison term when he is sentenced in Sacramento on Friday.
Joseph James DeAngelo, 74, will be sentenced to life in prison without
the possibility of parole following three days of emotional hearings in
which victims or their family members confronted him in open court.
“What a gut punch it was that I had been brutally raped by a full-time
police officer,” victim Gay Hardwick said, according to the Sacramento
Bee newspaper. She was attacked in her San Stockton home in 1978 by an
intruder who forced her to tie up her then-boyfriend first.
"To learn that DeAngelo, who was sworn to serve and protect, used his
skill set to terrorize and rape. Yes, that was staggering," Hardwick
said.
The Golden State Killer remained a mystery, his crimes unsolved for
decades until DeAngelo's arrest in Sacramento County on April 24, 2018.
Investigators tied DeAngelo to the crimes using a then-novel technique
of tracing him using family DNA from commercial genealogy websites.
In June, DeAngelo admitted to 13 murders and 13 related rape charges
between 1975 and 1986 as part of a plea deal with prosecutors sparing
him from a potential death sentence.
Prosecutors said the deal ensured that aging survivors and victims'
relatives lived to see the case resolved, sparing them further legal
proceedings likely to have dragged on for a decade.
[to top of second column]
|
Joseph James DeAngelo, known as the Golden State Killer, looks away
from the podium as people who DeAngelo victimized make their
statements on the first day of victim impact statements at the
Gordon D. Schaber Sacramento County Courthouse in Sacramento,
California, U.S. August 18, 2020 Santiago Mejia/Pool via REUTERS
Besides the 13 murders, and 13 rape-related charges DeAngelo
publicly admitted to dozens more rape cases for which the statute of
limitations had expired. Prosecutors said he invaded 120 homes
across 11 counties during his crime spree.
The serial killer, also known as the "East Area Rapist" and the
"Original Night Stalker," typically crept into his victims' bedrooms
at night, tying them up, raping them, and stealing valuables.
(Writing and additional reporting by Dan Whitcomb; editing by Bill
Tarrant and Alistair Bell)
[© 2020 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2020 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|