If you watched HBO's latest true crime docuseries I'll Be Gone In The Dark, then you know all about Michelle McNamara's journey toward finding the Golden State Killer , also known as the East Area Rapist and Original Night Stalker. The criminal with three monikers went unidentified for 40 years while murdering and raping dozens of people throughout California in the 1970s and 80s.
The series takes viewers through Michelle's obsession with finding the killer. The suspect was eventually arrested in 2018, but not before Michelle died from an accidental overdose and undiagnosed heart condition . There's no denying that her work aided in law enforcement's ability to catch the Golden State Killer, who is now believed to be Joseph James DeAngelo. The 74-year old is a former police officer and has been charged with eight murders committed in California in the 1970s, per NPR. Police also think he committed at least four other murders and about 50 rapes. But exactly how did they finally apprehend DeAngelo as a suspect?
Well, DNAor lack thereofplayed a major role in the Golden State Killer case.
The case was pretty quiet until 2011, when new DNA technology linked a series of rapes in Northern California with crimes in Southern California, the Los Angeles Times reports. "We now have concrete evidence that links their deaths to the horrific individual that terrorized both Northern and Southern California," Drew Sugars, a spokesman for the Santa Barbara County Sheriffs Department, told the publication.
By 2016, the FBI offered a $50,000 reward for info that would lead to the arrest of the Golden State Killer. They described him as a "white male, close to six feet tall, with blond or light brown hair and an athletic build. He may have an interest or training in military or law enforcement techniques, and he was proficient with firearms."
In 2018, case investigator Paul Holes, who viewers meet in the docuseries, worked with a crime lab to get the full digital DNA profile of the Golden State Killer from semen samples, per ISHI news . Holes uploaded it into a GED match, an online DNA service he talks about in the series. With the help of Barbara Rae-Venter, a genetic genealogist, the two were able to narrow the suspects down to a handful of men.
Barbara Rae-Venter found an old newspaper clipping about a store robbery in Sacramento.
As explained in the docuseries, Rae-Venter had been looking through old newspapers for any leads and found one from October 31, 1979 that said a man named Joseph DeAngelo, a former police officer, was caught stealing a can of dog repellent and a hammer from a local drug store.
Rae-Venter sent an email to Paul Holes asking him if he had ruled out DeAngelo, and it turns out that he was one of the six suspects left on their list. From there, Holes began putting together the pieces. The Golden State Killer had been quoted by his victims as saying "I hate you Bonnie," and DeAngelo had an ex-fianc named Bonnie. DeAngelo also purchased a gun right outside of Visalia, California, another hotspot for the Golden State Killer. And around 1985, he had a daughter born in Los Angeles county.
Barbara then ran the DNA through another program and found that their suspect would have blue eyes and be prematurely bald. Law enforcement pulled the California drivers records for the six people on the suspect list and only one had blue eyes: Joseph DeAngelo.
The police then tested a piece of tissue from his trash can.
According to Holmes, this was the final nail in the coffin. They tested a piece of tissue from DeAngelo's trash can, and it was a 100 percent match to the Golden State Killer's DNA. This allowed them to obtain an arrest warrant for DeAngelo and charge him with 12 counts of murder in Sacramento, Ventura, Santa Barbara and Orange counties, per the AP .
DeAngelo's case is ongoing.
The next hearing is set to take place in Sacramento on June 29 at 1:35 pm. The judge is scheduled to hear several motions, including one for dismissal. The proceedings will be streamed to a private YouTube channel, but law enforcement officials recently announced that there will be a press conference held immediately after the court hearing is over.
In an interview with KCRA , Jennifer Carole, the daughter of Lyman Smith, who was killed by the Golden State Killer in 1980, said she and other family members of victims were told a guilty plea may be coming.