Young Joseph James DeAngelo: From Fired Cop to Golden State Killer

Before he was known as the Golden State Killer, Joseph James DeAngelo was young Joseph DeAngelo: a New York-born son of an Army sergeant, a Vietnam-era Navy veteran, a criminal justice graduate, and a working California police officer whose first known crime sprees overlapped directly with his years in uniform. He was born on November 8, 1945, and committed his earliest documented offenses while employed as a cop in his late twenties and early thirties.

A Childhood Marked by Trauma

DeAngelo was born in New York to Kathleen Louise DeGroat and Joseph James DeAngelo Sr., a United States Army sergeant. He grew up with two sisters, Connie and Rebecca, and a brother, John. His sister Rebecca later said their father abused him during his upbringing.¹

As a young child, DeAngelo reportedly witnessed his sister Connie being sexually assaulted by two airmen at a warehouse in Germany, where his father was stationed. During his teenage years, he reportedly committed burglaries and tortured and killed animals.¹

He graduated from Folsom High School in June 1964.²

Navy Service and College

After high school, DeAngelo enlisted in the Navy and served during the Vietnam War.³ When he returned from military service, he enrolled at Sierra College in Rocklin and earned an associate’s degree in police science with honors in 1970. He went on to Sacramento State and graduated in the spring of 1972 with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice.⁴

Both his military background and his criminal justice training would later shape the way investigators thought about the man they were hunting. The Visalia and Sacramento-area crimes showed meticulous planning, familiarity with firearms, and an ability to escape pursuit that led detectives to suspect the perpetrator had law enforcement or military experience.⁵

Marriage and a Private Life Built on Secrecy

DeAngelo met Sharon Huddle during his college years and married her in 1973. The couple would eventually have three daughters. His first daughter, Misha Louise, was born in late 1981, roughly six weeks after the Dana Point double murder attributed to him.⁶

Huddle later described how the double life went undetected on her end. She trusted him when he said he was working, pheasant hunting, or visiting family while she worked graveyard shifts at Jack in the Box and Placer County Juvenile Hall and studied for law school.⁷ The couple separated in the early 1990s. Their divorce was not finalized until 2019.⁶

His Years as a Police Officer

Exeter Police Department

DeAngelo was hired by the Exeter Police Department in May 1973. The department had fewer than ten officers serving a town of roughly 5,000 people. He worked there for about three to four years.⁸

Colleagues described him in strikingly consistent terms: aloof, intense, and secretive. Retired Exeter police officer Farrel Ward said DeAngelo was “over-educated for the small department,” had extensive knowledge on many topics, and never revealed personal details about his background. He was noted for professionalism and ambition, and colleagues encouraged him to consider the FBI. Conversations with him, though, were “one-sided and strained.” Ward recalled: “I liked him, but he’s not the type of guy that I’d have over for a barbecue. He’s just … stand-offish. Too serious. Seems like he’s always thinking.”⁹

In 1976, DeAngelo actually participated in a new burglary task force in Exeter, which reported a 15 percent decline in burglaries within six months.⁹

Auburn Police Department and the Firing

DeAngelo joined the Auburn Police Department in August 1976. His supervisor, Nick Willick, who later became police chief, described him as “an average cop.”¹⁰

His tenure ended abruptly in September 1979 when he was caught shoplifting a can of dog repellent and a hammer from a Pay N’ Save store in a Sacramento suburb. Willick fired him, and he was prosecuted for the theft.¹¹ Authorities later suggested the stolen items may have been tools intended for use in his crimes.

The firing had personal consequences for Willick. Investigators later told the former chief that DeAngelo had gone to his home one night after being terminated with the intent to kill him, walking around the house and peering through windows but failing to locate his bedroom. Shortly afterward, Willick’s four-year-old daughter reported someone looking through her bedroom window with a flashlight, a behavior consistent with the Golden State Killer’s methods.¹²

Crimes Committed While He Was a Young Officer

The Visalia Ransacker

While working as an Exeter police officer, DeAngelo is believed to have committed more than 100 home burglaries in the nearby city of Visalia, about ten miles from Exeter.¹³ The intruder rummaged through drawers, strewed underwear throughout homes, and stole or rearranged small, often insignificant items.

The crimes escalated on September 11, 1975, when journalism professor Claude Snelling was shot and killed at his Visalia home while interrupting the attempted kidnapping of his daughter. DeAngelo kicked the daughter in the face before fleeing.¹⁴ A week later, police cornered a suspect in a resident’s backyard. He shot at an officer’s flashlight, jumped a fence, and escaped despite a search involving police dogs.⁹

The East Area Rapist

The first known sexual assault attributed to the East Area Rapist occurred on June 18, 1976, in Rancho Cordova, Sacramento, the same month DeAngelo would move to the Auburn department. Over the next two years, the perpetrator was linked to at least 38 attacks in the Sacramento and Stockton areas.¹⁵ The crimes attributed to this period include at least 50 rapes and 150 burglaries across multiple Northern California counties, including Sacramento, Yolo, San Joaquin, and Stanislaus.¹⁶

DeAngelo’s methods were calculated and predatory. He stalked victims for days beforehand, broke into homes to unlock windows for later entry, and left twine inside that he would use to bind victims. He initially targeted women living alone, then shifted to attacking couples, tying up the man before raping the woman. He sometimes stayed in victims’ homes for hours, eating their food. He displayed proficiency with firearms and behavior consistent with military or law enforcement training.¹⁷

He also taunted authorities. On March 18, 1977, he called police and told them: “I have my next victim already stalked and you guys can’t catch me.”¹⁵ In December 1977, the Sacramento Bee, the mayor of Sacramento, and a local television station received letters from someone claiming to be the East Area Rapist. The correspondence included a poem titled “Excitement’s Crave,” which read in part: “Sacramento should make an offer. To make a movie of my life that will pay for my planned exile.”¹⁸

On February 2, 1978, Brian and Katie Maggiore were shot and killed in their Rancho Cordova neighborhood while walking their dog. DNA evidence linked their murders to the East Area Rapist in 2016, and the Maggiore case ultimately became the first murder charges filed against DeAngelo after his arrest.¹⁹

From Fired Cop to Decades in Hiding

After DeAngelo was fired from the Auburn Police Department in 1979, the number of attacks in Northern California dropped sharply, while the violence attributed to him shifted to Southern California and continued through what is believed to be his final known crime in May 1986.¹¹¹⁴

He then essentially vanished into suburban anonymity. He had moved into a house on Canyon Oak Drive in Citrus Heights, a quiet Sacramento suburb, in January 1983.⁶ In 1989 he began working as a truck mechanic at a Save Mart Supermarkets distribution center near Roseville and stayed for 27 years, retiring in 2017.²⁰

He was finally identified through forensic genetic genealogy. Investigators uploaded the perpetrator’s DNA profile to GEDmatch, a free, publicly accessible genealogy database. The search returned more than 100 matches to distant relatives, potentially as close as third cousins.²¹ Using those familial leads with traditional genealogical records, investigators built family trees and narrowed the field by matching physical descriptions, age, and California residence during the crime years.²² After placing DeAngelo under surveillance, investigators collected discarded DNA from a tissue found in his trash and from a car door handle at a Hobby Lobby store, and once analyzed the match to the crime scene evidence was confirmed in approximately four hours.²³

Joseph James DeAngelo was arrested at his Citrus Heights home on the afternoon of April 24, 2018, at age 72, more than four decades after the young officer in Exeter first began his crimes.⁶ On June 29, 2020, he pleaded guilty to 13 counts of first-degree murder with special circumstances and 13 felony counts of kidnapping to commit robbery, and admitted to crimes against 61 uncharged victims.²⁴ On August 21, 2020, Judge Michael Bowman sentenced him to 11 consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole.²⁵

1
IPL. Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. the Golden State
2
Los Angeles Times. What We Know About Joseph James DeAngelo
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NPR. After Arrest of Suspected Golden State Killer, Details of His Life Emerge
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The State Hornet. Potential East Area Rapist Suspect Graduated From Sac State With Criminal Justice Degree
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Chicago Tribune. Retired Police Chief Embarrassed to Learn He Worked With Golden State Killer Suspect
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Los Angeles Times. Joseph James DeAngelo Profile
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Sacramento Bee. Ex-Wife of Golden State Killer Impact Statement
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ABC30. Retired Exeter Police Officer Remembers Working With Accused Golden State Killer
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Los Angeles Times. Retired Cops Describe Working With Golden State Killer Suspect
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CBS News. Alleged Golden State Killer’s Former Boss: He Was an Average Cop
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KCRA. Suspected East Area Rapist Went Undetected Working as Cop
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ABC7 News. Golden State Killer Suspect Planned to Kill Police Chief Who Fired Him
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Tulare County District Attorney. Visalia Ransacker
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ABC News. Inside the Timeline of Crimes of the Golden State Killer
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ABC7 News. Timeline: Looking Back at Golden State Killer Crimes
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KCRA. All of the Crimes Tied to the East Area Rapist/Golden State Killer
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FBI. Help Us Catch the East Area Rapist
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SFGate. East Area Rapist Original Night Stalker Unsolved
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KCRA. Here’s How DNA Led to a Suspected Serial Killer
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The Press Democrat. Save Mart Employees Worked for Years With Suspected Golden State Killer
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CNN. Golden State Killer DNA Genealogy Report
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Forbes. Genetic Genealogy and the Golden State Killer
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NPR. In Hunt for Golden State Killer, Investigators Uploaded His DNA to Genealogy Site
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CNN. Golden State Killer Plea
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Tulare County District Attorney. Joseph DeAngelo Sentencing Press Release