A former policeman has been arrested in connection with an infamous series of murders which occurred throughout California in the 1970s and ‘80s.
72-year-old Joseph DeAngelo was known to his neighbors in a quiet Sacramento, California suburb as a man who kept mostly to himself, although perhaps a bit irritable when provoked.
None suspected that he may have once been the infamous “Golden State Killer,” accused of perpetrating at least 12 murders and 50 rapes throughout his extensive crime spree, which lasted from 1976 to 1986.
DeAngelo was a police officer in the small town of Auburn California from 1973 until 1979, when he was convicted of shoplifting a can of dog repellent and a hammer from a local drugstore and dismissed from the force.
DNA evidence compiled against the suspect was used to track him down for arrest.
The saga of the search for DeAngelo was chronicled in the books 'I’ll Be Gone in the Dark,' authored by Michelle McNamara, late wife of actor and comedian Patton Oswalt, and 'Case Files of the East Area Rapist / Golden State Killer,' written by George's 4/25/18 guest Keith Komos.
More on the story from the Los Angeles Times.