*CAUGHT* Four Decades Later - Untold Story Of The Golden State Killer
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- Hi, how are you doing today? I hope you're having a wonderful day so far. My name is Bailey Sarian and today is Monday, which means it's Murder, Mystery and Makeup Monday. So if you're new here, my name is Bailey Sarian and on Mondays I sit down and I talk about true crime story that's been heavy on my

and I do my makeup at the same time. If you're interested in true crime and you like makeup, I would highly suggest you hit that subscribe button 'cause I'm here for you on Mondays. Today's story is a very hot one. It's been very requested. We're gonna talk about the Golden State Killer, AKA the East Area Rapist, AKA the Visalia Ransacker, Visalia, sure. AKA the original Night Stalker, AKA,

I'm sorry, he has a lot of names. His real name is Joseph D'Angelo, okay? I don't think there really has ever been another serial killer with so many fricking nicknames, but this guy, he's the winner. This one is very interesting because this man, Joseph, he got away with a lot and he was really smart. He was really tricky that his crimes were thought to have been done by three different people rather than one guy. And he got away with everything for about 45 years.

45 years. But when he was finally arrested, he just seemed like this old frail grandpa. He kind of looked like a toad. Like you're like him? That toad? It was that toad. Many people were like, could this guy really be guilty of so many rapes and murders? But aside from all of that, the publicity surrounding this case, it's exciting to talk about. I don't know if exciting is the right word. It's interesting to talk about because it kind of

That gives us hope that even when you think a case has gone cold, we can eventually, hopefully one day get justice. Technology is changing and evolving and moving forward every day. And it's like, hopefully these shit head murderers out there can't hide forever in a perfect world, you know? I try and stay positive. Okay, so who is Joseph James D'Angelo Jr? Wow, that is a name. He was born November 8th,

Eww! He was born today! Eww! That's creepy!

Well, he was born November 8th, 1945 in Bath, New York. He was Joseph and Kathleen's first child and he was the oldest of four kids. He had two younger sisters and also a younger brother. His father was a sergeant in the US Army, so they ended up moving around a lot. At one point when Joseph Jr. was a young child, they were stationed in West Germany.

That's when he witnessed his seven-year-old sister being raped by two airmen in a warehouse. I don't know like the followup, like did he scream or say anything? I don't know, but this was mentioned because it obviously had a very lasting impact on him and it was pretty traumatic thing for his sister to experience, first of all, and for him to witness. So it just kind of had this imprint on his brain. I'm so sad. This world is so gross.

But unfortunately that wasn't the only case of abuse in the family. One of his sisters claimed later on, like in an interview, that Joseph was abused by his father while he was growing up, but Joseph never said that, but yeah, so pretty much

Pretty much not a great upbringing, just sad, poor kids. So later the family moves back to the United States and from 1959 to 1960, Joseph went to school in Rancho Cordova, California. In 1961, he was in high school and he was on the school's junior varsity baseball team. And in addition to like doing whatever normal teenagers did in the 1960s, Joseph also had some less

Less than ideal hobbies. Oh, I forgot to mention in the beginning, we're gonna mention everything today, like animals, abuse, murder, rape. Okay, just a little FYI. Most kids who are a little off usually start with doing weird shit with animals, right? That's what Joseph was doing, okay? He was

in high school and he was committing robberies, which was weird because he'd break into people's houses and just steal random shit. And then he would just kill a bunch of animals by blowing them up. Extreme. Jeez Louise. All of these are not great signs that,

he will be a contributing member of society. I don't know if his parents noticed or what, because apparently not, apparently not, 'cause we wouldn't be here right now if his parents noticed. So he would go on to get his GED in 1964. And after that, Joseph joined the Navy.

and he would end up serving for 22 months during the Vietnam War. And he was like a damage control man, which was basically like an emergency repair man. He would come home like a very decorated veteran. He earned a National Defense Service Medal, a Vietnam Service Medal, and a Vietnam Campaign Medal. Well-respected and also, this is just an opinion, but he was probably

super messed up from seeing some shit that went down during that war. I mean, a lot of them were, you know, so sad. In 1968, Joseph decided that he wanted to be a cop. Oh no. Yes, he did. He's like, "I wanna be a police officer." So he ends up going back to school and he got his associate's degree in police science. And then he even graduated with honors.

So then from there, he went to Sacramento State University to get his bachelor's degree in criminal justice before going to another college for a police training. So like, great, you know, the smart ones are the scariest.

He would go on to complete his 32 week police internship and he would go on working in the burglary unit. I can't say burglary, burglary? It just sounds so cartoony when I say it, maybe not. Anyways, everyone seemed to really like this guy. Of course they did, right? That's how it always goes. Everyone's like, wow, he's such a great guy. He's like serving the community and he was great at his job. He seemed to love it.

So on the surface of it, it kind of seems like the robberies he committed as a kid maybe influenced him to stop other criminals because he had the mind of a criminal, you know? And he's like, "Oh, I'm gonna stop them and make this community a better place." Like he's getting on the straight and narrow. But once again, we're here, so of course that's not the case. But actually it might have been more about learning how to better commit a crime and like how to get away with it. If you can't beat them, join them.

He's working from the inside. So at first, Joseph's love life seemed pretty normal, right? Okay, in May of 1970, he got engaged to his college girlfriend, Bonnie. As time goes on, Bonnie realizes that this Joseph guy, her fiance, he's not as great as she thought he was. As time was going on, she's noticing that he's more controlling and he becomes abusive. There was one time when they went hunting together.

Technically it was like an illegal area where you're not supposed to hunt, but I guess Bonnie didn't know that. But they rode on Joseph's motorcycle out into the area, right? The two of them. So when they were ready to leave, the two hopped back onto the motorcycle and they headed out. Well, I guess at this time, like a dog came out, someone's dog came out of the area and like started chasing them, started chasing them on the motorcycle. So Joseph ends up kicking the dog, but kicks him until like the dog,

guys and bonnie was like what the was that like she's never seen this side of him and she was completely shocked but i guess the straw that broke the camel's back was when he asked her to help him cheat on an exam he was taking and that's when she decided to break off the engagement i feel like the dog situation that's enough to break that's uh-uh but

At least she got out. She saw the red flags and she's like, I'm outta here. Of course, leaving isn't that easy when you're stuck in these awful relationships. Bonnie tries to end their engagement but Joseph is threatening her with a gun saying like, you're not going anywhere, we're gonna get married. And Bonnie's like, no, this is not happening. And luckily she holds her ground and she ends the relationship. She packs her stuff and she gets the hell out of there.

Good for her. And after the breakup, Joseph shows up outside Bonnie's home and her dad is there. And he tells Bonnie, her dad tells Bonnie like, "Go lock yourself in the bathroom while I go deal with this creep." And to this day, nobody knows what Bonnie's dad said to him to make him leave. But after that, he never bothered Bonnie again. So thank God for him. Later, people reported that Joseph would say, "I hate you, Bonnie," while carrying out his attacks.

What a dick. Well, Joseph would end up moving on from his heartbreak and he would get married to a woman named Sharon, Sharon Huddle in 1973. So in addition to being a newlywed, Joseph was over here just being super busy. He had a lot going on between 1973 and 1986. So in order to kind of keep things organized, we're gonna talk about his crimes in batches of three. Kind of just helps a little bit, I think, 'cause he did a lot. He did a lot.

We'd be here for hours. My God, this man. Because in May of 1973, there was a spree of crimes happening in the San Joaquin Valley. And this was credited to a killer given the name Cordova Cat Burglar, which may or may not have been Joseph. Many think the Cordova Cat Burglar was Joseph.

but it was like the very first case recorded for the Vesalia Ransacker. But the Ransacker guy, the V. Ransacker, that was indeed Joseph. And that happened in the same area on March 19th, 1974. Now at first, the attacks were super random because, okay, Joseph would break into a house and he would steal like $50 in coins from a piggy bank. That was his first hit.

And in fact, for the most part, all of Joseph's burglaries committed during this ransacker phase was maybe just practice. Like he ignored large amounts of money in these homes that he's...

robbing and he ignored high valued items that were just laying around the house. So it seemed like it wasn't necessarily for money. He was just doing it for the thrill maybe or practice. But what he did do was cause just a lot of chaos. He would break into houses. He would go digging through everyone's drawers. He would break people's stuff. He would

shove stuff off of like the shelves and stuff. He would throw women's lingerie and underwear around. He would move different things to different parts of the house to where they didn't belong before. And then he would steal low valued things. He would empty piggy banks and coin jars. He would steal like historic foreign coins and he would grab random things like a single earring or a cuff link.

in addition to rings and whatnot. Just like one of them, just one earring. He also stole something called blue chip stamps, which were essentially like a loyalty program for the local grocery store or pharmacy. These stamps would get you discounts on stuff at the store. So he would steal those.

I guess he loved to bargain, I don't know. A couple of times he did steal some weapons or ammunition, but it like was rare. So when he committed these crimes, he would stash his car somewhere and then he would take like different routes, like of the parks, ditches, trails that he knew pretty well, which would allow for a faster getaway if he had to run from police.

'cause you can't like on a street in a car, but he could on foot. He would also pry open multiple points of entry and take off any window screens he found, leaving multiple points of escape open when he needed to get out quick. During his attacks, he also wore gloves 'cause he didn't wanna leave fingerprints. And then he often set up a warning system to let him know if someone was coming

So this would be like dishes or bottles placed up against the door or like on the door handle. So it would crash and just make a bunch of noise, letting them know it was time to skedaddle right out of there. Someone like is coming. Over the course of 20 months, Joseph committed 120 burglaries. So that's a lot. I think that's safe to say. 20 months? Let me see. Yeah. If you think about that, yeah, that's a lot. This guy's a little fucking creepy. Okay.

Joseph put in a lot of effort to not get caught and he didn't really steal much. He just basically trashed these places and like took a couple of things. Was like, cool, thanks, bye. And when he was 28, that's when he started doing these burglaries. So maybe he just enjoyed the thrill or the adrenaline, the chaos, the control of it all. What many wanna know is how in the world this man did so much

sneaking around, staying out late and his wife didn't have any idea. Well, I mean, he could say he was working as a police officer and that's long nights and stuff. So I could see where the wife might not suspect anything, but I don't know.

So Joseph decides to take it up a notch. He's a little bored. September 11th, 1975, Joseph goes out around 2:00 AM. Okay, he breaks into this home, beautiful home, great. He finds a 16 year old girl, her name's Beth. She's sleeping in her room and he decides I'm gonna kidnap her, okay? So he has a flashlight with him and he shines the flashlight in her face.

to kind of like wake her up. And then he's like, I'm gonna shoot you or stab you if you don't come with me, one or the other, those are your options. Usually Joseph was very planned, planned everything, very detailed, but this time he was not ready or he didn't think this all the way through because the girl, her dad was home

And he was asleep in the next room. And he just is hearing some weird noises going on. So the dad gets up and he notices that the back door is open. So he's like, "Oh, what the fuck?" And he runs out and then finds that Joseph, he doesn't know it's Joseph, but he finds a man wearing a ski mask in the carport with his daughter.

Okay, so he's yelling after him. Joseph shoots him twice and then sadly her dad passes away. This really freaked Joseph out. He ends up letting her go. He kicks her in the face. He hops on a bicycle. Then he just...

paddles away and he leaves Beth behind. So that didn't go well for him, which sadly that guy died. Anyway, so he ends up ditching the bicycle not far from the house. Cops come out, they find the stolen bike. It's like literally not that far. He drops it, Joseph runs.

he gets away. Because someone was killed, cops increased the task force working on catching this ransacker. They would also post a $4,000 reward for the capture of whoever this man was. And just for comparison sake, $4,000 back in 1975 would be like 19,000 today.

So it's like a good amount of money. They just want this guy caught because first he's doing a lot of burglaries and now he's upping to murdering someone. The police also start doing a nightly stakeout where Joseph had previously hit the house. They're thinking that he might return to the same area, but Joseph's not dumb. And he's like, I'm not going back there. I know what they're doing. He knows what they're doing because he's working with them.

One of the last of his crimes in this area was on December 12th, 1975 at 8:30 PM, Joseph put on a mask and he entered the backyard of a house that wasn't too far from the neighborhood that he normally hit. There actually was a police officer on stakeout in the garage and the cops saw Joseph or he saw a man and tried to detain him and he also fired a warning shot at him.

But Joseph shouted and removed his mask, holding it in his right hand and pretended to give himself up and surrender. But then he pulled out his gun and he ended up shooting the officer near the face. I guess it just shattered the cop's flashlight. So then Joseph fleeced the scene and he left behind some tennis shoe prints, ooh, in the mud, and his loot, which again was like some blue chip stamps and also a blue sock full of coins.

So in 1976, Joseph gets a job working for the Auburn Police Department. So he and his wife moved to Sacramento, the Sacramento area, and this will end his time as the V ransacker.

Just because he moved though, doesn't mean his crime stopped. No, starting in June of 1976, he would be giving the name the East Area Rapist. So he ups it a notch. Sometimes he would spend his time just ransacking closets and drawers, eating food in the kitchen or drinking their beers. He would steal people's personal objects or items.

stuff that had like little or no value to it. It's just kind of like whatever he found interesting or something. I don't know what he was doing. I don't know. If he found cash, he would take that. But again, it was kind of like stuff that really wasn't that valuable. But for the most part, the focus of his breaking and entering was now to just

rape the women who lived there. Joseph would stalk neighborhoods looking for women who lived in like a middle-class neighborhood. He would specifically look for women who lived alone in a one-story house, usually near a school or a creek or like something next to a trail, an open space that would allow him to make a quick escape while staying off of the street. The night before this person's house would be attacked,

They would report hearing something in the bushes, like someone was kind of lurking around or something. And then that night their house would be attacked. Often this Joseph dude, he would call his future victims. Sometimes for months he would call them trying to figure out like what was their routine? When were they home? When were they not home? He would also prep the house in advance before breaking in.

So when they were gone, he would break in and unlock windows, unload guns, stash like things to tie women up with around the house. That way when he broke in and did his attack, it would be a lot easier 'cause he knew the situation was controlled.

Creepy. Well, when the night finally came, he would then break in through a window or a sliding glass door, sneak into the bedroom. He would wake up his victim, threaten them, like hold a flashlight in their face, threaten them with a handgun.

He would then tie her up with either shoelaces or something he brought with him and then blindfold and gag them. In the beginning, Joseph preferred single women, although sometimes they would have kids. But then an article mentioned that this mysterious raper was in the area, right? And this person never seemed to attack a house that had a man in it.

Well, I guess Joseph was reading this article and he was like, "Hey, that's interesting. I'll take the physical challenge." So he decides, "You know what? I'm gonna switch gears a little bit and now I'm going to attack couples." Oh yes, they think I can't do it. I'm gonna do it now. So he took that as a literal challenge.

Great. So he sees this as a challenge and he decides to switch gears. Now he's like, I'm gonna break into houses that have, you know, a man and a woman. So Joseph, he would do that. And then he would wake both of them up

force the victim to tie their partner up and then Joseph would tie up the other one, the husband and wife. After the couple was tied up, before leaving the bedroom, he would turn the guy on his stomach or make the guy lay on his stomach, place a stack of dishes on the guy's back, and

And this was again, kind of like an alarm system set up. And he would say, he would tell the guy like, listen, if I hear any noises come from these dishes, I'll come back and I'll kill everybody in this house. So of course, like terrified, they're not gonna move. And then after that, he would take the woman into the living room and then rape her knowing that like the poor guy's listening in the other room. And it's just all sorts of disturbing. So terrifying.

Gross. So once Joseph was done, he would then sneak out quietly and his victims, they would still be like tied up and stuff and they wouldn't know if he left or not. And they were too afraid to move thinking, well, what if he's still in the house? And he hears like the dishes move, he's gonna come back and kill us. So a lot of them would just lay there for hours, not knowing if he was still in the house or not, just torture. But when he did leave,

Joseph usually would like leave on foot or he would bring a bicycle or steal a bicycle. I just think of like the wicked witch, but that's not the point. But he just always stayed off the street. Like a bicycle, this crazy murderer on a bicycle. It just is, you know, it just doesn't sound right. There was a couple of times where Joseph was spotted and someone tried to shoot him, but he always got away. He always got away.

Well, obviously, because this guy's well-trained, he's like a freaking police officer and shit. So word is getting out on the street or within the community that there's a serial rapist going around. And obviously a lot of people are concerned. So they end up holding a town hall meeting. During this meeting, a guy stood up and he was like, if he comes to my house, I'll kill him. Well, I guess Joseph must've been at the meeting

like hiding in plain sight because that man and his family were the next victims of the East Area Rapist.

Fucking A man. So on March 18th, 1977, the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office received three phone calls from a guy claiming to be the East Area Rapist. The first two calls were like 15 minutes apart. One was at 4:15 and the next was at like 4:30 PM. And on the calls, the man was just laughing and then hung up. And then on his third call, which was at five o'clock PM,

Whoever was on the phone was like, I'm the East, I'm the East side rapist. And like, I have my next victim already stalked and you guys can't catch me. Just a total loser, wanting attention.

What is he doing? Now, unfortunately no one recorded these calls, okay? And they were never confirmed to be Joseph on the other end of the call, but many think it was. But that very night that the phone calls happened at like 10:45 PM, another woman was attacked.

So maybe Joseph was just feeling bold and maybe he was trying to make his crimes a little bit more exciting for him. I don't know what his, he's obviously not all right in the noggin. So 23 of the 50 rapes Joseph committed as the East Area Rapist were between June of 1976 and May of 1977.

Eight of them happened after those phone calls. Then oddly enough, for some reason, no one knows why, Joseph took a three month break before starting up again in September. Maybe him and his wife went on like a vacation. Yeah, summer vacation or something. Or maybe he was trying to lay low.

Who knows, but he disappeared for like three months. When Joseph did start back up again, he mostly stayed in Sacramento, but then in March of 1978, he started to hit like neighboring counties. He would hit like Stockton and Modesto, California, just to mix things up a bit. His pattern seemed to be changing consistently and it was just making it harder for police to know like where this guy's gonna hit next.

December 2nd, 1977, a man claiming to be the East Area Rapist called the Sacramento Police Department saying something along the lines of, you're never gonna catch me. I'm the East Area Rapist, you dumb fucks.

"I'm gonna fuck again tonight, you should be careful." That's what he said, not me, that's what he said. And he did just that at 11:30 PM, he struck again. He was busy. Then shortly before 10:00 PM on December 10th, 1977, authorities received two identical phone calls where the guy on the other end of the line was like, "I'm gonna hit tonight, Watts Avenue." Fortunately, cops were able to record both of these calls.

Great. They confirmed that the caller was the same person from the December 2nd call. Finally making a little progress here. Now there was no record of an attack that night, but at 2:30 AM police were patrolling and spotted a masked man riding a bicycle on the Watt Avenue Bridge. So at 4:30 AM they saw the same person again, but this time he didn't have a bicycle. He was like running. He was just running away.

So despite the increased patrol, cops still couldn't catch this guy if it was Joseph, but maybe they were at least able to stop him from attacking that night. Trying to stay positive here, but yeah, they see him and they couldn't get him. Like that's, they see him twice.

and they weren't able to get him. The police department and the sheriff's office, they weren't the only ones that were in contact with someone claiming to be the East Area Rapist. Oh, nay, nay, of course not. This man wants attention. You see what happened is in December of 1977, a poem titled, "Excitement's Crave" was sent to the mayor's office

the local news station, and the daily newspaper, the Sacramento Bee. And honestly, it's not very poetic. So he was writing now poetry about his work and he's now a poet and we didn't even know it. Not only is he a rapist, he's also into poetry. So then some of Joseph's victims that he already attacked,

they were getting phone calls, okay? So on December 9th, the night before he called to tell the cops that he was gonna attack someone on Watt Avenue, someone reached out to the previous victim saying, "Merry Christmas, it's me again." It was him. He like called one of his previous victims to tell them Merry Christmas, just to fricking torture them. Special kind of fucked up.

So now he's just torturing his previous victims. Like, could you imagine? No, no. He did this with a couple of his previous victims. I guess when he would call these victims, he would like, his voice was very low. He would be whispering and it was just super creepy. Yeah, especially if you were just attacked. I'm sure it's super creepy.

You'd be like, "What the fuck? "You just attacked me, now you're harassing me? "Get a goddamn life." Great, so that's what he's doing. He's calling people up 'cause he's bored. Okay, remember, he's married, Joseph, he's married. How does his wife not suspect something? Does he seem a little bit more agitated, angry? Is he coming home with weird collectibles? She didn't notice anything?

Well on January 6th, a phone call comes in again claiming to be the East Area Rapist and he calls into the, it's like a counseling hotline where they help people who need some counseling. So this person calls in and says, "I'm the East Area Rapist, hi it's me." And tells the person on the other end, "I have a problem and I need help because I don't want to do this anymore."

And then after the short conversation, this caller just randomly said, "I think you're tracing this call," and then hung up. If it was Joseph, maybe the fear of being caught outweighed the desire to get help. Maybe he was drunk. Maybe he was actually feeling some kind of remorse over the choices he was making. I guess we'll never know really.

So during his spree as the East Area Rapist, he did end up killing two people, which was rare, okay? 'Cause he was only raping people. But now he had ended up killing two people. It was like February 2nd, 1978. There was a young couple out walking their dog. And it was like an area that Joseph had hit five different times. So they're walking their dog and they run into Joseph. And I guess there's some kind of confrontation

I'm not sure what was said, what was done, whatever. But the couple, they tried to run and then they were shot to death. Investigators suspected it had been Joseph who killed them based on the location and the fact that some shoelaces had been found at the scene. But it wasn't really announced that he was their main suspect until June 15th, 2016. Yeah, a freaking long time later. And then it was confirmed they were murdered by Joseph on June 29th, 2020.

Yeah, bitch. What? On December 9th, 1978, Joseph attacked a house at 2 a.m. in a town called Danville in Contra Costa, California.

Cops are investigating the area where a suspicious vehicle had been parked when they find three pieces of paper. So they see this suspicious looking vehicle, they're looking inside the vehicle and they find these three pieces of paper. The first piece of paper looked like it was homework, okay? It looked like school homework, weird. And it seemed like it was an essay of some sorts. And then on the second page, there seemed to be a journal entry about how much this person who was writing on this paper

hated their sixth grade teacher. They're like, "Wow, this kid really hates this teacher." Then on the third page is what intrigued police the most. On one side of the page, the word punishment was written in a kind of sloppy handwriting. And on the other side was a drawing of a map of the neighborhood.

And the police, they couldn't figure out what neighborhood it was, but they felt like it was a map that represented the rapist's desired hunting ground and somehow held clues that they couldn't seem to unlock. Oh my God, what if it was just like some kid like making a map or something? 'Cause they never figured out what the map was of, like what area it was, but they thought it was,

They thought it was, what's his name, Joseph. But now that I'm sitting here thinking about it, what if it was just like some kid's shit and they were like, you know, kids like to know punishment. I don't know Bailey, shh. You know what sucks, like without DNA, I don't know how they were solving mysteries. Well, obviously they weren't solving mysteries. I mean, this is a different game. It's like, how do you figure those shenanigans out? Anywho, so after they discover these pages that they believe is linked to Joseph,

he would attack seven more times. And not long after the rape he committed on July 5th, 1979, Joseph, he had like a little slip up that could have derailed his whole double life and everything he had going on. Oh yes, a little slip up, nobody's perfect. And he was getting a little cocky, I think, I'm not sure. Okay, so Joseph, yeah, here's where he messes up. He shoplifts and he ends up getting caught.

So then he gets arrested for shoplifting, right? Great. He gets caught shoplifting a hammer and dog repellent. That in itself should hold him longer than just shoplifting. It seemed like if anything, he was about to murder a damn animal. Anyways, so he gets arrested. Like why are you stealing this stuff, you weirdo? Joseph got off pretty easy. He was only sentenced to six months probation. Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm, but they had him. They had him. So I guess the police department didn't wanna have a criminal on their force. And he ended up getting fired in October of 1979. Now Joseph, he was not too thrilled about being fired. That was not in his plan. So then he gets fired and he threatens to kill the police chief

Okay, he's like, I'm gonna fucking kill you. And he ends up stalking the police chief, his home, the area, and just like being a real creep about it, okay? You would think this kind of behavior suggests that maybe someone should have like looked into him a little bit better because he's obviously not well, but they didn't. He was just like, wow, that guy's weird. He needs to let it go. He keeps stalking me, weird. You think that would have set off some red flags.

I'm sorry, we ask too much, don't we? Yeah, I know. So Joseph loses his job. He's like, "Wah, I lost my job." So he decides, "Okay, we need to pick up a move again." So him and his wife, they moved down to Southern California to get a new start. So with this new start, he's got a new start with crime. Great, he's excited. New area. Joseph's final crime spree happened in

Santa Barbara, Ventura and the Orange County area which earned him the name, the original Night Stalker.

Yeah, so at first he was known as just the Night Stalker, but as you may remember from like, I did a previous story, Ricardo Ramirez, he was also given the name the Night Stalker from his crime spree in 1984 and 1985. Because of the mix-up happening, right? Joseph's Night Stalker crime spree was then nicknamed the original Night Stalker. They can't think of anything else. They're like, that's how we caught.

How about original Night Stalker, eh? Eh?

So, okay, not to get confused with Night Stalker, you know, this is the original Night Stalker, great. October, 1979, Joseph was back at it. This time in Southern California, he wasn't just burglarizing and raping people. Now he was just straight up murdering people too. So it just really progressed. His first two victims would end up surviving his attacks, but many others were not.

So lucky. Joseph's first attack as the original Night Stalker was on October 1st and he broke into a home. He tied the couple up. He's telling them like, "I'm gonna kill you. I'll kill them." And of course the couple is freaking out. Who wouldn't? Great.

We understand. And as soon as Joseph leaves the room, I guess the woman, she's trying to like escape. She's realizing she can't. And then she starts screaming at the top of her lungs. And she's really hoping to alert one of her neighbors. Now, normally Joseph's victims didn't scream like that. No one had actually tried him like that. And he was like, "Oh shit, she's screaming." So he knows that this is gonna mean trouble for him.

And at that point, after she's screaming, he decides to just bail. So he hops on his bicycle and he just pedals away. The woman is screaming, right? Joseph is pedaling away. Well, guess what? The neighbor that's hearing the woman scream, he ends up being an FBI agent and he's

He runs outside, he spots Joseph trying to make his getaway on the bicycle. And this guy starts to chase after him. For some reason, Joseph thinks he's got a better chance avoiding getting caught by just

getting off the bike and running on foot. So he does just that and he's able to get away from him. He almost gets caught so many different times. It's like, darn it. His second attack as the original Night Stalker was a bit more successful. Yeah.

I guess you could say. On December 30th, Joseph breaks into the home of a couple named Robert and Deborah and he kills them before stealing a bike from the apartment next door and then making his getaway. The couple was found shot to death, but Robert's bindings were untied, which suggests to investigators that he attempted some sort of attack on Joseph. Like maybe he was able to get out or something.

Police found the stolen bike abandoned not too far from the apartment. They also found large dog prints at the scene, which made them think like, did Joseph bring a dog with him? That was new. That was a new move.

There had never been evidence of a dog at the crime scene before, but also he, remember he stole dog repellent. So maybe it was someone else's dog and Joseph like scared it away. Maybe it was their dog. On March 13th, 1980, Joseph attacks again. This time attacking like a,

Couple, he breaks in, he ties their wrists and ankles with a drapery cord before he rapes the woman and then bludgeons them both to death with a log taken from the wood pile on the side of their house. Now police find something unique about this attack.

An unusual Chinese knot called a diamond knot was used to bind the woman's wrists. This is the same knot that was used on at least one of the confirmed victims of the East Area Rapists. So this is the first time that they're making the connection that these could be linked together. So Joseph was given another name,

which I don't think I mentioned at the beginning, the Diamond Knot Killer. They spend more time naming the killers than they do trying to solve the crime. They're like, "What should we name him this time?" Diamond Knot, you guys? Yeah.

Joseph's next victims were a newlywed couple. One of them was a student at UC Irvine and the other was a nurse. They had been married for like just a couple, they have to, just a couple of months. And they lived in a really nice gated community out in Dana Point, California. So on August 19th, just three months after the wedding, Joseph broke into their apartment, tied the rope,

both up, raped the woman before bludgeoning both of them to death. This time, Joseph didn't leave a murder weapon behind and he actually even took whatever he tied their hands and wrists with, which was different 'cause he would normally leave it behind. What Joseph didn't realize he left behind was a really angry rich brother, which we'll get to that later 'cause.

Shit's coming to you, bro. At some point during 1980, Joseph and his wife Sharon buy a house in Citrus Heights, California, but that doesn't seem to like stop him from attacking two more times in 1981. On February 6th, 1981, Joseph entered the home of a 28 year old woman. He tied her up, once again raped her and then bludgeoned her to death. And like the crime scene at the home of

The previous couple, he didn't leave behind the murder weapon or whatever he tied her up with. And he did move a television outside in the backyard. I don't know. Maybe he was trying to make it look like it was a failed robbery and like keep the police off his trail, but maybe he wanted the TV.

I don't know. On July 27th, Joseph decided to return to his old stomping ground and he went back to an area that was only a few blocks away from the neighborhood he first visited as the original Night Stalker. And Joseph, he enters the house through a small bathroom window

And that's when he runs into like the guy who lives there. Okay, now this guy is like 27 years old and police believe that this guy, he must have tried to attack Joseph because he had no marks on him suggesting that he had been tied up. They found his head covered with clothes that seemed to have been pulled from the closet with a gunshot wound in the cheek and evidence that he was killed with a garden tool.

And then there's a woman in the house also, and she was found with bruises on her wrists and ankles that suggested she had been tied up and then she was raped and bludgeoned to death. While the restraints were missing from her body, cops did find a piece of shipping twine near the bed and there were fibers all over her body that they couldn't identify. Cops thought maybe the attacker worked as a painter or a similar type of job at like the shopping center nearby, but

but they weren't sure. They're like, "We have theories," but that's about it. Joseph's final attack was on May 4th, 1986. He breaks into a home where there's like a teenager. She's home alone. Her family's away on vacation and she got left behind.

Maybe she wanted to. Either way, Joseph enters her home. He bludgeoned her to death and then rapes her. There was a pipe wrench that was missing from the house and police believe that that was the murder weapon. And then,

That was it. 41 year old Joseph's 13 year crime spree came to an end. It's unclear what Joseph was up to in terms of work during the 1980s, but starting in the 1990s, he worked as a truck mechanic in California and then he retired in 2017. There's really not much known about his personal life

other than he and his wife, Sharon have three daughters together. And then they ended up separating in 1991, unclear why they separated. I would bet he probably stopped killing when she had children. I don't know. That's just my theory that I haven't, I just don't know. I don't know. So over the years, the different police departments investigated their crime sprees separately, pursuing all the cases as individual crimes and not as like one person.

And no one thought that the Southern California murders were connected to the ones up North. There was one detective up in Sacramento who thought that the East area rapist had committed the same crimes down South, but the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Department insisted it was the work of a local criminal they had their eye on. But this guy that they had their eye on, he ended up getting murdered, so...

That guy was out. Finally, in 2001, DNA from several of the East Area rapist cases were connected to DNA found at crimes committed by the original Night Stalker, officially linking the two crime sprees. Ooh, ee! Dude, DNA was such a game changer. Thank God for DNA. DNA doesn't lie.

DNA doesn't lie. So they finally link the two, then they give him another name, they combine them to Earons, E-A-R-O-N-S, which again, it's just like they're spending too much time on the names I feel like, but whatever. Yeah, so he gets another fricking name. So this case just really went cold for a very long time. Now at the time there was a crime writer and a citizen sleuth,

Michelle McNamara was also pursuing the case. Now she wanted to help figure out who this monster was. And I think she just overall like got obsessed with this story. Who was this guy? Why was he never caught? She just wanted to know everything.

So Michelle gave him another name, the Golden State Killer. And she ended up writing a book. You should read it. It's called "I'll Be Gone in the Dark" and it came out in 2013. I believe there's also a, is it on HBO? Ooh, ooh, what's it on? It's there's like a Netflix series maybe.

about her book, of course the book is always better. So I would suggest you check it out. But she saw Joseph as like her nemesis and she was actively pursuing him. She was following his crime. She was making links that nobody else was making. She was like bringing this case to life because it had gotten cold for so long.

And then sadly, Michelle died, she died in 2016 and she died before her book was finished. But her husband at the time, Patton Oswald, he helped get the book finished and published it for her. And then it became published in 2018 and it became a best seller. She like mysteriously died. Someone tell me what she died of. I always thought that was just a little odd.

I bring that up because she's the one who really, I think brought this story back to light for sure. She was opening the doors, having conversations about it, bringing his name back into the media.

her book, amazing. So this isn't directly related to Joseph, but remember that there was a young newlywed couple who was murdered in 1980. And I said like the brother was rich or whatever. So the rich brother ends up spending $2 million supporting California Proposition 69, which authorized DNA collection from all California felons and other criminals.

So he backed this thing up and put lots of money into it, right? The proposition passed in 2004, which helped establish the California DNA database, which collects DNA from all accused and convicted felons in California, making California the third largest database in the world. And the effectiveness for solving cold cases is incredible, with California coming second to only Virginia in the country.

Well, yeah. So with that being said, this is not good for criminals.

because their DNA will be in the system. Also, it's a very controversial topic. Some people have very mixed feelings about it, but we'll talk about that in a minute. On June 15th, 2016, the FBI released new crime details and some new sketches of who they thought this suspect was. They also announced that there was a $50,000 reward. Yeah, they were just really hoping to kind of figure out who did this.

Finally in January of 2018, they had like a serious breakthrough. - I know.

2018 though, damn. Investigators use this thing called GED match, which is an online service that compares DNA files from different genetic testing companies. Investigators knew that the DNA from the different crime scenes matched one another. So they were able to upload the DNA found in the rape kit from the 1980 Ventura County murder into the system. So the DNA allowed them to identify a very distant relative of Joseph's from the 1800s.

very distant relative to say the least. This relative, however, was connected to about 25 different D'Angelo family trees, law trees. And these trees had thousands of people on them, but at least they had somewhere to start with. At least they had a plan.

Using other clues, investigators had like age, sex, place of possible residence during the crimes. They were able to slowly narrow down the list of subjects. But then in 2018, there was a lady who was working on like helping upload DNA into the system. She ends up finding a closer match

to the killer's DNA. Then they can narrow it down even more and they're using ancestry.com to really kind of pinpoint who this person is. So, okay, they get it narrowed down all the way to six possible suspects.

They are getting fucking close. And they had gotten it narrowed down until Joseph and one other family member remained. Now that person was ruled out of the DNA test, leaving Joseph as the only remaining suspect. Shit, that must've been so exciting. Like we fucking got him.

So then on April 18th, a DNA sample was carefully and secretly collected off of Joseph's car door handle. I guess he went shopping at Hobby Lobby. Great. They got some DNA off of his car thing when he was gone. Someone else also dug through Joseph's garbage can outside and got a used tissue. Great. Both were a DNA match for the Golden State Killer Crimes. Yeah, you wanna celebrate, but at the same time it's like, oh God.

This guy is nasty. He thought he could run forever. Nay, nay bitch. Nay, nay. Gotcha. So on April 24th, 2018, police finally arrested 72 year old Joseph. Yep, and guess what? He lived in his little house in Citrus Heights where he was living with his daughter and granddaughter.

Must've been so sad for them. He got to live his whole life, first of all. Okay, so they arrive at his house to arrest him, right? And they're like, "Joseph DeAngelo, you're under arrest," or whatever they say all dramatically, you know? And Joseph's first response was, quote, "But I have a roast in the oven." He was very concerned about his roast.

That was his response. Okay, great. I guess it's like, what do you expect? What do you think he's gonna say? Oh, you got me. Oh, you did it. Congratulations, you found me. Well, during the time of the initial arrest, Joseph was charged with eight counts of first degree murder attributed to the Golden State Killer. And then on May 10th, the Santa Barbara District Attorney's Office charged him with four additional counts of first degree murder.

Good. While there was no DNA linking Joseph to the Central Valley cases, the very beginning ones, the police, the chief of police stated that like he was 100% confident it was him. Shortly after his arrest, Joseph made a very weird statement that he was,

I mean, that was almost like a confession. He mentioned that he had this inner personality named Jerry who was forcing him to commit crimes. And according to the prosecution, Joseph said the following while hanging out in the police interrogation room alone. He said,

Quote, "I didn't have the strength to push him out. He went with me. It was like in my head. I mean, he's a part of me. I didn't want to do those things. I pushed Jerry out and had a happy life. I did all those things. I destroyed all their lives. So now I've got to pay the price."

So he said that in the confession room, which essentially is right. He's admitting. Yeah. So Jerry made him do it, whatever. You did it though, Joseph. People said that there were warning signs over the years, which is so frustrating because of course people say that after the fact, but no one wants to say it when it's happening, right?

Anyways, Joseph's brother-in-law claimed that Joseph had casually brought up the East Area Rapist during a conversation one time around when the original crimes were happening, but no one thought much of it, but it gave him a weird feeling. His coworkers at the supermarket said he was just a regular guy, except he never smiled.

His neighbors did not like him at all, okay? They called him a unlikable curmudgeon who would frequently have these loud profane outbursts.

See now that's some flags, right? At one time a neighbor even got a voicemail where Joseph threatened to deliver a load of death because Joseph didn't like that their dog was barking like all night or something. Well, in July, 2018, his estranged wife Sharon finally files for divorce, which was finalized in 2019. And during their divorce proceedings, she does say that she was fooled by

Okay, he would have tons of excuses, working late nights. He was visiting his parents. He was working. He was always working. She said she had no idea 'cause many people were like, how did she not know? I think it's possible to not know. I don't think, I hate when people assume that they always know. I don't know. So she was saying that she was a victim to him as well. She had no idea. Many people found it hard to believe that she didn't think he had some kind of double life going on because he did so much.

But yeah, she said she has lost her ability to trust people. Don't blame her. Okay, we don't blame her. However, this part was a little upsetting. There were other family members who were writing letters to the judge telling him that the man that they were prosecuting, this man that was being considered a monster was actually the

polar opposite. One of his nieces described him as a loving father figure, while another said that he was her hero who took her camping and fishing. His daughter described how he would be a good listener. Sorry, she said like the father I know and love is a good person, it's not this man.

Sorry. Sorry. Surprise. Spot twist. Your dad, your uncle, your relative is a piece of shit. Sorry about it. You know, like accept it. You have to. He could be two things, a piece of shit and a good father. It's very rare, but...

They just wanted them to have mercy on him. It's like, ew, he ruined so many people's lives. Did you guys watch it? 'Cause you could watch the court hearing and it happened 'cause it was during COVID. So he had on that like face mask thing. Many victims and the families of the victims spoke out at the hearing as well saying now that they were able to get closure and then others took the stand with a way more angry approach which is totally valid and fine.

One woman wore a shirt that was bedazzled that said rotten hell, love that, great. When his victims got up to speak one by one, Joseph remained stone-faced the entire time, refusing to look at any of them. It must've been nice for those victims and the families to like be able to say what they've been wanting to say, you know?

Most people don't get that. Between 1973 and 1986, the three crime sprees resulted in 13 murders, 50 rapes, and 120 burglaries across California. But due to the statute of limitations, Joseph was not able to be charged with any of the rapes or burglaries. He was able to be charged with 13 counts of murder and 13 counts of kidnapping.

Great. On June 29th, 2020, Joseph pled guilty to all 13 counts of first degree murder and special circumstances, which included murder committed during rapes and burglaries, as well as 13 counts of kidnapping. And then on July 21st, 2020, Joseph DeAngelo received multiple consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole

And he did stand up and offer a brief apology after listening to the days of the victim impact statements. He stood up and said, "I listened to all of your statements, each one of them, and I'm truly sorry for everyone I've hurt." I would be the lady with the bedazzled shirt.

What a journey, what a long journey. Can't believe he got caught, right? Good. He is currently incarcerated at the California State Prison in California. Great. This story is wild, right? It sucks that this guy got to live like majority of his life, just normal, happy and free, but

At least the victims and the victim's family got to say what they've been wanting to say and he will die in prison. That's something, I guess. So that's the really complicated, awful story of the Golden State Killer, AKA all the other names he had. I'm losing my voice. This man was absolutely disgusting. I hope he has a miserable time in prison. Yeah.

Not sorry about it. I mean, he did so much more. I would suggest reading that book and yeah, there's just a lot to it, but I felt like this was very long 'cause it was. Thank you guys so much for hanging out with me today. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day. Please be safe out there. Make good choices. I'll be seeing you guys later.