A serial killer who terrorized California for years has pleaded guilty to more than a dozen murders.
Joseph DeAngelo, a 74-year-old former police officer, appeared in a California State University, Sacramento ballroom on Monday and pleaded guilty in a deal that will allow him to avoid the death penalty. Instead, he is expected to serve life in prison without parole. He appeared at the hearing wearing a plastic face guard because of the coronavirus pandemic and was clad in a bright orange prison jumpsuit.
DeAngelo, seated in a wheelchair, did not speak much during the hearing other than to respond “yes” and “I admit” when asked whether he was responsible for the gruesome crimes described at length by prosecutors.
“Mr. DeAngelo is acknowledging his guilt for the heinous crimes he has committed,” said Contra Costa County District Attorney Diana Becton, according to NPR. “There is really nothing that could give full justice because he has committed horrendous acts and murder up and down the state of California. But at least we can now begin the process, after decades, to bring some closure to families.”
The location of the hearing was moved from the courthouse to the 2,000-person-capacity ballroom to ensure social distancing to prevent the spread of the coronavirus because more than 150 victims and family members were expected to attend.
Known as both the “Golden State Killer” and the “East Area Rapist,” DeAngelo was accused of breaking into more than 100 homes, raping more than 50 people, and killing more than a dozen during the 1970s and 80s. During some of his most gruesome crimes, he would break into the homes of couples late at night and rape the woman before murdering both her and her partner.
Sacramento County prosecutor Thien Ho told the room Monday that DeAngelo first appeared to admit his guilt while he was alone in an interrogation room back in April 2018.
“I did all that,” Ho recounted DeAngelo saying. “I didn’t have the strength to push him out. He made me. 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.”
“The scope of Joseph DeAngelo’s crimes is simply staggering,” Ho said of the crimes. “Each time, he escaped, slipping away silently into the night.”
Jane Carson-Sandler was in her home in 1976 when DeAngelo broke in and raped her. She recounted the attack to ABC News and said she was with her 3-year-old son when it occurred.
“He told us, with clenched teeth, ‘Shut up, or I’ll kill you,’” she said after DeAngelo’s arrest. “After the rape was over, praise the Lord, he moved my son back next to me. I could feel his body, and then I was relieved.”
“Then [the rapist] said, ‘Don’t move, or I’ll come back and kill you,’” Carson-Sandler added.
DeAngelo was captured using a DNA database in 2018 and charged with 13 counts each of murder and kidnapping.
Investigators used the genealogy database and DNA from a used tissue and from his car door handle to determine that DeAngelo was the killer they had been seeking for so many years. Since then, more than 150 people have been identified using the same technology.
As part of the deal, DeAngelo will not face the death penalty, a move that avoids a projected $20 million trial and concerns about the coronavirus pandemic affecting aging witnesses and trial attendees. Jennifer Carole, the daughter of Lyman Smith, who was killed by DeAngelo in 1980, told the Associated Press she did not support having her father’s killer executed.
“Death doesn’t solve anything. But him having to sit through a trial or preliminary hearing, that would have helped,” Carole said.
