Joseph James DeAngelo, also known as the Golden State Killer, has been sentenced to multiple life sentences without the possibility of parole.
In June, DeAngelo, a former police officer, pleaded guilty to 13 counts of murder and 13 rape-related charges. Additionally, the killer claimed responsibility for dozens of other instances of sexual assault. The statutes of limitations on those incidents, however, have expired.
DeAngelo admitted to harming 87 victims in 53 crimes across 11 California counties, according to prosecutors. He was sentenced in Sacramento, California, on Friday.
DeAngelo has not been given the death penalty, as a plea agreement he signed in June spares him from it.
“The court approves this plea. However, the court is not saying that Mr. DeAngelo doesn’t deserve to have the death penalty imposed,” said Judge Michael Bowman on Friday. “Mr. DeAngelo will spend the rest of his natural life and ultimately meet his death confined behind the walls of a state penitentiary.”
DeAngelo started his spree of crimes in 1975 while working as a police officer in Exeter, California. He avoided investigators for decades before he was finally arrested in 2018.
“His monikers reflect the sweeping geographical impact of his crime,” Sacramento Assistant Chief Deputy District Attorney Thien Ho said in June. “Each time, he escaped, slipping away silently into the night, leaving communities terrified for years.”
Phyllis Henneman was one of DeAngelo’s victims. She was 22 years old when he attacked her. DeAngelo “broke into my home, blindfolded me, tied me up, threatened my life with a knife, and raped me,” Henneman said. In a statement read by her sister, Henneman said that “life as I knew it irrevocably changed that day.”
In speaking of the killer’s then-upcoming sentencing, Henneman said, “His victims and their families are now free.”
