The 72-year-old man, who is believed to have been an Auburn police officer fired for shoplifting a hammer and dog repellent, is said to be linked to a dozen unsolved homicides, almost 50 rapes and 120 home burglaries that spanned a decade starting in the late 1970s. DeAngelo was surprised when he was arrested by officers Tuesday afternoon in Citrus Heights in Sacramento County, said Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones. DeAngelo is currently being held at the Sacramento County Main jail and is ineligible for bail, according to jail records. DeAngelo was employed as a police officer by two different departments, in Exeter, California, from 1973 to 1976 and in Auburn from 1976 to 1979, when he was fired, Jones said. A vigorous multi-agency investigation into the alleged crimes was reignited in 2016 after a push by Sacramento District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert, who said at a news conference Wednesday she was motivated to find closure for the East Area Rapist’s victims before the 40th anniversary of his first attack. An arrest has finally been made in the decades-long investigation into the Golden State Killer, an alleged rapist and murderer who terrorized communities in at least 10 counties across California in the 70s and 80s.
Sacramento County Sheriff's Department arrest Joseph James DeAngelo in connection to the Golden State Killer case.