SERIAL KILLER: The Golden State Killer Pt. 1

Burglary. Stalking. Rape. Murder. Before the world knew him as the Golden State Killer, Joseph James DeAngelo instilled fear across California. In Part 1, we explore his dark past, twisted relationships, and how his obsession with control escalated into cold-blooded murder. Killer Minds is a Crime House Original. Follow us @crimehouse for more true crime content.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:01Vanessa Richardson?

  Hi, everyone. Before today's episode, there's another show I want to tell you about. It's called What the Fact with Connor Tomlinson from Netflix's Love on the Spectrum and Carter Roy. Every week, they take three unbelievable true facts from history and tell you the full story behind them. Plus, Connor's infectious energy that'll make you realize history is the most fascinating thing on earth. Follow What the Fact wherever you listen, or subscribe on YouTube at What the Fact Pod.

• 0:37Speaker 01

  This is Crime House.

• 0:41Vanessa Richardson?

  For most serial killers, control is everything. There's controlling a victim's body, blindfolding someone, tying them up, rendering them helpless. But deeper than that, there's the ability to control someone's mind, to make them believe what they want them to believe, to manipulate their thoughts and their emotions to instill a primal fear in a person, in a family, in a community, or in the entire golden state of California.

• 1:29Vanessa Richardson?

  The human mind is fascinating. It controls how we think, how we feel, how we love, and how we hate. And sometimes, the mind drives us to do something truly unspeakable. This is Killer Minds, formerly known as Mind of a Serial Killer, a Crime House original. Every Monday and Thursday, we'll be taking deep dives into the minds of history's most notorious serial killers and murderers. The show is still the same, the name just changed. And if you're interested in more true crime stories from this week in history, check out Crime House: The Show. Every episode covers multiple cases unified by the same theme, so every week you get something a little different.

• 2:15Vanessa Richardson?

  At Crime House, we want to express our gratitude to you, our community, for making this possible. Please support us by rating, reviewing, and following Killer Minds wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback truly matters. And to enhance your Killer Minds listening experience, subscribe to Crime House Plus on Apple Podcasts. You'll get every episode ad-free, and instead of having to wait for each episode of a two-part series, you'll get access to both at once, plus exciting Crime House bonus content. I'm Vanessa Richardson.

• 2:49Tristin Engels?

  And I'm Dr. Tristin Engels. As Vanessa takes you through our subject stories, I'll be here helping her dive into these killers' minds as we try to understand how someone can do such horrible things.

• 3:01Vanessa Richardson?

  Before we get into the story, you should know it contains descriptions of murder and sexual assault, including that of young children. Listener discretion is advised. This is the first of two episodes on Joseph D'Angelo, who committed break-ins, sexual assault, and murder all over California between 1973 and 1986. He claimed so many victims over such a large area, his crimes were once thought to be the work of at least four different men. He was known at various points as the Cordova Cat Burglar, the Visalia Ransacker,

• 3:41Vanessa Richardson?

  the East Area Rapist, and the Original Night Stalker. Before it was discovered, they were actually all the same person. And Joseph D'Angelo came to be known as "The Golden State Killer." In today's episode, we'll cover Joseph's troubling early life, and how he started prowling neighborhoods before escalating to break-ins, sexual assaults, and murder.

• 4:08Tristin Engels?

  As Vanessa goes through the story, I'll be talking about things like Joseph's problematic relationships with women, his overwhelming need for control, and the mind games he played with his victims.

• 4:20Vanessa Richardson?

  And next time, we'll cover his terrifying rampage throughout California, the abrupt end of his prolific crime spree, and the decades-long quest to discover his true identity. And as always, we'll be asking the question, what makes a killer?

• 4:41Vanessa Richardson?

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• 6:02Vanessa Richardson?

  From the moment Joseph D'Angelo was born on November 8, 1945, his life was chaotic. His father was in the military, and the family spent Joseph's formative years on the move, living in bases across the United States and as far as Germany. By the time Joseph was in junior high in the late 1950s, the family placed more permanent roots in Rancho Cordova, California, a modest suburb just east of Sacramento. But Joseph's life was still full of uncertainty. Even with the family settled, his dad spent a lot of time away from home. Eventually, he left his wife and four children behind altogether when

• 6:47Vanessa Richardson?

  the Air Force transferred him to Korea. And Joseph's mom wasn't around a lot either. She started dating someone else who had kids of his own. She focused a lot of her energy on them, leaving Joseph in charge of his siblings. Joseph did not appreciate that. The two of them got into a ton of heated arguments, screaming at each other endlessly.

• 7:11Tristin Engels?

  So moving around that frequently can impact a child's sense of stability and their academic achievement, or the acquisition of social skills. This is well documented in the literature. But when Joseph reached an age where he would typically focus on building those social relationships and forming his own identity, he was taking on the role of a parent, roles and responsibilities that should truly not fall on him. We refer to this as a parentified child. And parentified children are at a higher risk of anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, role confusion, and developing maladaptive coping mechanisms. They often experience emotional suppression because their needs are overlooked in favor of the needs of others.

• 7:56Tristin Engels?

  Not to mention, there's been physical and emotional parental abandonment, first with his father transferring to another country, and then with his mother redirecting her attention to her new relationship. All of this can lead to anger and resentment, which appears to already be occurring with his mother if they're having these regular screaming matches like you described, Vanessa.

• 8:19Vanessa Richardson?

  Well, it seems like Joseph was lacking parental guidance and advice when it came to relationships and romance. No dad or mom around. With nobody there to really help guide him, what kind of effect could that have?

• 8:32Tristin Engels?

  Lack of parental guidance can lead to poor cognitive development because children learn how to reason and problem solve or process information in healthy ways through the guidance of their caregivers, as well as through social experiences. And Joseph has deficits in both of these areas, as I've outlined. But when it comes to relationships of his own, including romantic ones, without parental guidance, that can cause impairment in his understanding of boundaries, understanding healthy relationship patterns, and just overall interpersonal behaviors can be impacted.

• 9:09Vanessa Richardson?

  In general, Joseph definitely didn't have the healthiest relationships with women, or even know how to talk to them, really. As a teenager, he didn't have a lot of luck with dating. And when he did find a girl he liked, it was a disaster. At some point in high school, he proposed to a young woman he hardly knew. Unsurprisingly, she rejected him. So clearly, life in Rancho Cordova wasn't exactly enjoyable for Joseph. In 1964, when he was 19, he left home and joined the Navy. Joseph wanted to become a fighter pilot. Instead, he was assigned to work in the kitchens, and then as a mechanic. Still, Joseph put his disappointment aside and fulfilled his military obligations.

• 9:54Vanessa Richardson?

  Four years later, in 1968, he was honorably discharged and moved back in with his mom, who was still living near Sacramento. Ready to start a new chapter in his life, 23-year-old Joseph enrolled at nearby Sierra College. Although he was getting started a little later than most students because of his military service, Joseph's goal was to study criminal justice and join the California Highway Patrol. But he wasn't a great student, particularly in the sciences. However, Joseph found a lifeline in the form of his 18-year-old classmate, Bonnie Colwell. Bonnie liked Joseph's easygoing nature and his bad-boy style.

• 10:38Vanessa Richardson?

  He dressed a lot like James Dean and had the devil-may-care attitude to match. She agreed to tutor him in astronomy, and it wasn't long before they were dating. But their relationship wasn't easy, especially not in the bedroom. According to Bonnie, sex with Joseph was a strange, tiring, and unpleasant affair. He would go on for hours on end, insisting they do it multiple times. Joseph never seemed to notice, or care, that Bonnie didn't like it. In fact, most of their relationship revolved around what Joseph wanted, and that was to take control of every aspect of Bonnie's life. After his failed proposal in high school, Joseph wasn't taking any chances.

• 11:24Vanessa Richardson?

  Shortly after they started dating, Joseph gave his teenage girlfriend an engagement ring. But it wasn't exactly a romantic moment. He didn't bother asking her. He just gave her a ring, and that was that.

• 11:37Tristin Engels?

  Yeah, let's talk about these proposals. Even though this was more common back then, proposing in high school raises its own concerns, like whether or not the couple has the capacity to be fully aware and informed of the commitment they're making, not just from a relationship standpoint, but legally and financially as well. But to propose to someone you hardly know says a lot about Joseph and the desperation he had for nurturance, stability, and companionship. It also speaks to his deficits in social skills and understanding boundaries, as I expected it would. His proposal to Bonnie, when taken in context with how their relationship has been, particularly around sex, highlights his entitlement and control.

• 12:21Tristin Engels?

  It suggests that he sees Bonnie as a possession meant to serve him, which also says a lot about his view of women and their role in relationships. He did not want to give Bonnie the choice to reject him, but also maybe he believed she didn't get a choice. We are also starting to see how egocentric Joseph has become. And how did he get here? So Joseph spent most of his life without feeling any sense of control over it, and his feelings about moving or being left to care for his siblings were never really considered, no matter how loud he screamed them at his mother. This could have taught him that if his feelings didn't matter, why should anyone else's? But also, he may have believed that being forced to care for his siblings was out of an obligation.

• 13:06Tristin Engels?

  That family is an obligation. I mean, his mother abandoned him and his siblings to care for her new boyfriend and his children, and that sent a powerful message to Joseph. Now it's his turn, according to him. So he feels likely that in order for Bonnie to have an obligation to care for him, he needed to marry her and make her family. It's also the late 1960s, and this is a time where women couldn't open their own bank accounts without having a husband to give them permission. And this era certainly could have reinforced possessive beliefs Joseph had about women.

• 13:42Vanessa Richardson?

  Well, these weren't the only red flags from Joseph. He acted like the rules didn't apply to him everywhere. He broke fishing and hunting regulations and drove his motorcycle way over the speed limit, especially when Bonnie was riding with him. Bonnie put up with Joseph's deviant behavior, but there were some things she wouldn't tolerate. In 1971, two years after they met, 26-year-old Joseph was struggling with a psychology class. He asked Bonnie to help him cheat on the exam. She said no, but Joseph wouldn't drop it, and eventually Bonnie had enough.

• 14:23Vanessa Richardson?

  She called Joseph to her father's house, told him they weren't a good fit, and gave him back the ring. Joseph was so upset, he threw the ring into the bushes as he left. Then, a few nights later, Bonnie woke up to a tapping sound on her window. When she pulled back the curtain, she saw Joseph outside. He was pointing a gun in her face. Joseph told her to get dressed. They were going to get married, and he wouldn't take no for an answer. Thinking fast, Bonnie sprinted out of the room and woke up her father. After two hours of talking him down, Bonnie's dad finally convinced Joseph to leave.

• 15:05Vanessa Richardson?

  The experience left Bonnie so traumatized, she dropped out of school for a semester so she wouldn't have to see Joseph around campus. By the following year, though, Bonnie was back on track. She went on to marry an accountant in 1972, and Joseph moved on as well, but not in a healthy way. He graduated with a criminal justice degree in 1972, when he was 27. Against all odds, he was still on track for a career in law enforcement, and got an internship with the Roseville Police Department, about 15 miles north of his hometown of Rancho Cordova. But the job didn't get him on the straight and narrow.

• 15:47Vanessa Richardson?

  If anything, it provided the perfect cover for his increasingly dark desires. Shortly after Bonnie broke up with Joseph, he started stalking other women, watching them sleep through their windows. Sometimes he wouldn't wear pants, other times he would pry the window open and break into their homes. When he did that, Joseph liked to rifle through their underwear drawers. He stole things on occasion, too, mostly objects that had more sentimental value than financial. He'd take coins, knickknacks, random keepsakes, and interestingly, considering his broken-off engagement with Bonnie, rings.

• 16:29Tristin Engels?

  It's not uncommon for veterans to go into law enforcement after they're discharged from the military. They tend to get priority screening as applicants, and they already have desirable skills and experience. So ordinarily, a veteran's interest in law enforcement is not alarming in and of itself. But we're talking about the Golden State Killer. So there's more to this decision than simply the ease and convenience. Joseph is already showing a pattern of sexually deviant and antisocial behavior. He's exhibiting symptoms of kleptomania, which is an impulse control disorder, as well as voyeurism, which is a paraphilia disorder. He's also a covert sexual burglar.

• 17:11Tristin Engels?

  Covert because at this point in the story, he's not having any sexual contact with anyone, but rather, he's stealing things that could provide sexual gratification. Someone with this pathology would be interested in law enforcement because it gives them more authority, more control, and even insider knowledge, like how to limit forensic evidence at crime scenes, how to cover their tracks, and also, it allows him to immediately gain the trust of unsuspecting victims.

• 17:39Vanessa Richardson?

  It's interesting, he initially wanted to be a highway patrol officer. Why do you think he was interested specifically in that initially?

• 17:47Tristin Engels?

  I also found that interesting, that he was initially wanting to do that. Most people make decisions on which department they want based on the location, pay, benefits, and the expected job duties. There may be an element of this in Joseph's initial attraction to the California Highway Patrol, but if we break down what the core duties are of highway patrol, it's enforcing traffic laws, yes, but it's also largely about patrolling. And that is literally the act of keeping watch. And maybe that appealed to Joseph because of his voyeurism and his overall sexual pathology. There's some independence as well, since highway patrol officers generally patrol solo. He gets an area to himself, he gets to familiarize himself with it,

• 18:31Tristin Engels?

  and he can literally and legally watch over it without any interference. Though there are also aspects within the city police that would interest Joseph based on his pathology, and we're going to learn about that really soon.

• 18:45Vanessa Richardson?

  Well, one thing was for sure, Joseph wasn't planning on stopping this behavior. Within the first half of 1973, the 27-year-old hit more than 50 homes in the Rancho Cordova area. That was an average of about two burglaries per week. But around May of that year, the burglaries stopped. But not because Joseph was calling it quits. He was just moving to a new area, and his life of crime was just getting started.

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• 20:22Vanessa Richardson?

  After finishing his police internship in the spring of 1973, 27-year-old Joseph D'Angelo got a job with the Exeter Police Department, a small town 230 miles to the south in California's Central Valley. Ironically, Joseph was in the anti-burglary unit.

• 20:41Tristin Engels?

  Yep, and as I mentioned, this is a unit that would attract him because it would fit his pathology.

• 20:47Vanessa Richardson?

  And as you said, Dr. Engels, he used the knowledge he gained there to his advantage. Shortly after moving to Exeter, Joseph began a new string of break-ins in the town of Visalia, about 10 miles from Exeter. Around May of 1973, he committed the first burglary that would be attributed to his nickname, "The Visalia Ransacker." But the burglaries weren't the only thing keeping Joseph busy. He also made some progress in his love life when a friend introduced him to a 20-year-old college student named Sharon Marie Huddle. The two of them hit it off, and in November of 1973, they got married. Over the next few years, they'd have three daughters.

• 21:32Vanessa Richardson?

  However, married life didn't do anything to stop Joseph's dark impulses. He committed over 100 break-ins over the next three years, and his family never suspected he was a criminal. Once Joseph broke into a home, he would stay for hours rifling through the residents' possessions. Sometimes he would put on their clothes, and he continued to steal small trinkets, coins, stamps, family photos, a single earring, and on a couple occasions, a handgun.

• 22:06Tristin Engels?

  It's actually been suspected that Joseph would break into the homes prior to attacking anyone inside of it and remove handguns specifically so that no one could use them against him.

• 22:18Vanessa Richardson?

  Joseph also had a thing about time, controlling it, manipulating it. Literally, he stole clock radios from at least five different houses. And he seemed to enjoy playing little games with the things he took. For example, he stole two packs of cigarettes from one victim's house, then left them at another's. Or he'd take some cheap jewelry from one neighbor, hold on to it for a couple weeks, and then leave it at a subsequent crime scene.

• 22:46Tristin Engels?

  Yeah, this psychological manipulation is just an additional violation to his victims. Imagine that you discover your home was broken into, and when you attempt to take inventory of items that were taken from your home, you realize that the only item missing was a family photo or a clock radio? I mean, we know that most conventional burglaries are often financially motivated. But when you have a burglary where the motivation appears to just be simply to torment you, that creates an intense sense of fear and trauma, anxiety, and a deep mistrust in everyone because it feels personal. And it will leave a victim wondering, "Why me?"

• 23:30Tristin Engels?

  And because of how personal it felt, they will surely begin to start thinking, "Who in my life did this? It has to be someone I know." So Joseph really loved that he could control someone's fear and their sense of safety through this kind of psychological torment.

• 23:47Vanessa Richardson?

  Is it all just a power play? The fact that he's messing with these people's possessions, was it just to show them that he could toy with them and they couldn't stop him? This also reminds me of Charles Manson's "Creepy Crawl", where he would have his family break into people's homes and rearrange furniture in silence just to mess with them.

• 24:06Tristin Engels?

  Yeah, this is very similar to Manson. The only difference is that Manson intended that psychological torment just for the owners of the homes that he broke into. He wanted to disorient them, make them question their reality, which he was very skilled at doing. And if you want to learn how, then you should definitely listen to our two-part episode on Charles Manson.

• 24:28Vanessa Richardson?

  Mm-hmm.

• 24:28Tristin Engels?

  But with Joseph, he was tormenting both the victims of each crime scene and law enforcement. Let's remember that Joseph is working in the anti-burglary unit. So it's likely that he's being dispatched to the crime scenes that he himself committed, or at the very least, has access to the investigation and can hear the insights of the investigators assigned to the case. Joseph is getting a front row seat to the investigation into him. And that not only fuels his ego, but it gives him a deeper sense of control and power. He definitely got a thrill watching or imagining the investigators walking through the crime scene, walking around these items, maybe not even realizing

• 25:12Tristin Engels?

  that they were even planted there to begin with, because they could very easily pass up a single earring without thinking anything of it. Even the homeowners might dismiss something like that. This psychological torment was for both law enforcement and the victims, and it allowed Joseph to feel in control and in power even over his own department.

• 25:35Vanessa Richardson?

  Well, whatever was motivating Joseph to commit these break-ins, he knew how to avoid getting caught. Sometimes he propped open a door or a window in case he had to make a hasty escape. Or he might set up a makeshift alarm system by placing a perfume bottle on a doorknob so the breaking glass would alert him to someone coming home. But soon, these small-time break-ins weren't enough. Joseph seemed to crave something else. And so he set his sights on a different kind of target. In the early autumn of 1975, 29-year-old Joseph paid several visits to the home of 16-year-old Beth Snelling in Visalia. Something about her had him obsessed,

• 26:20Vanessa Richardson?

  and taking Beth's jewelry or clothes wouldn't be enough. He had to have her.

• 26:28Vanessa Richardson?

  On the night of September 11th, 1975, Joseph put on a ski mask and slipped into Beth's room. He climbed on top of her and put his hand over her mouth. When she woke up in a panic, he told her not to scream or he'd stab her. He said she was coming with him. In some ways, it was an eerie echo of when he tried to kidnap his girlfriend Bonnie Colwell. And just like with Bonnie, Beth's father Claude came to the rescue. He was awoken by the sound of Joseph dragging Bonnie out of the house and chased after them. This time, Joseph refused to go quietly. He fired a gun at Claude, shooting him in the arm and chest.

• 27:13Vanessa Richardson?

  Then Joseph turned the gun on Beth. But instead of shooting her, he viciously kicked her in the face several times before fleeing the scene. Beth survived the encounter, but tragically Claude did not, which meant Joseph D'Angelo had officially become a killer. In the aftermath of Claude Snelling's death, Joseph wasn't identified as a suspect. Whether or not he meant to do it, the murder seemed to unlock something in him. After that night, he committed other violent crimes, progressing from prowling and peeping to sexual assault. In October 1975,

• 27:58Vanessa Richardson?

  about a month after his first murder, Joseph struck again. But this time, he went back up to his hometown of Rancho Cordova. That night, he broke into a home where a mother was living with her two daughters. One was 18 years old, the other was seven. With his face covered and armed with a knife, Joseph tied all three of them up. Then he sexually assaulted the mother and both of her daughters. Before he left, he stole two jade rings.

• 28:31Tristin Engels?

  There's a concept in criminology known as the criminal spin, and it occurs when there's a sudden, or rapid, or even gradual acceleration of criminal behavior. It can be acute or chronic, and it's often beyond the self-control of the individual, and it applies to a variety of criminal behaviors, even serial sexual assault. And this is what is occurring here with Joseph.

• 28:56Vanessa Richardson?

  Could it be that somehow breaking the mental barrier of killing someone opened him up to be able to commit sexual assault as well?

• 29:03Tristin Engels?

  Yes, and it's very likely, because exposure to violence can be a trigger for an acute criminal spin. When he attempted to sexually assault Beth, he did not anticipate that her father Claude would interrupt, or that he would end up killing him. That was not planned, because if he went there with the intention to murder in this particular instance, then he would have killed Beth, his primary target. So this makes me believe Claude was unexpected. Therefore, it's likely that the reactive decision to kill Claude in that moment gave him a thrill he hasn't yet experienced, and in order to get that same experience, he would have to escalate his behaviors in frequency or intensity.

• 29:46Tristin Engels?

  But also, Joseph needs to amp up his attacks in order to regain a sense of control following an uncontrolled experience here with Claude.

• 29:56Vanessa Richardson?

  By this point, Joseph, aka the Visalia Ransacker, had been active for over a year, and although his latest crime was committed elsewhere, the Visalia authorities knew there was a serial criminal in their midst. Even with all his safeguards in place, Joseph had occasionally been spotted by residents in the area. He frequently wore some kind of face covering, but sometimes he'd been seen without one. Witnesses described him as "round-faced with blue eyes." He was between 5'9" and 5'11", heavy-set but with enough agility to boost himself over fences, which matched Joseph's description to a T, but they had yet to connect him to the crimes.

• 30:40Vanessa Richardson?

  However, authorities had taken extra measures to track the prowler. Detectives mapped out the homes he'd broken into and sent out special patrols, and a couple months later, in December 1975, their efforts finally paid off.

• 30:58Vanessa Richardson?

  While staking out a neighborhood in Bysalia, a detective spotted a suspect who matched his description. The detective chased and confronted the man, firing a warning shot. The suspect appeared to be terrified, letting out a frightened squeal, but it was just an act. Joseph was still in control. He pretended to surrender, raising his right hand in the air, but then, with his left, he shot at the detective. The bullet hit his flashlight, shrouding the scene in darkness and allowing Joseph to slip away into the night. Even though authorities failed to capture their suspect, this moment was still a turning point in the case.

• 31:40Vanessa Richardson?

  This was the closest Joseph had come to being caught, which naturally made him feel vulnerable, so the attacks stopped. But only for a little while.

• 31:53Vanessa Richardson?

  In 1976, Joseph, now 30, moved back to the Sacramento area with his family. They settled in the suburb of Auburn, where he got a job with the local police. However, he had trouble adjusting to his new department. Residents complained that Joseph had a confrontational attitude while on duty, berating them for even the smallest infractions. Joseph's superiors gave him lectures and write-ups to try and improve his behavior, but they noted Joseph didn't take criticism well. His boss said that Joseph would pout and sulk like he was a little kid.

• 32:30Tristin Engels?

  Firstly, I don't think anyone listening is really surprised that Joseph would behave this way on the job, intimidating others, because he wants power and control and he has a position of authority that gives him more of that. He will use that in whatever way he can for personal gain. But his reaction to criticism or correction from his boss highlights a few things about Joseph's personality. First, he lacks emotional maturity, which is a result of his childhood, in particular, the social deficits and the lack of parental guidance that we outlined earlier. Secondly, he's been playing the role of an authoritarian since he He was a teenager. He was in charge of his siblings and now he feels he's in charge of a community.

• 33:13Tristin Engels?

  Yet it did not appear throughout his life that anyone was in charge of him or setting rules or boundaries for him until this point, which is why he's behaving like a petulant child in response. Lastly, it speaks to his antisocial side because he does not like when boundaries or rules are enforced with him and people with antisocial personality disorder have a total disregard for rules.

• 33:39Vanessa Richardson?

  What does this behavior say about his relationship to authority? It seems like he needs to feel like he's in charge, obviously, and he reacts really poorly, like a child, when he isn't in control or doesn't get his way.

• 33:52Tristin Engels?

  Yeah, I think his behavior indicates that the only authority that he respects is his own. So he was attracted to law enforcement because he would get to be the rule of law, the authoritarian, the one that everyone has to answer to. And he likely had a fantasy about this career and had these idealistic expectations that fit his deviance. And as a result, he did not consider that even law enforcement officers have people that they answer to and people would still have authority over him. Also, Joseph is egocentric, so he wants to do what he wants to do and he does not want anyone to interfere with that.

• 34:31Vanessa Richardson?

  If Joseph wasn't getting to exercise the control he wanted on the job, he found other ways to do it. Shortly after Joseph moved to Auburn, he started a new string of break-ins and attacks, this time in his nearby hometown of Rancho Cordova. And before long, he was known by another nickname, the East Area Rapist, or the E A R, or E A R. The first attack attributed to the E A R took place on June 18, 1976, when 30-year-old Joseph broke into a home in Rancho Cordova and sexually assaulted a woman named Phyllis Heneman. Another attack occurred about six months later, on December 18, 1976.

• 35:16Vanessa Richardson?

  15-year-old Chris McFarlane had only been home alone for 10 minutes when Joseph broke in, snuck up on her, and threatened her with a knife. Joseph tied Chris up. Then, once he had complete control of her, he dragged her from room to room, sexually assaulting her.

• 35:37Vanessa Richardson?

  Chris didn't get a good look at Joseph, but at least some of his victims did. However, at this point, after three years in the Central Valley, he'd lost a lot of weight and grown a thick mustache. So this new appearance didn't match up with how he'd been described in previous sightings down in Visalia. Over the course of late 1976 and early 1977, Joseph attacked over a dozen women and girls. By March 18, 1977, the 31-year-old had grown so brazen, he may have anonymously called the Sacramento Police, claiming to be the East Area Rapist. He said he had his next victim picked out already,

• 36:19Vanessa Richardson?

  and they couldn't stop him. He was true to his word. That night, Joseph struck again. It was the 15th time since the spree had begun. Up to that point, Joseph targeted women who were home alone or with their children, basically people who he could easily overpower. But starting in April 1977, Joseph looked for a new challenge, and began attacking couples.

• 36:49Vanessa Richardson?

  On the night of May 27, 1977, Joseph broke into the Sacramento home of a couple referred to as Fiona and Philip Williams. He was wearing a red ski mask as he entered their bedroom. Tossing a rope to Fiona, he told her to tie up her husband, or he would shoot them both, and their three-year-old son, Justin, who was sleeping one room over. Fiona did what he demanded. Then Joseph tied her up as well. He proceeded to balance a stack of plates on Philip's back to keep him from trying to escape or defend Fiona. Joseph said he'd kill them if he heard a single plate break. Then he moved Fiona into the living room

• 37:34Vanessa Richardson?

  and began his cycle of ransacking and sexual assault. Once he was done, he disappeared into the night, free to continue his rampage.

• 37:51Vanessa Richardson?

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• 38:36Vanessa Richardson?

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• 39:20Vanessa Richardson?

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• 40:02Vanessa Richardson?

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• 40:16Speaker 04

  Everyone's told a lie, but what happens when one lie becomes a life, a movement, a conspiracy? I'm Josh Dean, host of Chameleon, and I uncover true stories of deception scams so intimate and convincing, they fooled the people closest to them. These aren't strangers, they're lovers, friends, and trusted allies. Because the most dangerous cons don't feel like crimes, they feel personal. Listen to Chameleon wherever you get your podcasts.

• 40:49Vanessa Richardson?

  By the end of May 1977, 31-year-old Joseph D'Angelo had committed at least 22 sexual assaults in the East Sacramento area. After being called the "Visalia Ransacker" for his previous crime spree, the authorities associated these crimes with another attacker, who was known as the "East Area Rapist", or "EAR". The local community was terrified. Gun sales skyrocketed, with nearly 3,000 firearms sold in Sacramento County between January and May of 1977. Some couples slept in shifts. Hundreds of frightened residents poured into community hall meetings.

• 41:32Vanessa Richardson?

  But Joseph's careful planning kept him from being identified, and even though some of his victims were able to give a description of the EAR, his job as a police officer gave him extra cover. So with the terrified community in the palm of his hand, Joseph continued to attack couples, similar to how he assaulted Fiona and Philip Williams. Then he upped the ante even higher. Twice, he targeted homes while five people were inside.

• 42:04Tristin Engels?

  Most serial sexual murderers plan their attack when they have the availability and the opportunity. And that is typically when their desired target is alone, and there is less risk of getting caught or interrupted. So what makes Joseph different is that he's targeting couples intentionally. On two occasions, homes that had at least five People inside, this is not typical. He wants the partner of his victim or loved ones of his victim to know what he is doing. And he wants them to either see or hear the suffering of their loved one. He wants them to feel helpless and vulnerable to stop it.

• 42:45Tristin Engels?

  He loves to psychologically torment his victims and their loved ones. And it's very sadistic. And I will explain more in detail as to why he's targeting couples in episode two.

• 42:59Vanessa Richardson?

  Whatever was behind Joseph's urge to escalate his crimes, it was growing stronger. Because in early 1978, he turned to murder. He'd killed before, but he hadn't been planning to. But now he was intending it. On the night of February 2nd, 1978, Brian and Katie Maggiore were out walking their dog in Rancho Cordova near Sacramento. Suddenly, they came across a man with a gun. Before they could get away, he shot and killed them both. At first, it wasn't clear if the Maggiore homicides were the work of the Ear. It just didn't fit Joseph's usual MO.

• 43:42Vanessa Richardson?

  However, there had been reports of a prowler in the area. And nearly 40 years later, in 2016, the FBI announced that they were confident it was the Ear who had killed the Maggiore's. And even though Joseph wasn't apprehended back in 1978, his crime didn't go unnoticed. A witness got a good look at the shooter. And later that month, the police released two sketches of the possible suspect. One of them bore a resemblance to Joseph, slimmed down and with a mustache. Right on the heels of that, the East Area Rapist moved away from his home turf. Authorities believed the new sketches had scared him into seeking new hunting grounds.

• 44:28Vanessa Richardson?

  And in hindsight, they might have been right. The stress was getting to him, and he was getting close to breaking.

• 44:36Vanessa Richardson?

  In July 1978, during a home invasion in Davis, California, Joseph broke down in tears. He cried into his victim's pillow in the middle of his crime. The victim later told police he invoked his former fiancee, saying, "I hate you, Bonnie. I hate you, I hate you, I hate you." Whatever emotional turmoil Joseph may have been experiencing, it seemed to persist over the next few months. After a string of attacks in October of 1978, more than 10 different victims said their attacker cried, whimpering like a child. He said things like, "I'm sorry, Mom. Mommy, please help me."

• 45:20Vanessa Richardson?

  And, "I don't want to do this, Mommy."

• 45:23Tristin Engels?

  So to understand why he's doing this, we have to understand his relationship with Bonnie and his mother, and the significance of those relationships. Joseph had been craving the stability of a family because he lacked that for himself. So when he began dating Bonnie, he finally had a taste of what that was like. Bonnie herself said in an interview that Joseph became really connected to her family, even calling her parents "Mom" and "Pop." He made friends with her brothers, and he was treated like the 10th member of her family. It was also his first real relationship and connection, and Bonnie was nurturing to him. She helped him with his academics. She supported him.

• 46:07Tristin Engels?

  And it was his first relationship that he was authentically himself in. And because he was himself, that included showing her his dark side, his antisocial behavior, the expectation of obedience, even cruelty to animals, she witnessed. Ultimately, Bonnie left him because of him, and that he made her feel unsafe. That was a significant rejection for Joseph. Now about his mother. He had an attack where he was saying he hated Bonnie. And then the subsequent attacks, he's pleading for his mother. This confirms that he longs for someone to fill that nurturing role. When an adult male uses the term "mommy", we have to consider the context because in some cultures, it's accepted.

• 46:52Tristin Engels?

  But in this context, it shows an inability for Joseph to differentiate his adult identity from his childhood dependency, a dependency need of comfort and nurturance and guidance. Those needs were not met as a child. And, just to be clear, neither his mother nor Bonnie are to blame for his violence and his behavior. His experiences with them may explain some of his behaviors, but it's certainly no excuse for them. There are plenty of children who are raised in emotionally absent households, and plenty of people who faced rejection who did not become violent like this. Only Joseph is to blame for his choices.

• 47:34Vanessa Richardson?

  Is it possible all of these women he's attacking are stand-ins for Bonnie in his mind? Could he somehow be trying to punish her for rejecting him?

• 47:43Tristin Engels?

  Yes, absolutely, and particularly in this instance, because he's saying he hates Bonnie while simultaneously attacking another woman. That in and of itself shows that not only is he projecting blame onto Bonnie for his actions, he's also displacing his anger onto his current target. It indicates that this assault is out of anger and retaliation.

• 48:08Vanessa Richardson?

  After these latest attacks in October of 1978, Joseph D'Angelo started to get even more erratic. Starting in late 1978, the East Area Rapists' attacks began to move into the San Francisco Bay Area and the Central Valley, about 70 miles from his usual territory. Then, the attacks stopped altogether. Folks in the Bay Area began to lower their guard and breathe a little easier, but as it turned out, this was exactly what Joseph wanted. It was part of a game he played, a way he exerted control over people's fear. In a way, it was the same thing he did with his individual victims, assaulting them, then

• 48:52Vanessa Richardson?

  taking a break, then only when he was ready, restarting the whole terrifying ordeal again.

• 48:59Tristin Engels?

  It's also a very similar way or pattern in which he was intimate with Bonnie when they were together.

• 49:05Vanessa Richardson?

  And by July 5th, 1979, the 33-year-old had resumed his reign of terror. That night, he broke into the home of a couple based in the Bay Area suburb of Danville, but things didn't go according to plan. He slipped into their bedroom like he'd done countless times before. He had the woman tie up the man like usual, but then, something unexpected happened. The woman managed to break her bindings and ran out the front door. Meanwhile, with his legs still bound, the man somehow hopped into the backyard to escape. For the first time, Joseph had completely lost control of his victims.

• 49:46Vanessa Richardson?

  After that, he stopped going after victims in the Bay Area altogether. Things seemed to be unraveling for Joseph, and not just on the criminal front. His work-life also took a hit. Three weeks after the failed assault, Joseph, who was still working as a police officer, was caught shoplifting from a hardware store.

• 50:08Tristin Engels?

  This really indicates to me that Joseph has significant impulse control deficits. Even his pattern of stealing items that have little or no value is a sign of kleptomania, which is an impulse control disorder and not uncommon with serial killers. So why would he choose to steal now, of all times? The loss of control over his victims in the Bay Area forced him to stay away from that area, and it kind of put him in a bit of a sleeper period to reduce the risk of getting caught. He knows that he has to maintain control over his sadistic urges, but the pressure to assault and kill again will be compounding. Remember, in 1977, by May, by May, five months into the year, he had already victimized

• 50:52Tristin Engels?

  at least 22 people. That's more than four people a month. So when he takes a break, or he goes into these sleeper periods, or he moves away from an area that he had been targeting, he gets a thrill at having control over people's fear, like you mentioned, but that thrill is minor in comparison to acting on it, which explains, at least in part, those acute criminal spins and that rapid escalation we see with him. All that said, when he has to take a break like this, or he has to move away from his area, he would need to find a substitution for his urges or impulses. And so it's not surprising that he would be stealing to get momentary relief

• 51:33Tristin Engels?

  or to, quote, "take the edge off" until he's able to strike again.

• 51:38Vanessa Richardson?

  Could this also have been a sign that Joseph was shaken up and maybe not thinking properly or clearly?

• 51:44Tristin Engels?

  Yes, it definitely is a sign he's been shaken up. But also, when it comes to impulse control disorders, the impulse overrides reasoning and judgment. So even though he might understand the risk of stealing right now, and it's a minor risk to take, they cannot contain the urge. It just overpowers them.

• 52:05Vanessa Richardson?

  After a brief investigation, the police chief fired Joseph. Disgraced, he left the Auburn PD with his tail between his legs. He moved out to Citrus Heights, very close to the prowling grounds of the year, and got to work as a truck mechanic. Joseph was humbled, but he wasn't done hurting people. And he would never let a victim escape again.

• 52:42Vanessa Richardson?

  Thanks so much for listening. We'll be back next time as we discuss Joseph D'Angelo's Southern California killing spree as the original Night Stalker. We'll also explore the role played by DNA in connecting all the Golden State Killer's crimes and finally tracking him down.

• 53:01Tristin Engels?

  Killer Minds is a Crime House original powered by Pave Studios. Here at Crime House, we want to thank each and every one of you for your support. If you like what you heard today, reach out and connect with us on social media at @CrimeHouse. Don't forget to rate, review, and follow Killer Minds wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback truly makes a difference.

• 53:23Vanessa Richardson?

  And to enhance your listening experience, subscribe to Crime House Plus on Apple Podcasts. You'll get every episode of Killer Minds ad-free along with early access to each thrilling two-part series and exciting bonus content.

• 53:39Vanessa Richardson?

  Killer Minds is hosted by me, Vanessa Richardson, and Dr. Tristin Engels, and is a Crime House original powered by Pave Studios. This episode was brought to life by the Killer Minds team: Max Cutler, Ron Shapiro, Alex Benedon, Lori Marinelli, Natalie Pritzowski, Sarah Kemp, Nani Akwologu, Claire Cronin, and Carrie Murphy. Thank you for listening.

• 54:10Speaker 05

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• 54:41Vanessa Richardson?

  If you're looking for your next podcast, check out What the Fact with Connor Tomlinson from Netflix's Love on the Spectrum and Carter Roy. Every week, they take three unbelievable true facts from history and tell you the full story behind them. Follow What the Fact wherever you listen, or subscribe on YouTube at What the Fact Pod.