SERIAL KILLER: The Golden State Killer Pt. 2

For years, the Golden State Killer haunted California—and then simply vanished. But he wasn’t gone. He was hiding in plain sight. In Part 2, we follow the decades-long investigation that finally unmasked Joseph James DeAngelo, the DNA that cracked the case, and the shocking moment he was brought to justice. 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.

• 0:42Vanessa Richardson?

  Catching a killer is kind of like running a race. At first, the criminal has a head start. They know who they've killed, how, and why. Sometimes, that head start is enough for them to disappear into the night, long before authorities even know who they're looking for. In the case of the Golden State Killer, it certainly seemed like they'd never catch up to him. But the people trying to find him never gave up. It turned out that the race against the Golden State Killer was a marathon, not a sprint. And in the end, the authorities beat him to the finish line.

• 1:35Vanessa 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's 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

• 2:19Vanessa Richardson?

  theme, so every week you get something a little different. 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.

• 2:58Tristin 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.

• 3:10Vanessa Richardson?

  Before we get into the story, you should know it contains descriptions of murder and sexual assault. Listener discretion is advised. This is the second of two episodes on Joseph D'Angelo, better known as the Golden State Killer. Between 1973 and 1986, he committed over 100 burglaries, 51 sexual assaults, and at least 13 murders across California. He was so prolific, his crimes were attributed to at least three separate suspects, before authorities finally realized they were dealing with a single terrifying criminal. Last time, we discussed how Joseph's life of crime started in the early 70s,

• 3:55Vanessa Richardson?

  beginning with peeping and break-ins, before escalating to sexual assault, and eventually murder. In today's episode, we'll cover how this terrifying rampage continued in Southern California, as well as the decades-long hunt to uncover his identity after going undetected for more than forty years.

• 4:18Tristin Engels?

  Along the way, I'll be talking about things like the growing brutality of Joseph's crimes, the possible reasons for why they came to a sudden end, and I'll analyze his surprising reaction to finally being caught and exposed.

• 4:33Vanessa Richardson?

  And as always, we'll be asking the question, what makes a killer?

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• 5:44Vanessa Richardson?

  In July 1979, thirty-three-year-old Joseph D'Angelo's carefully-constructed double life was falling apart. After being caught shoplifting, he was fired from his job as a police officer in Auburn, California. In need of a fresh start, he'd been forced to move with his wife and three daughters about twenty miles south to the Sacramento suburb of Citrus Heights.

• 6:10Vanessa Richardson?

  For a while, he licked his wounds and stayed under the radar, getting a job as a mechanic. But it wasn't long before he went back to his life of crime. By this point, Joseph had escalated from frenzied break-ins to sadistic, methodical attacks. He would sexually assault a female victim while her partner was tied up, helpless to stop him.

• 6:33Tristin Engels?

  Let's talk about the unusual pattern of targeting couples and where that comes from, because I think there are two key moments in his life that explain this. First, when Joseph was nine years old, he was living on an Air Force base in Germany with his family. And one day, he was playing in an abandoned warehouse on base with his younger sister Constance, who is seven years old at the time. It's been reported by Constance's family that two airmen walked into the abandoned warehouse while they were playing and raped Constance while Joseph watched helplessly. This is a very pivotal moment for Joseph. He's at an age of sexual curiosity, and he is around puberty. This experience is particularly complex for boys,

• 7:18Tristin Engels?

  because even if he was afraid, or frozen in fear, uncomfortable, his body could react as though he's not. In other words, he may have experienced some kind of arousal during this terrifying experience. Either way, in this incident, he was an unconsenting voyeur. We know that signs of voyeurism begin around puberty and are correlated with conditioning. And this experience could have conditioned him, since we know that he went on to develop voyeurism. Now, as his criminality has progressed into sexual assault, which 20% of all voyeurs escalate to, he is tying up the spouses of the women he rapes so that they too are forced to watch or hear in helpless ways,

• 8:03Tristin Engels?

  making them unconsenting voyeurs. It's like his attempt to correct that past trauma by regaining a sense of control over that event with a role reversal. Instead of being the helpless one watching or listening to the assault, he's the one in control now. But also, let's recall what happened with the unexpected killing of Claude, Beth's father. That was a pivotal experience where someone who loved his target not only heard the assault, but saw it. And although this was unexpected, it graduated Joseph into murder. And right after, he went into an acute criminal spin. So I believe this too played a role in his decision to target couples. It might have felt reminiscent of that experience when he was just nine years old.

• 8:48Vanessa Richardson?

  Up to this point, Joseph had focused his attacks on the Central Valley, the suburbs of eastern Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay area, earning the nicknames of the Visalia Ransacker and the East Area Rapist, or the Ear. But this time, he chose an entirely new area to target and terrorize: the town of Goleta, California, about 400 miles to the south. It's not clear why he strayed so far. Some have speculated he got a new job that required a lot of travel, but although the location was different, his attacks were just as brutal and sadistic. And on top of his frightening pattern of sexual assault, Joseph also began to kill with greater frequency.

• 9:33Vanessa Richardson?

  On December 30, 1979, 34-year-old Joseph broke into the home of Robert Offerman and Debra Manning in Goleta. The following morning, they were both found shot to death. Joseph had killed at least three people before, but this was the first time he'd intentionally killed during a break-in. And it seems like he enjoyed it. Because on March 13, 1980, Joseph struck again. He killed Charlene and Lyman Smith in their Ventura, California home, about 40 miles south of Goleta. Like his previous attacks, he tied up his victims, then sexually assaulted Charlene before killing them. But this time, instead of

• 10:18Vanessa Richardson?

  a gunshot, he bludgeoned them both to death. Then on August 19, 1980, Joseph went after Keith and Patrice Harrington of Dana Point, a coastal city in southern California. In what was becoming his new pattern, he sexually assaulted Patrice before bludgeoning her and Keith to death.

• 10:40Tristin Engels?

  We covered Joseph's escalation of crimes and the criminal spin more thoroughly in episode one, but now he's taking several months between each attack, and we're seeing more brutality and violence when he reemerges. This is likely due to a buildup of tension, urges, and obsessions. However, I think it's also important to consider that he is getting an additional thrill in targeting new areas, almost as if it's a new experience for him. It's a neighborhood or a town that has not yet been touched by him or plagued with fear. And that is something that would excite someone like Joseph, especially when we know how much he loves controlling the fear of others and the fear of the community. And

• 11:23Tristin Engels?

  he's also territorial, so this could be contributing to that escalation.

• 11:29Vanessa Richardson?

  We don't know a ton about his personal life at this time, but it seems like things weren't going well. Could there be a connection between Joseph's problems and his desire to increase the violence of his crimes?

• 11:40Tristin Engels?

  Yeah, there can definitely be a correlation between life stress and the escalation of brutality, and that is not uncommon for serial killers. Joseph, though, was recently fired from his job as a police officer, a job that in a lot of ways assisted him in his crimes and certainly assisted him in feeling in control and feeling powerful. That loss, plus the forced travel, the relocation, the disruption in his routine, all could cause anger and resentment and a need for retaliation for Joseph. But more importantly, it could also cause a need for him to regain that power and control that he lost when he was fired. These attacks could definitely be out of displaced anger and retaliation.

• 12:26Vanessa Richardson?

  Regardless of what drove the increased brutality of Joseph's crimes, this cycle continued over the course of the next year. In February of 1981, he murdered 28-year-old Manuela Witjune in Irvine, California. And that July, 35-year-old Joseph killed a couple named Sherry Domingo and Gregory Sanchez in Goleada.

• 12:50Vanessa Richardson?

  With the crimes all over the news, investigators back in Sacramento became aware of the murders. Some of them wondered if the murders in Southern California were being committed by the East Area Rapist. However, the ear didn't typically kill his victims, and his crime scenes were more meticulous than the ones down in Southern California. Instead, these attacks were attributed to a new criminal dubbed "The Night Stalker." A few years later, that nickname would be transferred to another serial killer, Richard Ramirez, but for the moment, it belonged to Joseph D'Angelo. The crimes were shocking, brutal, and terrifying.

• 13:31Vanessa Richardson?

  However, just as Joseph's murder rampage was beginning to strike fear in the residents of Southern California, it stopped. Usually, that meant Joseph was moving to a new area, and a new wave of crime was about to begin elsewhere. But not this time. Five years passed before Joseph killed again. It's not really clear what he was up to in his personal life, although it doesn't seem like there was anything that reignited his need to kill. But in May 1986, he murdered 18-year-old Janelle Cruz in her home in Irvine, California. And after that, it seemed like he was finally done.

• 14:13Vanessa Richardson?

  This was 40-year-old Joseph's last-known crime, after more than 100 burglaries, dozens of sexual assaults, and at least 13 murders.

• 14:24Tristin Engels?

  It might seem surprising that he was able to stop like that, but that's actually a myth. It's a myth that serial killers are incapable of stopping once they've started. There are serial murderers who have been able to stop, and the reason they're able to is because of those life events that you talked about. Circumstances, things that happen that inhibit them from pursuing more victims. Those events could be relocating, which often was the case for Joseph, or family activities, and Joseph himself is, you know, has a family. Jail stints are another reason, but in particular, when it comes to serial sexual murderers...

• 15:04Tristin Engels?

  Oftentimes, they found a substitution. For example, the case of Dennis Radar, BTK. He stopped killing in 1991 entirely and was caught in 2005. He admitted to law enforcement when he was caught that the reason he was able to stop was because he was engaging in autoerotic activities to substitute for killing. He also had a family, and that required his attention. Another example is Jeffrey Gordon. He stopped killing from 1991 to 2002. And he told authorities that during that time, he was able to stop because he was using crossdressing, masturbation, and he had an increased intimacy with his wife. And those things combined worked to inhibit his need to kill for those 11 years.

• 15:48Tristin Engels?

  So my guess is with Joseph, with the exception of moving and life changes, also aging, Joseph found other sexual substitutes to inhibit his more sadistic urges, which made it easier to restrain himself.

• 16:05Vanessa Richardson?

  Whatever motivated Joseph to stop, it seemed to stick. From this point on, he somehow refrained from his violent impulses. He lived a quiet, unremarkable life with his wife and kids in Citrus Heights, California. Meanwhile, investigators throughout the state struggled to solve the crimes attributed to the Visalia Ransacker, East Area Rapist, and Original Nightstalker. But the authorities in these jurisdictions worked in isolation from each other. They didn't realize they were all looking for the same person, and so they weren't sharing information. And with no new crimes to investigate, there weren't any new leads. But a decade after Joseph's final murder,

• 16:49Vanessa Richardson?

  investigators got an unexpected break. By this time, advances in DNA technology allowed law enforcement to test and match samples. In late 1996, an Orange County police officer decided to check on some evidence from the Original Nightstalker's crime scenes from 1981 and compare it with DNA from Janelle Cruz's 1986 sexual assault and murder. After this, the sample was tested with other crimes committed in the early 80s in Golida, Ventura, and Dana Point.

• 17:24Tristin Engels?

  Some of that DNA evidence came from an untested sexual assault evidence collection kit, which was formerly known as the Vitulow Evidence Collection Kit, which was named after my grandfather, Louis R. Vitulow. He had partnered with Martha Goddard in developing the kit, and I'm endlessly proud of his involvement in this and Martha's crusade for survivors, because without her, we wouldn't be here. But it's really disappointing, because there's a backlog of these kits. And the Golden State Killer is a powerful example of why it's crucial to end the backlog of these untested kits.

• 17:59Vanessa Richardson?

  I love your grandfather's connection. That's amazing. Well, sure enough, the testing of DNA samples from the various crime scenes confirmed what they'd suspected for years: the murders had been the work of one person. And now, there was a chance they could actually find him.

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• 18:52Speaker 05

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• 20:44Vanessa Richardson?

  In 1996, a decade after Joseph D'Angelo committed his final sexual assault and murder, authorities in Orange County connected the DNA from different crime scenes in Southern California to the same perpetrator, known as the "original Night Stalker." Then, a year later and 400 miles away, another investigator independently began using DNA to make progress on some unsolved cases up in Northern California. In July of 1997, an investigator with Contra Costa County in Northern California, named Paul Holes, came across old case files on the East Area Rapist.

• 21:26Vanessa Richardson?

  He used the new DNA technology at his disposal to run samples from three different cases in his jurisdiction. Paul's suspicions were confirmed. The samples all came from the same person.

• 21:42Vanessa Richardson?

  With the test results in hand, Paul got in touch with Mary Hong, a lab technician for the Orange County Sheriff's Department. She was the one who'd run the tests on the original night stalker samples the year before. As Paul and Mary compared notes on their respective murder cases, they realized there were a lot of similarities. Both sets of crimes featured prowling and burglaries beforehand, victims who were tied up, and in the case of the female victims, sexual assault. To confirm their suspicions, Paul and Mary wanted to compare DNA samples from the East Area Rapist and original night stalker. But the technology was still being developed.

• 22:24Vanessa Richardson?

  While it seemed likely that the samples had come from the same person, they couldn't confirm it 100%. However, progress in DNA testing was being made every day. Paul and Mary decided to stay in touch and reconnect when they had the capability of running the tests they needed.

• 22:43Tristin Engels?

  Immersing yourself into a case like this for such a prolonged period of time can really affect your emotional health if you don't have the right coping skills. And I can speak from my own professional experience, specifically when I'm hired to evaluate someone's criminal responsibility in an insanity case, I have to review crime scene evidence, usually video and photographs. I have to review body worn camera footage, and I interview a lot of people, including the accused. It can and has taken a toll on me. And I've learned the importance of compartmentalizing when it comes to these dark cases. But I've never had to work on the same case for years, like Paul and Mary. Cases like these are typically over for me in a matter of months.

• 23:27Tristin Engels?

  But for investigators, that's not the case. And when it comes to cold cases, a lot of time, the agencies don't have the resources or staffing and funding to dedicate the time to them. So more often than not, it's retired detectives and independent investigators who are volunteering their time to take on these cases. In general, whether they're retired and volunteering or actively working on multiple cases at an agency, law enforcement is at an increased risk of substance abuse, work fatigue, and developing depression or post-traumatic stress disorder because of the nature of their job.

• 24:04Vanessa Richardson?

  What is the psychological impact of dealing with constant setbacks like that, especially when it comes to particularly violent and brutal cases like this one?

• 24:13Tristin Engels?

  Yeah, it's a big one. I mean, most investigators view unsolved cases as failures, right? So when they start to make headway in progress, they get hopeful, they get excited. And then when there are setbacks, they feel frustration and disappointment. It's emotional ping pong, and that has a lasting impact. It can affect their ability to feel happiness or pleasure. They can become detached as a means of survival. They may struggle with feelings of hopelessness, and it can affect their confidence and their overall sense of self-worth, especially on the job, which can also trickle down to their families and affect their relationships. It can create a negative triad of thinking, that's what we call it, and that leads to depression.

• 24:57Tristin Engels?

  So an example of that is a negative view of self, world, and future. And in particular, Paul or Mary, they might think, "I'm failing at this, and the world is working against my ability to solve this", like in the case of the technology not quite being advanced. And then in terms of a negative view of the future, they could start thinking that this isn't going to get any better. And all of that can lead to depression.

• 25:23Vanessa Richardson?

  Thankfully, Paul Holes and Mary Hong didn't give up, and the opportunity to fully test their theory came three years later in 2001. The capabilities of DNA testing had finally reached the point they needed, and they were able to get the results that could definitively compare their samples. Over the phone, Paul and Mary read the results off to each other, and finally, they had confirmation of what they'd suspected all along. The profile from the three original Nightstalker cases matched the samples from the three crime scenes attributed to the East Area Rapist.

• 26:01Vanessa Richardson?

  This was a major turning point in the investigation. The fact that the ear and the original Night Stalker were the same person was front-page news. On April 4th, 2001, it ran in papers throughout California. The headline in the Sacramento Bee read, "New Lead Found in Serial Rapes: After Decades, DNA Links the East Area Rapist to Crimes in Orange County." But then, just two days after this triumphant headline, there was another more sobering development in the case. Like millions of others in the state, 55-year-old Joseph D'Angelo saw those stories in the

• 26:41Vanessa Richardson?

  paper, and he decided to remind everyone just how terrifying he was. Fortunately, he didn't actually attack anyone, but he had other ways of demonstrating his capabilities. On April 6th, 2001, two days after the ear and the original Night Stalker were revealed to be the same person, Joseph called a woman he'd victimized nearly 30 years earlier. When he spoke, she immediately recognized her attacker's voice. Low and speaking slowly, he said, "Remember when we played?"

• 27:19Tristin Engels?

  So we touched earlier on how serial killers who stop for a length of time or stop entirely are usually able to do that because of life events and circumstances or substitutes. And based on this reaction that Joseph had and his immediate impulse to call somebody that he victimized, I actually would not be surprised if calling and psychologically tormenting women was one of those substitutes that allowed him to abstain for all this time. Because he gets psychological and sexual gratification from power and instilling fear into others. And this is certainly a way for him, especially at this age, to meet those urges.

• 28:01Tristin Engels?

  If he was doing this, I doubt he identified himself in those calls until now. And if he's doing it now, it's because there's renewed attention on him, and with that comes renewed fear. And calling his victims to remind them that he's still around, has not forgotten about them, and knows how to find them, is a way for him to get psychological gratification from that emotional torture. It's also a way for him to regain power and control now that there has been consistent progress in getting closer to identifying him. It's as if he wants to show that he's unfazed by these new developments. And this is not uncommon for serial killers.

• 28:43Tristin Engels?

  Many of them monitor police investigations and some of them even write the authorities, all to feel in control.

• 28:51Vanessa Richardson?

  Well, thankfully, the woman Joseph called wasn't going to keep the experience to herself. After she hung up, she contacted the authorities to tell them that her attacker was going after her again. Unfortunately, they weren't able to trace where the call had come from, and finding Joseph wouldn't be easy. With all the cases combined, there were upwards of 10,000 pages of files to sort through. And, making matters worse, much of the evidence against the East Area Rapist had been thrown out because of the statute of limitations on sexual assault cases had expired. Some investigators didn't even think there was a killer to catch anymore.

• 29:33Vanessa Richardson?

  Even though Joseph had revealed himself by calling his former victim, there was no way to verify his identity. A few detectives thought it might have been a prank and the real killer had already died. Or maybe he'd been arrested for other crimes and was no longer on the streets. Either way, the case seemed to have gone cold again, for another 10 years. But then, interest in the investigation reignited, thanks to the efforts of a true crime writer named Michelle McNamara. On April 11, 2011, Michelle published a blog post about the East Area Rapist slash Original Night Stalker.

• 30:17Vanessa Richardson?

  She was drawn in by the discovery that such a prolific serial killer had gone decades without being caught. Her blog gained a lot of traction, and soon, the case was back in the public consciousness. People were on pins and needles to see if it could finally be solved. That same year, there was another development, when DNA tests connected two murders in Goleada to the same killer. Realizing that these cases were located throughout California, Michelle coined a new name for the suspect, one that captured the full scope of his crimes. She dubbed him "The Golden State Killer."

• 30:58Vanessa Richardson?

  For the next few years, Michelle dove into the case, tracking down leads and writing a series of blog posts and long-form articles about her investigation. She began compiling her work into a book called, "I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer." But tragically, she passed away in 2016, before the book could be completed. It was published posthumously in 2018, but although Michelle never got to see her project through to the end, it helped play a major role in the investigation.

• 31:36Tristin Engels?

  It really did. It's so tragic, too, that she wasn't able to see this get solved. Regarding the public interest in true crime, it's not unusual. I mean, law enforcement's always enlisted the help of public in identifying suspects or gaining information or leads on an unsolved case. And this has been in practice since the very beginning with wanted posters. But ever since social media became more heavily used, and to many, it's become the main source of news and current events, the public's become more involved in investigating crimes. Internet sleuths, as they're called, are able to investigate crimes because of the accessibility of information online that we have now that we didn't have before. They also do it with a community of people,

• 32:21Tristin Engels?

  almost like they're establishing their own law enforcement agency. It's a way of feeling some control over their own sense of safety and the safety of their community. I also think that there's a decreased trust or faith in law enforcement that fuels a lot of this, especially here, when we have a case that has been unresolved for decades and it affected the entire state of California.

• 32:48Vanessa Richardson?

  Well, Michelle McNamara's work definitely had a major impact. In addition to galvanizing true crime enthusiasts, it also lit a fire under the authorities. Shortly after her death, the FBI announced a $50,000 reward for information leading to the capture of the Golden State Killer, if he was still alive. And in early 2018, Paul Holes, the cold case investigator who was instrumental in linking the East Area Rapist to the original Night Stalker, thought of another way they could use DNA to find the killer. Paul had an investigative team upload one of the Golden State Killer's DNA samples to a genealogy site, kind of like ancestry.com.

• 33:32Vanessa Richardson?

  So far, they hadn't found a DNA match in the criminal justice system. But now, Paul hoped to use this sample to trace the suspect's lineage and hopefully find someone the killer was related to. And he did, but they were very distant matches. The search began with third cousins and relatives dating back to the 1840s. Over the next four months, investigators meticulously constructed a family tree. Then, they narrowed their search based on traits like age and location. In the end, they got their list down to six cousins who were a possible fit for the Golden State Killer.

• 34:14Vanessa Richardson?

  The FBI then needed to see if any of the potential suspects matched the sketches and descriptions of the killer. By now, the drawings that had been made were too far out of date. But there was one thing that wouldn't have changed about the killer's appearance: his eye color. And multiple witnesses had described the Golden State Killer's eyes as "blue." Only one of the six potential suspects had blue eyes: 72-year-old Joseph D'Angelo.

• 34:50Vanessa Richardson?

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• 37:15Speaker 01

  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.

• 37:47Vanessa Richardson?

  By early 2018, the FBI was sure they'd identified 72-year-old Joseph D'Angelo as the Golden State Killer, but they needed a DNA sample from Joseph to confirm their suspicions. They couldn't just go and ask him for a sample, though, so the authorities started watching him. He was still living in Citrus Heights, California, and had no idea that he'd been identified, and the investigators wanted to keep it that way. After all the decades they'd spent tracking him down, they didn't want him to make a run for it. Thankfully, he wasn't hard to track. Joseph lived a quiet existence. He'd separated from his wife and was living with his adult daughter and granddaughter.

• 38:31Vanessa Richardson?

  One day, he drove out to a Hobby Lobby store and gave investigators an opening. While Joseph was inside, an agent lifted fingerprints from the handle of his car. Later, authorities also snagged a DNA sample from a tissue he'd thrown in the trash outside his house. Then came the moment of truth. They tested these new samples against the ones taken from the many crime scenes over the years. It was a match. On the afternoon of April 24, 2018, the Sacramento Sheriff's Department arrived at Joseph's house with an arrest warrant. But there would be no showdown, no tense confrontation.

• 39:15Vanessa Richardson?

  When they confronted Joseph, he went quietly.

• 39:19Tristin Engels?

  I think there was some part of Joseph that knew this day would come, and he resigned to that, especially given the fact that he lived his entire life a free man, and he was now elderly. That might not be the same if they got to him when he was younger. We recall he shot at a detective or an officer who nearly captured him that one time. But at the same time, I don't think he ever anticipated being caught the way he had been. When Joseph was working as a police officer, he knew what kind of forensic evidence officers looked for to build a case for prosecution. And he was likely one of the first on the scene for his own crimes, like we discussed, at least in part. So he had the opportunity at times to tamper with any residual evidence.

• 40:05Tristin Engels?

  And not to mention, before 1980, there was no standardized way of collecting forensic evidence in crimes of sexual assault. So this was a crime that he likely felt confident getting away with, forensically. But unfortunately for Joseph, the invention of the sexual assault kit and advancements in DNA and genealogy were not something he could predict or upsmart. Though he would never show it, I imagine this was a big hit to his ego.

• 40:35Vanessa Richardson?

  However Joseph felt in that moment, he never tried to deny what he'd done. While alone in an interrogation room, he said to himself, "I did all those things. I destroyed all their lives." All told, he was connected with dozens of home invasions and sexual assaults and 13 murders, at least 106 victims altogether. The question the authorities faced at that point was, how to hold him accountable for all that destruction? As the case against Joseph got underway, prosecutors had to figure out how to approach the trial. He'd committed so many crimes across so many jurisdictions that trying them all separately

• 41:18Vanessa Richardson?

  would be a long and painstaking process. So the various district attorneys decided to combine all of their charges into one single trial.

• 41:30Vanessa Richardson?

  And Joseph wasn't going to fight them on it. On June 29th, 2020, he pleaded guilty to 13 counts of first degree murder. In order to have the death penalty taken off the table, he also admitted to crimes whose statutes of limitations had expired. That included accepting responsibility for multiple sexual assaults.

• 41:53Vanessa Richardson?

  A couple months later, in August 2020, Joseph was confronted by his surviving victims and their family members. They all gathered in a huge hall to share the terrible impact that Joseph D'Angelo had on their lives. There were so many survivors of Joseph's assaults, it took three days to get through all of their statements. Joseph, then 74 years old, sat in a wheelchair in front of them, staring straight ahead with a blank expression on his face. He barely moved, showing no reaction to the emotionally charged testimony he was being confronted with.

• 42:32Tristin Engels?

  I recall seeing images and footage of this in the media when it was happening. And I wasn't surprised that we didn't see any emotional reaction from Joseph because he lacks empathy and he's calloused. But it went beyond that, because it seemed as if he was in an altered mental state almost, except he was competent enough to continue with his trial, so that likely was not genuine. There was no cognitive or mental health reason to explain that. Therefore, to me, he seemed to be doing this intentionally as another chance to assert control and power over his victims and their families. He did not want them to perceive him in any way affected by their words and their experiences,

• 43:16Tristin Engels?

  even if the only reaction he was capable of was anger. Also worth noting, he often altered his appearance when he was active with the intention of throwing people off. So this is already an established pattern of him. So appearing feeble, appearing unaffected, that tracks with Joseph and his pathology.

• 43:35Vanessa Richardson?

  On the third day, after all the survivors and family members had spoken, Joseph finally made a statement. There wasn't much he could have said to address all of the pain that had been shared, but he didn't seem to give much of it a try. He said, "I've listened to all your statements, each one of them, and I am truly sorry to everyone I hurt. Thank you, Your Honor."

• 44:01Vanessa Richardson?

  Joseph's paltry apology didn't earn him any lenience from the judge. On August 21st, 2020, he was given 26 life sentences without the possibility of parole. As of this recording, Joseph D'Angelo is still alive, wasting away behind bars. For his surviving victims, though, the nightmare isn't over. Beyond the physical violence he inflicted on them, he also caused deep psychological wounds. After they were attacked, many couples broke up, unable to move past their trauma and grief.

• 44:39Tristin Engels?

  Yeah, the ripple effect of Joseph's crimes is very extensive, and it reaches in a lot of ways people never considered. We already know through extensive research that there are immediate and long-term effects from surviving a sexual assault. There are the mental health effects, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, anger, a decreased ability to feel happiness, detachment, fear, and more. But there are also social and behavioral impacts. The impact of sexual assault can affect relationships with friends, family, and certainly romantic partners or spouses. Trauma responses are different for everyone. Survivors might have a hard time being intimate with someone,

• 45:23Tristin Engels?

  while others might be more sexually active. But what they need is support, patience, and empathy. And when you have a situation where your spouse witnessed your assault and was also a victim in their own way, victimized at the same time, they too have immediate long-term effects from surviving that. Survivor's guilt being one, as well as intense feelings of shame. Their husband may blame themselves or feel inadequate as a protector, and this can have significant impacts on their sense of self-worth and their worth as a partner. Also, if one or both are experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder from this event, then they may associate their partner with their trauma in adverse ways,

• 46:06Tristin Engels?

  and certainly not intentionally, but one of the symptoms of PTSD is avoidance. So their instinct could be to avoid each other as a result of that association, which would negatively impact the relationship. And trying to navigate the aftermath of a trauma like this on your own with the right support and intervention is difficult enough. But to try to navigate that at the same time as your spouse, your partner, your life partner, is navigating their own aftermath, that can significantly impact a couple's ability to stay connected, and it will greatly impact their marriage. It honestly just breaks my heart to even try to conceptualize what this must have been like for them, let alone conceptualizing in a way that does them justice, because

• 46:50Tristin Engels?

  he ruined so many lives in so many ways, in so many communities over so many years, and it's devastating.

• 46:59Vanessa Richardson?

  Well, if there's any solace to be taken, it's that Joseph D'Angelo will never hurt anyone again. And thanks to the actions taken by the people investigating his crimes, many other dangerous people have been apprehended as well. Since Joseph's arrest in 2018, over 150 other possible criminals have been identified using genealogical strategies. There are some questions about people's right to privacy when it comes to uploading genetic data to websites, but one thing is clear: Thanks to the strategies employed by investigators like Paul Holes and our own Dr. Tristin Engels' grandfather, Louis R. Vitullo, and Martha

• 47:42Vanessa Richardson?

  Goddard, one of history's most dangerous killers was taken off the streets, and his surviving victims can breathe easier, knowing their tormentor has been brought to justice.

• 48:08Vanessa Richardson?

  Thanks so much for listening. Come back next time for a deep dive into the mind of another murderer.

• 48:14Tristin 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 on all social media at Crime House. And don't forget to rate, review, and follow Killer Minds wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback truly makes a difference.

• 48:36Vanessa 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.

• 48:52Vanessa 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 Perczowski, Sarah Camp, Nani Akwoloku, Claire Cronin, and Carrie Murphy. Of the many sources we used when researching this episode, the one we found the most credible and helpful was "I'll Be Gone in the Dark" by Michelle McNamara. Thank you for listening.

• 49:33Vanessa Richardson?

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• 49:58Speaker 06

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• 50:34Vanessa 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.