Ex-Cop Arrested for Over a Dozen Murders and 50 Rapes
One of the most wanted fugitives in America was identified and captured today.
Known as the "Golden State Killer", this ex-cop is one of the worst criminals in our history.
The notorious “Golden State Killer” who terrorized California with a stunning series of at least 50 rapes and a dozen murders starting in 1976 is now behind bars — and may have committed some of the crimes while he was a cop, authorities said Wednesday.
Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, was arrested Tuesday afternoon outside his residence in the sleepy Citrus Heights neighborhood of suburban Sacramento after investigators surveilled his “routine,” collected some “discarded DNA” and matched it to evidence collected from the one-man crime spree, prosecutors and police said at a press conference Wednesday afternoon.
DeAngelo previously worked as an officer with the Exeter Police Department near Visalia, Calif., in the early 1970s and was fired from the Auburn Police Department in 1979 for shoplifting dog repellent and a hammer, Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones confirmed.
His time on the force would have overlapped with the first wave of his attacks.“Very possibly he was committing crimes during the time he was employed as a peace officer,” Jones said, adding that investigators were looking into the possibility DeAngelo may have used his badge to carry out some early crimes.
Authorities declined to say how they first landed on DeAngelo as a suspect, saying only that new technology led to the break in the case after four decades.
Wednesday’s arrest came after the FBI and Sacramento County law enforcement announced a new $50,000 reward in the unsolved case in 2016, and created a website where people could view police sketches and hear interviews with survivors. -(Nancy Dillon, NY Daily News)
Credit: NBC