“I THOUGHT I WOULD NEVER BE FOUND AFTER ALL THESE DECADES”!!! BELIEVE IT OR NOT, INVESTIGATORS USED INVESTIGATIVE GENETIC GENEALOGY TO IDENTIFY FORMER POLICE OFFICER JOSEPH JAMES DEANGELO JR. FOR COMMITTING 13 KILLINGS AND DOZENS OF ATTACKS ACROSS CALIFORNIA, SECURING GUILTY PLEAS AND A LIFE SENTENCE WITHOUT PAROLE.
Between 1974 and 1986, a man broke into homes across the state of California.
He started his series of offenses first as a burglar and a peeping tom.
His behavior escalated over time to attacking his victims.
Eventually, the perpetrator escalated further to killing them.
Across multiple counties, the offender was known by several different names.
Investigators spent years before they finally understood that the crimes were all committed by the very same man.
In one region, he was identified by investigators as the Visalia Ransacker.
In another area, authorities referred to him as the East Area attacker.
He was also known across California as the Original Night Stalker.
Finally, he became known nationwide by the infamous initials GSK.
The man behind the offenses was a former police officer.
In 1979, he was fired from the Auburn Police Department.
For decades following his crimes, his true identity remained completely unknown.
But that decades-long mystery finally changed in April 2018.
Investigators resolved the case by utilizing a technique known as investigative genetic genealogy.
The method relied on building a family tree from DNA left at crime scenes alongside public genealogy databases.
Through that genetic analysis, investigators successfully identified Joseph James DeAngelo Jr.
At the time of his identification by law enforcement, DeAngelo was 72 years old.
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He had been living quietly in Citrus Heights, California.
His apprehension represented the very first arrest of its kind in the entire country.
In June 2020, DeAngelo formally pleaded guilty to his crimes.
The hearing was held inside a Sacramento ballroom.
The spacious ballroom location was chosen so that his victims and their families could attend safely during the pandemic.
DeAngelo admitted to killing 13 people.
He also admitted to carrying out 13 kidnappings across six different counties.
In addition, he admitted to dozens of uncharged assaults.
He admitted to other crimes that fell completely outside the applicable statute of limitations.
Prosecutors agreed to the negotiated plea specifically so victims could hear him confess to the offenses in person.
The plea spared the victims and the court from a trial that could have taken up to a decade.
That August, the court sentenced DeAngelo to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The case against him is now fully resolved.
DeAngelo entered his guilty pleas in court.
He received his formal prison sentence.
And he remains behind bars in prison today.
He is now 74 years old.
It ultimately took a completely new investigative technique to put a name to his face.
That resolution came decades after his crimes had finally ended.
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