Prosecuting the Golden State Killer: Join us for a Q&A with Sacramento County DA
The Sacramento Bee will host a discussion with Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho about his new book “The People vs. the Golden State Killer” from 6 to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 9, at The Bee newsroom, 1601 Alhambra Blvd.
Ho led the prosecution of Joseph James DeAngelo, better known as the Golden State Killer and East Area Rapist. Ho’s book sheds light on the behind-the-scenes political fights and legal maneuvers that led to DeAngelo being sent to prison for the rest of his life.
Each ticket comes with a copy of the book, to be picked up at the event. Ho will answer questions from retired Bee reporter Sam Stanton, who extensively covered DeAngelo’s arrest and plea, and take questions from the audience. Tickets are $39.99 each and can be purchased here.
Detectives had been hunting DeAngelo for more than 40 years, first as the Visalia Ransacker, then Sacramento’s East Area Rapist, later as the Original Night Stalker and, eventually, the Golden State Killer. They eventually tracked him down using DNA technology.
Two years after his arrest in 2018, the Citrus Heights resident pleaded guilty to 13 murders and 13 kidnapping counts and admit to dozens of rapes, burglaries and attempted murders involving at least 62 victims between 1974 and 1986 in 11 California counties.
Ho was a prosecutor in Contra Costa and Santa Clara counties before coming to the Sacramento DA’s office in 2004 and working his way up the ranks until his election in 2022 as the first person of color to hold the office.
In a Nov. 18 Bee story, Ho told Stanton he considers his book the third in a trilogy of informed looks at the crimes. “Nobody had really written a book that covered the investigation, the capture and the prosecution ...” Ho said. “In this case, I wanted to focus on the generation of law enforcement that never stopped searching for DeAngelo, and I also wanted to help give a voice to some of the survivors and the victims in this case.”
If there’s anyone qualified to interview Ho, it’s Stanton. Over his 33 years at The Bee, he won numerous awards for breaking news and investigative reporting. Among his notable work is a 2013 investigation of Carissa Carpenter, who proposed building a large movie studio in Dixon despite a history of failed projects and legal troubles. Stanton’s reporting, alongside longtime Bee reporter and editor Marjie Lundstrom, led to Carpenter’s criminal conviction in 2018.
This story was originally published November 25, 2025 at 3:47 PM.