The East Area Rapist suspect was arrested. Here’s what’s coming Thursday and beyond
Joseph James DeAngelo’s arrest Tuesday enthralled true crime aficionados and brought some measure of relief to rape survivors around the country. And the story is just beginning.
The suspected East Area Rapist, Golden State Killer and Original Night Stalker was arrested 42 years after he allegedly began terrorizing greater Sacramento.
DeAngelo, 72, is suspected of raping at least 37 women in and around Sacramento and killing Brian and Katie Maggiore before his crime spree moved south, where he is believed to have assaulted at least eight more women and murdered 10 more people.
FBI crews remained at the Citrus Heights house DeAngelo shared with his daughter and granddaughter as of Thursday morning. Sgt. Shaun Hampton of the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department said Wednesday that several more search warrants would be executed over the next few days.
Law enforcement could focus on the SaveMart grocery distribution center in Roseville, where DeAngelo worked for 27 years. He was previously employed as a police officer in Auburn and Exeter, and interned with the Roseville Police Department after graduating from Sacramento State.
DeAngelo’s first court appearance is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Friday. He is being held in Sacramento County Jail on multiple counts of suspicion of murder without bail. He declined a Sacramento Bee reporter’s request for an interview Thursday morning.
At DeAngelo’s home on Canyon Oaks Drive in Citrus Heights, a steady steam of cars and pickups drove by the crime scene Thursday morning, as onlookers tried to catch a glimpse of where one of the nation’s most notorious alleged serial killers lived for decades.
Shayne McCormick and her friend Trina Cooper made the trip from Carmichael. They made no secret about why they stood outside the yellow crime scene tape, shooting cell phone videos of the TV news vans and law enforcement vehicles. “To be nosy,” McCormick said.
“This stuff all happened when I was a kid,” she said. “It’s scary, but I’m glad it’s finally over.”
DeAngelo faces four counts of murder from the Orange County District Attorney's Office, two counts of murder from Sacramento County and two more from the Ventura County, all with enhancements for burglary, robbery, lying in wait or rape. DeAngelo will face the death penalty or life without parole if convicted of the Orange County charges.
More charges are expected to be filed in the next few days. The East Area Rapist’s crime spree spread into Yolo, Stanislaus, Orange, Ventura, San Joaquin, Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa and Santa Barbara counties.
The East Area Rapist is believed to have killed four people in Goleta in two separate attacks, one in December 1979 and the other in July 1981. Santa Barbara County District Attorney Joyce Dudley has not yet decided whether to press charges, an executive assistant said Thursday morning.
DeAngelo is also suspected of being the Visalia Ransacker, who burglarized more than 100 homes and killed College of the Sequoia journalism professor Claude Snelling.
Benjy Egel: (916) 321-1052, @BenjyEgel
This story was originally published April 26, 2018 at 8:51 AM with the headline "The East Area Rapist suspect was arrested. Here’s what’s coming Thursday and beyond."