Former Officer Pleads Guilty To Dozens Of Murders As ‘The Golden State Killer’
Former police officer Joseph James DeAngelo pleaded guilty today to a series of horrific crimes that shook California in the mid-70s. The now frail 74-year-old entered the plea in hopes of avoiding the death penalty for terrorizing California with over a dozen rapes, murders, and break-ins.
On Monday, the infamous Golden State Killer pleaded guilty to the first of 13 counts of first-degree murder.
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DeAngelo has committed to a plea bargain with prosecutors from 11 California counties to confess to the crimes from the 1970s. He will remain in prison for life without the possibility of parole.
DeAngelo said “guilty” in a raspy voice while appearing before Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael G. Bowman. He was asked if he murdered journalism professor Claude Snelling in 1975. Snelling was shot and killed as he tried to protect his daughter from a home intruder.
DeAngelo was finally arrested in 2018, after four decades of investigating, DNA evidence connected him to the string of crimes. At the time if his arrest, DeAngelo, a Navy veteran, and ex-police officer, was living out his retirement in Citrus Heights. He was connected to savage attacks across Northern and Southern California between 1974 and 1986.
DeAngelo was the boogeyman of California, also dubbed as the East Area Rapist, Original Nightstalker, and Visalia Ransacker.
The families of the victims are scheduled to give a press conference at 6 PM.