DAs Seek Death Penalty Against Accused Golden State Killer

DANA POINT, CA — One month after California Governor Gavin Newsom issued an executive order suspending capital punishment in California during his term, prosecutors announced they would seek the death penalty for the accused Golden State Killer.

Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. of Citrus Heights was charged with 13 murders across the state, including four in Orange County, based upon investigation and DNA evidence.

The District Attorneys of Sacramento, Santa Barbara, Orange County, Ventura County, Contra Costa and Tulare met Wednesday morning to review the aggravating and mitigating circumstances in the Joseph DeAngelo case pursuant to the death review protocol of Sacramento County.

"Thereafter, the four jurisdictions with special circumstance allegations -- Sacramento, Santa Barbara, Orange and Ventura -- unanimously concluded to seek the death penalty in this case," the joint prosecutors said in a statement, adding "there will be no further comment."

A news conference featuring prosecutors involved in the case, as well as family members of murder victims, will be held Thursday morning in Sacramento.

In Orange County, DeAngelo is accused of killing 24-year-old Keith and 28-year-old Patrice Harrington on Aug. 19, 1980, in Dana Point; 28-year-old Manuela Witthuhn in Irvine in February 1981; and 18-year-old Janelle Cruz in Irvine on May 5, 1986.

The identity of the killer remained anonymous until this year when investigators matched familial DNA to DeAngelo using a public genealogy database. Investigators then recovered his DNA from an item discarded by DeAngelo, former Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas previously said.

About the murders...

The Harringtons, who lived in a single-story home in the gated Niguel Shores community, were attacked in their bedroom, said Investigator Larry Pool of the Golden State Killer task force. Their bodies were found on their blood- spattered bed with ligature marks on their wrists and Patrice's ankles, Pool wrote in a probable cause declaration.

Their killer left the binds on the bed. It appears he tied their hands behind their backs, covered them in a comforter and slammed a blunt object over their heads, Pool said.

Investigators in 1996 matched semen at the crime scene to the killer in the two other Orange County cases, Pool said.

Witthuhn was attacked sometime between 11 p.m. on Feb. 5, 1981, and 2 a.m. on Feb. 6, 1981, when investigators believe she died, Pool said. The cause of death was skull fractures from a beating, Pool said, adding that her parents discovered her body in a sleeping bag when they went to check on her. There was no evidence of a struggle and she had ligature marks on her wrists and on her right ankle.

Cruz was killed about 5 p.m. on May 5, 1986, in her bed in her Irvine home. Blood covered her head and neck and she was partially covered by her blanket, Pool said.

She had hemorrhaging in her eyes and bruises on the bridge of her nose, according to Pool, who said the killer knocked out three of her teeth -- with two found in her hair. She had no ligature marks on her wrists like the other victims, but there were abrasions, leading investigators to speculate her killer squeezed her wrists so hard he left a mark, Pool said.

Her lower lip was swollen, her tongue bitten. An ultraviolet light spotlighted semen on the victim, according to Pool. No murder weapon was found, but a pipe wrench in the backyard was missing.

Her cause of death was "crushing skull fractures," he said.
DeAngelo is also accused in the killings of Lyman and Charlene Smith in Ventura on March 13, 1980; Cheri Domingo and Gregory Sanchez in Goleta on July 27, 1981; Robert Offerman and Alexandria Manning in Goleta on Dec. 30, 1979; Brian and Katie Maggiore in Rancho Cordova on Feb. 2, 1978; and Claude Snelling in Visalia on Sept. 11, 1975.

By other names...

DeAngelo has also been linked to the so-called Visalia Ransacker burglaries from April 1974 through December 1975, a spree that ended with the attempted murder of Visalia Officer Bill McGowan as he tried to apprehend the suspect, Pool said.

DeAngelo is additionally alleged to be the East Area Rapist, suspected in 52 attacks in Contra Costa, Sacramento and Santa Clara counties from June 1976 through July 1979, Pool said.

Read also:

• Golden State Killer: 5 Chilling Theories Once Seen As Crazy
  
• 5 Things To Know About Joseph James DeAngelo
  
• Did Golden State Killer Murder Fountain Valley Woman?

City News Service, Patch Editor Ashley Ludwig contributed to this report.