Plea Deal For Accused Golden State Killer DeAngelo: Reports

CALIFORNIA — Two years after his capture and decades after what authorities say was his reign of terror, Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. will take a plea bargain in the Golden State Killer cases, according to reports.

Sources have told the Sacramento Bee that DeAngelo will plead guilty to 88 murder, rape and other charges at a June 29 hearing in exchange for avoiding the death penalty. Instead, the plea deal calls for a life sentence.

The plea deal would also bring closure for families whose cases were not included in the original charges. DeAngelo will admit to another 62 crimes attributed to the Golden State Killer, East Area Rapist, Original Nightstalker, Diamond Knot Killer, and the Visalia Ransacker, according to the report.

The Golden State Killer raped and murdered his victims between June 1974 and May 1986 from Sacramento to the Bay Area to Southern California. The serial killer and rapist is known to have struck in Sacramento, Stanislaus, Yolo, San Joaquin, Contra Costa, Santa Clara, Alameda, Santa Barbara, Ventura and Orange counties.

DeAngelo, a former police officer, was arrested in April 2018. Investigators used DNA to crack the case, technology that wasn't even invented when the crime spree began.

Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones said at the time of DeAngelo's arrest that investigators used "discarded DNA" to positively identify him as the man who committed multiple crimes. DNA is not available for all cases linked to the Golden State Killer. Some are linked by his crime methods, or modus operandi.

DeAngelo was a police officer in Exeter, near Visalia, from 1973 to 1976, and in Auburn from 1976 to 1979 when he was fired. According to an old newspaper clipping, he was fired for shoplifting a hammer and a can of dog repellent.

Law enforcement agencies around the state shared cold case information about the Golden State Killer, and there have been books and documentaries keeping the case alive. Ultimately, a task force that was formed in June 2016 solidified the investigation. Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert brought together police and sheriff's detectives, crime lab investigators, and district attorneys from every jurisdiction with cases linked to the Golden State Killer, along with the Sacramento office of the FBI. The FBI threw the resources of Quantico behind the investigation.

Special Agent in Charge of the Sacramento FBI Office Sean Reagan credits all law enforcement players in the case. But he also thanked the public for offering thousands of tips just since 2016. He also credited the media for keeping the case in the public eye.

Related:

• Golden State Killer, Nightstalker Caught Decades Later: Cops
• Joseph James DeAngelo: 5 Things To Know About Golden State Killer
• Golden State Killer: A Timeline Of Terror