The Golden State Killer: When Evil Wore a Badge

What if I told you that for decades, one of California's most wanted serial killers was hiding in plain sight as a suburban grandfather? Joseph James DeAngelo spent his career as a cop investigating burglaries while committing them himself. He fooled his family, his colleagues, and entire communities for forty years. Then in 2018, a genealogy website changed everything. This is the story of how evil wore a badge, and how DNA finally brought it all crashing down.

How a Childhood Sets the Stage for Horror

Look, I'm going to tell you about Joseph James DeAngelo, and this story is going to feel like watching someone fall down a very long, very dark staircase. Born in 1945 in Bath, New York, right as World War II was ending, DeAngelo came into this world during a time when the country was trying to figure out what normal looked like again.

His dad was a career military man - a sergeant in the U.S. Army - and he ran their household like a boot camp. Now, military families move around a lot, and the DeAngelos were no exception. They bounced from base to base, never really settling anywhere long enough for young Joseph to put down roots.

Here's where things get complicated. DeAngelo's older sisters would later say that their father's idea of discipline crossed some pretty serious lines. When Joseph broke the rules, and apparently he did that often, the punishments weren't your typical "go to your room" situation. We're talking about abuse that left lasting marks, both physical and psychological.

But there's another piece to this puzzle that's absolutely crucial to understand. When the family was stationed in Germany, Joseph's older sister Constance was assaulted by two airmen. This wasn't some minor incident - this was a violent attack that fundamentally changed how this family functioned. And for Joseph, watching his sister go through that trauma appears to have planted something dark in his developing mind.

The Making of a Monster: Early Warning Signs

By the time Joseph hit his teenage years, he was already showing some seriously troubling behavior. While other kids were figuring out dating and driving, Joseph was breaking into neighbors' houses. Not for money or valuables - he was taking weird, personal stuff. A single earring from a set. Random coins from kids' piggy banks. Women's underwear.

And then there were the animals. Joseph started hurting animals, which any psychologist will tell you is a massive red flag. When someone can't fight back against a larger, stronger person, sometimes they turn around and hurt something smaller and weaker. It's a pattern that would define Joseph's entire life.

From Navy to Police: The Perfect Cover Story

After high school, Joseph joined the Navy and served during the Vietnam War. He was stationed on two different ships and saw active duty. When he came back to the States, he did what a lot of veterans did - he went to school and then looked for steady work.

Joseph DeAngelo worked for the Auburn Police Department from 1976 to 1979, a timespan when he was allegedly committing dozens of rapes. The irony here is staggering - he was working in the burglary unit, investigating the exact same crimes he'd been committing since he was a teenager.

Think about that for a second. This man spent his days learning exactly how police investigated break-ins, what evidence they looked for, and how to avoid getting caught. He was literally getting paid to become a better criminal.

The Shoplifting Incident That Changed Everything

He served in Auburn from August 1976 to July 1979, when he was arrested for shoplifting a hammer and dog repellent; he was sentenced to six months of probation and fired that October. Now, you might be thinking, "Why would someone risk their entire career over a hammer and some dog repellent?" Well, hold that thought, because it's about to make perfect sense.

When Joseph got fired, he didn't go quietly. During the process of being fired, DeAngelo threatened to kill the chief of police and allegedly stalked the chief's house. His former colleagues got a glimpse of who he really was underneath that badge, but they had no idea how deep this rabbit hole actually went.

The East Area Rapist Emerges

Here's where we need to talk about what Joseph was really doing during those years as a police officer. The first crime thought to be connected to what they were calling the East Area Rapist  took place on June 18, 1976, when a man broke into a home in Rancho Cordova, a Sacramento suburb, and assaulted a woman in her home.

But he'd been escalating for a while. In 1975, he'd been stalking the Snelling family, particularly their 16-year-old daughter. Her father, Claude Snelling, had already chased off a masked prowler from under her bedroom window once. But Joseph came back, and this time he made it inside their house.

In the early morning hours, Claude heard strange noises and went to investigate. He found a masked man attempting to kidnap his daughter. Claude fought back and saved his child, but Joseph was prepared for resistance. He shot Claude, who died from his injuries. Joseph had crossed another line - from burglar and stalker to killer.

The Systematic Terror Campaign

What made Joseph so terrifying wasn't random violence - it was the methodical way he operated. He would stalk potential victims for weeks, sometimes months, learning their routines, their vulnerabilities, their schedules. He'd break into homes multiple times before the final attack, leaving behind tools he'd need later. Shoelaces for binding. Weapons for threatening.

During his attacks, Joseph would spend hours in his victims' homes. He'd eat their food, drink their beer, rummage through their personal belongings. One survivor described thinking he'd left, only to have him reappear and continue the assault. It was psychological torture on top of physical violence.

And there was something else - he'd often mumble about someone named "Bonnie" during these attacks. Bonnie was a woman he'd been engaged to years earlier who had left him. He was literally taking out his romantic failures on innocent women.

The Body Count Rises

In 1978, Joseph's violence escalated again. He encountered Brian and Katie Maggiore, a young military couple out walking their dog. Brian was 21, Katie was 20. They were killed for the simple crime of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Joseph had officially become a serial killer. Police believe that Golden State Killer, Joseph James DeAngelo is the man behind a dozen heinous murders and dozens of rapes across California, spanning from the Sacramento area to Orange County in Southern California, between 1976 and 1986.

The Scope of the Horror

At a June 29, 2020 hearing, the 74-year-old former police officer admitted to a total of 161 crimes involving 48 victims, including dozens of rapes that could not be charged because the statute of limitations on prosecuting them had long ago expired.

Let me put that in perspective. He committed 13 known murders, over 50 rapes and 120 burglaries up and down the state of California in 11 different counties. This wasn't a crime spree - this was a decades-long reign of terror.

How He Finally Got Caught

For 40 years, Joseph James DeAngelo thought he'd gotten away with it. He'd used his police training to stay ahead of investigators, always wearing gloves, always planning his escape routes, always knowing exactly what evidence to avoid leaving behind.

But he never counted on science catching up with him. In 2018, investigators used DNA evidence collected from crime scenes in the 1970s and uploaded it to GEDmatch, a genealogical database. The DNA didn't match anyone in the system directly, but it showed family connections.

Investigators built a family tree and narrowed it down to Joseph James DeAngelo. After 40 years of hiding in plain sight, living as a grandfather in a quiet neighborhood, his past finally caught up with him.

The Interrogation: Meet "Jerry"

When Joseph was arrested, something fascinating happened during his interrogation. He started talking about an alter ego named "Jerry." He claimed that Jerry was the one who made him commit these crimes, that Jerry was a part of him that he couldn't control.

"I didn't have the strength to push him out," he said. "He made me. He went with me. It was like in my head, I mean, he's a part of me. I didn't want to do those things. I pushed Jerry out and had a happy life. I did all those things. I destroyed all their lives. So now I've got to pay the price."

Now, I'm not a psychologist, but this sounds like someone who spent decades perfecting the art of not taking responsibility for his actions.

Justice, Finally

The killer was at large for decades until DNA evidence led to the arrest of Joseph DeAngelo in 2018, who pleaded guilty in June 2020. By the time he was sentenced, Joseph was 74 years old - an elderly man who had fooled his own family for decades.

The statute of limitations had run out on most of his sexual assault charges, but he could still be held accountable for murder. In August 2020, Joseph James DeAngelo was sentenced to multiple consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.

The Lasting Impact

Joseph James DeAngelo's story is a reminder that monsters don't always look like monsters. They can be your neighbor, your coworker, even the police officer who's supposed to protect you. For 40 years, he lived a seemingly normal life while carrying the weight of unimaginable violence.

The survivors of his crimes showed incredible courage in coming forward and testifying. Their strength helped ensure that even decades later, justice could still be served. And thanks to advances in DNA technology, cases that once seemed impossible to solve are finding resolution.

Joseph James DeAngelo thought he was smarter than everyone else. In the end, he was wrong.