Casefile True Crime - Case 53: EAR-ONS/Golden State Killer | Update

Episode Date: April 26, 2018

This is an important update on the EAR-ONS/Golden State Killer case in Case 53 (25.04.18). For all credits and sources, please visit casefilepodcast.com/case-53-original-night-stalker-part-5.

From the biggest stadiums To the coziest holes in the wall From house parties to porch hangs to pride celebrations From your favorite fuzz shop to your local Indians vibe From noodle bars to sports bars to salsa bars There's a Molson with your name on it Canadian ultra XL

Molson Everyone in Must be legal drinking age Wow, what a fucking day. What a week actually First we get the news that there's a suspect in custody for the 1999 murders of Laura Bible and Ashley Freeman Now this That's fucking unbelievable To all the victims survivors their families who fought so long and so hard for justice this day really belongs to you

To get this result after all these years. I can't find the words to describe it It was actually Debbie Domingo and Michelle Cruz who contacted us about doing an episode Which turned out to be five episodes on the East area rapist the original night stalker golden state killer They were constantly out there talking to anyone who'd listened to get publicity on the case Bruce Harrington as well who speaks in the press conference that will follow Survivors of the East area rapist who bravely reported the crimes and those who later spoke out Jane Carson who you heard talk on your series all of them. They never gave up this day belongs to them and

Don't underestimate just how hard-working and how dedicated law enforcement were to cracking this thing Bit of a story when we were in the States last year We actually met up with Orange County DA investigator Erica Hatchcraft and the Contra Costa County DA investigator Paul Halls We met them separately, but after meeting both I remember saying you know what I Think they'll solve this and That wasn't based on anything they told us about the case They didn't give us any groundbreaking info or anything that you didn't hear in the episodes to make me think that

It was just them themselves. They're dedication. They're knowledge. They're passion. I couldn't have walked away from those meetings any more impressed I remember thinking if that's the quality of people they have working this case Then I think there's going to be a good result here and Obviously, there's a ton of other hard-working dedicated investigators crime scene forensic officers and many more who made this happen Who I don't know and therefore calm down There's limited information available at the moment about this suspect Everyone's obviously got tons of questions and I'm sure most of those will be answered in time But essentially Joseph D'Angelo came up on law enforcement's radar somehow

How they started looking at him. We don't know As a result of whatever it was that led them to D'Angelo, they started a surveillance operation on him From that surveillance operation they obtained DNA from an item he discarded and That DNA then led to an arrest Of course, nothing has been proven yet. These are just allegations They said in the press conference that they had certain information on how D'Angelo might react when confronted So they came up with a plan and confronted him as he was walking out of his house D'Angelo was shocked

imagine what was going through his head and Something was going through his head because in the press conference one of the officers said that it looked like he was searching his mind to execute a formerly made plan But he never got the chance What we do know about D'Angelo is that he was a police officer in Exeter from 1973 to 1976 So that puts him right in the area of Visalia The Visalia ransacker operated from 74 to 75 and there was always that debate of whether or not the Visalia ransacker was the same offender I'm not saying D'Angelo was the Visalia ransacker. He hasn't been charged with those crimes and even if he is charged

They still have to be proven in court. I'm just pointing out his work history D'Angelo then moved to the Orban police department where he worked from 1976 to 1979 until he was fired for shoplifting He stalled dog repellent and a hammer Orban is about a 40 minute drive north from Rancho Cordova where the first East area rapist attack occurred in 1976 The same year D'Angelo was employed by the Orban police department Again, nothing has been proven here. These are just allegations. I'm just pointing out D'Angelo's work history There's all sorts of information flying around but one thing that caught my eye is that apparently at one time D'Angelo was engaged to a woman named Bonnie

The East area rapist whispered I hate you Bonnie to one of the survivors during an attack The survivor's name is not Bonnie Again, this proves nothing. I'm just pointing out that D'Angelo was engaged to a woman named Bonnie And that the East area rapist whispered the name Bonnie during an attack There was also lots of speculation flying around that this was somehow linked to Australia The DNA match came from a Nozzi database and it's linked to Mr. Krule, but none of that's true Without speculating too much another thing that caught my eye is that D'Angelo had a child born in 1981 It was his first child

The Golden State killer committed several murders in 1981 up until the time D'Angelo's first child was born After D'Angelo's first child was born the Golden State killer stopped The next murder wasn't until five years later in 1986 the murder of Janelle Cruz After that as far as we know the Golden State killer didn't kill again Now further information may come to light as the investigation rolls on that there were further attacks between 81 and 86 or after 86 But so far as far as we know according to the timeline that we have That was the last attack I thought it was pretty significant as far as the timeline goes, but again

It proves nothing There will obviously be lots more information coming out over the following days weeks months years And we will do an in-depth update in time Probably a whole new series will be needed for all of the updates and new information that comes to light But again, I'd just like to make clear nothing has been proven in court yet. These are simply allegations But we'll end this one with some snippets from the press conference that was held only a few hours ago I'm Marie Schubert. I'm the district attorney of Sacramento County Before I start I'd like to just do some introductions on who is here today

Um, we have in addition to myself Sheriff Sacramento Sheriff Scott Jones Ventura County District Attorney Greg Totten Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackakis Contra Costa County District Attorney Dianna Bepton Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley Sacramento FBI special agent in charge Sean Regan The United States Attorney for the Northern District McGregor Scott Assemblyman Jim Cooper

Bruce Harrington the brother of Keith Harrington Irvine Police Department Chief Mike Hamill And our crime lab director Chip Hollick Let me first by saying this The answer has always been in Sacramento For over 40 years Countless victims have waited for justice Over these years hundreds of individuals

Have sought justice for these victims and their families Many have dedicated their virtual entire Professions to seeking this answer For many of us It was more than a professional commitment It became personal for many of us for me

Here in Sacramento County In June of 1976 I was 12 I grew up in the east area of Sacramento near the cluster of where these crimes began My sisters ranged from 10 to 16 at the time As I have said many times Over the last 18 years at least for me For us here in Sacramento It was a time of innocence

In 1976 No one locked their doors Kids rode their bikes to school Parents let their children play outside The only thing we were told as a family was you just needed to be home before dark We did not have things like cell phones or social media And then for all of us here in this community that lived in this community during this time it all changed For anyone that lived here in this community here in Sacramento

The memories are very vivid You can ask anyone that grew up here Everyone has a story But it must be remembered that it was not just Sacramento That this this case deeply affected This entire state And then in June of 2016 At the 40th anniversary

For the beginning of this series the east area rapists a press conference was held here in Sacramento Hosted by the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department and the FBI Attended by many agencies across California that have dedicated their Careers and professions to coming to some kind of answer The message was clear In 2016 The magnitude of this case demanded That it be solved

There were upwards of 50 rapes 12 murders Crimes that spanned 10 years across at least 10 different counties northern central and southern california And it was that day in june of 2016 That we

in public safety Reiterated our commitment To the victims and to justice In this case the east area rapists the golden state killer And it was that day That we embarked upon what I call our journey for justice A journey by people across borders across all professions

police officers fbi agents crime lab employees victim advocates prosecutors community leaders elected officials All with one mission To find the answer

To give victims a voice and ultimately to identify this person and bring him to justice We brought together we brought teams together Not long after that press conference We dedicated more resources more people and we created what I have called team justice An incredible collaboration of individuals with one mission There are things about that journey and that commitment that each of us knew The answer was and always was going to be in the dna

We knew we could and should solve it using the most innovative dna technology available at this time We all knew that it would take passion We all knew that it would take persistence Last wednesday At 8 15 in the evening. I received an email From the daughter of sherry domingo who was murdered in southern california Her name is debbie. She was 15 at the time

Last wednesday she emailed In essence my paraphrase Hi, Anne Marie. I thought the editing for the recent documentary was brilliant She quoted from the show quote This case will be solved because of sheer persistence She went on to say I have those words posted in a few places in my home And my workplace so I can see them at various times throughout the day Thank you for that persistence. I have faith

We all knew as part of this team that we were looking For a needle in a haystack But we also all knew that the needle was there In the last six days and I emphasize the last six days That passion That persistence And the knowledge finally came to an answer in this building behind us here Our crime lab

Crime lab employees dna analysts who worked tirelessly In the last few days to provide that answer Yesterday an arrest warrant Was issued A complaint was filed Charging that individual with two counts of murder with special circumstances for the murder of brian and katie maggiore Here in sacramento in february 1978 It is fitting that today is national dna day

We found the needle in the haystack And it was right here in sacramento And with that I would like to introduce our sheriff scott jones Good afternoon Before I talk a little bit about this case. I'd like to make just a couple preliminary comments Um when I became sheriff in sacramento in 2010 There were very few outstanding cases that drew the passion and the interest and the dogged determination to solve As the east area rapist

The sheriff that I took over from sheriff john mcginnis who's here with us today Told me about the importance of it And I don't know that I fully appreciated it at that time But I can tell you that without exception Weekly and sometimes more I get telephone calls or emails to this day From former employees former detectives community members from all over this country That believe that they know or at least have some information on who the east area rapist

was I committed then to do everything that I could to solve it and had a lot of conversations early on with district attorney schubert About how we could do it and those discussions really touched the passion of both of us to solve this case Both of us committed The best and the brightest our hand-picked folks to oversee the resolution of this case And gave virtually unlimited resources and freedom to pursue whatever leads and technology currently existing So I can tell you that Over the last few days as information started to point towards this individual

We started some surveillance We were able to get some discarded dna And we were able to confirm What we thought we already knew that we had our man And yesterday afternoon in a perfectly executed arrest My detectives arrested James joseph de angelo 72 years old

living in citrus heights I can tell you that although it was dna ultimately That led us down the right road There were a lot of places that road could have led I don't want to Under score I can't underscore enough the absolute human factor

The dogged determination of not only the detectives working on this case But the passion of the district attorney Myself the community And the victims All too often we forget about talking about the victims And today we at least brought the first step towards closure For those victims of these horrendous crimes So I want to thank not only the district attorney in the crime lab

And the dna that helped us get here But my own detectives and the detectives from all of these folks represented by the the leader standing behind me When we put together this working group two years ago We now hear from bruce harrington brother of keith harrington and brother-in-law to paddy harrington who were murdered in dana point 1980 51 rapes And 12 murders Today I'd like to speak to the multi generation hundreds and hundreds of multi-generational victims of this

Staggering crime spree It is time for all victims to grieve and to take measure One last time To bring closure To the anguish that we've all suffered for the last 40 some odd years It is time for

The victims to begin to heal So long overdue For law enforcement Bravo Bravo Bravo Their tenacity their patience Their unrelenting focus A shout out for tony ricacas For steve cooley for lisa con Ah, mary schubert jane scully larry pool

The names go on and we've known many many of them over the years Today is also a reaffirmation of the power And the public safety that's associated with forensic dna technology. I began my quest In the mid 90s when dna finally came of force into the world of forensic science My brother and his wife were killed in 80 So it was 15 years until we finally heard that there was a dna sample taken from our crime scene And as the years rolled on there were other dna samples that became Common to one unknown

perpetrator And It's been a struggle to bring dna and california to the forefront of that forensic crime scene investigation tool Surprisingly when I looked at the situation in the late 90s california was a laggard virginia florida some of the other more progressive states

On the east coast were light years ahead of california I spent time in sacramento in the early 2000s Appearing before assembly and senate public safety committees fleeing that they Embrace the power of dna and frankly I Ran into a buzz saw of opposition So In 2003 it became apparent that nothing was going to happen through sacramento

senator burton On the senate public safety committee my nemesis. I shamed you then and I shame you now You were wrong Dna what what it's all about. It's a three-legged stool the dna where the powerful database allows The sample To be checked to against all cases against those who've been wrongly accused Of against those that have been wrongly convicted in their sitting in prison Over the years innocence projects have flourished at law schools in particular

Using dna to try and exonerate those wrongly committed I hope they continue. They are a robust and Active part of the harnessing of dna technology technology dna also Solves current crimes This isn't a current crime. That's an old crime, but it's finally solved by dna dna also looks out and Cuts down on future crime by using that database to

Exonerate those that have been wrongly Suspicioned and otherwise Allow current crimes and to be solved efficiently I end with a plea to the voters because we are back Circulating another petition this year right now Go out to your walmart go out to your To your markets and you'll find people gathering signatures

There is a Keep california safe proposition Just like there was the dna prop 69 position back in 2004, but here we now now in Spring and summer of 18 filing another petition to Build up to improve to build upon and create an even more robust dna database in california. We need signatures We need 500 000 signatures by mid-june. It'll be on the november ballot vote for it And you're going to ask yourself. Why is it that we're having to circulate?

Signature petition again, and I will tell you The Burton Burton alkylates that are still controlling the public safety committees In the assembly and the senate again Have disappointed their job And made a mockery of the name of their committee the public safety committee so vote for that Proposition and again To the entire reservoir of victims out there

My sadness is with you For the 51 ladies who are brutally raped In this crime scene sleep better tonight. He isn't coming through the window He's now in jail and his history. Thank you Everyone i'm sergeant shon hampton the spokesman for the sacramental county sheriff's department right now Sheriff jones and district attorney and rie schubert will be answering questions I understand there's a lot of questions. Please be patient. There's no way we will get to them all, but we will do our best I can ask three interrelated questions. Maybe this goes. I'm not sure which one

So you talk a little bit about the dna collection Apparently you targeted him. Why did you target him for details on how you collected that dna? And what does it link it to is only those four crimes with which he's out charged for their others In terms of the type of dna the only thing we're prepared to say at this time is that it was linked through dna using current and innovative techniques to do that As for the other crimes that we know in california as your list that you've been handed

There's many of them that match by dna. It is the same dna as those that have been charged in the ventura case Um as mr. Totten mentioned But those that they just haven't been charged yet that we're just haven't gone to that point This has happened at a very lightning speed is what I would say I'm simply going to say he was identified through dna Uh technology can you corroborate that there was a tip that came in to either the fbi or one of your offices last week? No, that's no, that's not correct. It's not correct. No Sorry

It was um, I can tell you and obviously i'm going to have to be a bit circumspect because this is still a very active investigation I mean as we speak there are warrants being served and interviews being conducted But what I can tell you is this has all happened in a very rapid Last few days or a very compact period of time during that time. We were able to surveil him um, we got a feel for some of his Um activities or lack thereof got kind of some information regarding his routines Um, we got some information relative to what he might do if confronted or apprehended Based on the information we were able to glean from that surveillance. Uh, so we developed a plan

To wait for him to come out of his residence rather than try and approach him in the residence or when he's out Um out and about in a in a vehicle Um, and so when he came out of his residence, we had a team in place that was able to take him into custody. Um, he Was very surprised by that. Um, it looked as though he might have been Searching his mind to execute a particular plan. He may have had in mind Obviously speculation on my part, but he was not given the opportunity It happened almost instantaneously and he was taken into custody without without incident at all

Sargell Sargell Well, I can't speak to that Specifically, but I can say generally, you know, until we got a working group together and we're able to associate our You know, our east east area rapist was someone else's golden state killer Until we were able to collaborate and really start looking at the the mo's the the manner in which he carried out his crimes And see the linkages between the crimes and the dna that that that tied many of them together Um, that was a real breaking point for us and allowed us to not only get more manpower and more brainpower on

This case but allowed us to get more clues and follow up on more leads In the back Well, I can I can confirm that that's the information we have at the moment now, obviously part of our Um ongoing investigation is to kind of work backwards to try and fill in a lot of the gaps that we have about his life From then well actually from before then to now We're aware of the same information that that you just described. So We're obviously going to be looking into see whether that a hammer or a dog repellent played into any of the attacks

But it's again, I just just to reiterate It's all very very swift and those those details will be investigated and meet it out in the coming days and weeks Sure, I can tell you that he is the next officer a police officer in two different agencies One in the exeter police department, which is down in visalia from approximately 1973 to 1976 Um, that was roughly during the time as the visalia ransacker cases were occurring I can then say that he Applied for and got a job with the arbor and police department. It was employed there from roughly 1976 to 1979 until he was fired for for what you just heard

Why Well, very possibly he was committing the crimes during the time he was employed as a peace officer And obviously we'll be looking into whether it was actually on the job or whether it was, you know, something that By on the job, I assume you mean during the time he was employed. Yeah, I don't know that yet But obviously that's a question that we're going to want to answer as well Thank you. Does a new book all be gone in the dark generate any new leads in the case or help please be arrested? I'm glad just that question because that's a question We've gotten from literally all over the world in the last 24 hours and the answer is no

Um, other than the fact that it like like uh, as was indicated the media kept this in the public eye and kept public interest It kept interest and tips coming in Um, other than that, there was no information extracted from that book that directly led to the the apprehension Did he live at that location by himself any other people that residents does he have a family? He does have a family. I'm not prepared to talk about what his family is but he does have adult children. Um That that's really all I'm prepared to say at the time Uh, we don't we well, we don't have a full picture yet. We're still filling in that timely No question

Sure, there's um And again, I have to be a bit circumspect here But what I said in my earlier comments that you know, the dna actually got us to a road But the road had many destinations possible destinations I can first say that even backing up from the dna that we would have never got to a dna Sample or ability to to compare it without the dogged determination of the detectives on this case So it's not like it ultimately would have come to us anyways. That's just simply not the case. This was a true convergence of

Emerging technology and dogged determination by detectives. So once we got information that led us to a general I mean, it's almost like the da pointed us east so we could exclude northwest and south But we still had to do a lot of investigative follow-up and drill down from that direction of east until we got to this person We did a lot of exclusions of other folks got this person that looked like he might be our guy And then we're able to get at least an initial Um discarded dna sample that gave us More confidence that this was our person and we're able to continue and get a better more workable sample of dna So

I will just say at this point it was discarded dna sample was it his favorite dna somebody in his family who who tested I'm sorry, I couldn't hear the question So I I'm absolutely certain there will be a trial there remain questions And I don't want to speak for the prosecution But obviously there there will have to be some organization as to who who and where and and when but I can guarantee you I mean in this case, um, you know justice was delayed It wasn't swift, but I can assure you it will be sure Let me just say something in terms of the prosecution

There are many jurisdictions involved. I think I mentioned there's 10 counties and so sorry fog So those decisions are going to be made in the immediate future this right now as I said before this has occurred in the last six days and so Um We have to take time and do it right and get together and meet in the best method as District Attorney Rukakis said so That will take some time. Yes, sir. Had his name ever come up before last week in any of these investigations to your knowledge The answer is no I think the sheriff mentioned that a sample was collected from him

Abandoned samples so that's what ultimately changed the tide and I will say this because everybody's got questions about the dna The answer of your questions is going to come out in a timely fashion But this case is still active And so, you know as much as you want to know and I understand it We can't answer the specifics on the exact type of technology, but that will come out. All right one more question over here We have I will say we have interviewed some family members without actually identifying who they are or what relationship they are We have interviewed them and they are as cooperative and um, Certainly, uh, it's quite a shock to them as you might expect

Well, we're trying to backtrack that so we're still working on the the actual timeline from then to now All right one more They're tied up a loose end in this long story there had been one point some discussion that The person in these cases was linked to something happened in australia I heard that yesterday, but that's not do you have any information in that universe or that's just still an open loose end We have no information the person's linking to australia So, um, I think it's just about wraps it up for us today I understand I understand listen. I understand there's a lot of questions

We have a lot of work to do on the back end. There's a lot of folks behind me to have to get back to work So I appreciate your time. I appreciate your patience We will try to field interviews as information comes available and I thank you again for coming today You