He was one of the most wanted men in the United States and had mysteriously escaped arrest for forty years. During the 1970s and 1980s, "Golden State assassin" raped about 50 women and killed 12 people, while committing 120 robberies.
Joseph James Di Angelo, a former police officer who allegedly terrorized California and caused horror across the United States, was arrested Wednesday after authorities located him through his DNA in Sacramento.
"An arrest warrant was issued Tuesday against Joseph James DiAngelo and charges of murder and rape have been filed in several California counties," Sacramento Prosecutor Anne-Marie Schubert told a news conference.
He was arrested by police waiting for him to leave his home in a Sacramento suburb. Surprised, he did not resist, Sheriff Scott Jones explained.
Di Angelo is said to have committed 12 murders, about 50 rapes, often particularly violent, and 120 robberies in California from 1976 to 1986, according to the FBI. He is now in danger of spending the rest of his life in prison.
The victims were between 14 and 41 years old. Most of his crimes were committed on the outskirts of Sacramento, but some took place in San Francisco and along the southern coast of California as far as Orange County.
"Everyone was scared"
He entered the houses of his victims, sometimes when the houses were empty, he hid and prepared. He often attacked women who were left alone while sleeping or couples. After tying the men, he raped the women in front of them. He even used to steal personal belongings of his victims, such as cufflinks with their initials.
He committed his first two murders in February 1978.
Joseph James Di Angelo was a police officer in California in the 1970s but was charged with shoplifting, according to the Sacramento Bee.
"He may have committed these crimes while working for the police," said Sheriff Jones, adding that authorities were working to clarify.
"The time has come for the victims to breathe and (…) to end the agony of the last 40 years," Bruce Harrington said in a trembling voice during a news conference. His brother and sister-in-law were murdered in their home in 1980, with Di Angelo being the main suspect.
The murder investigation had been frozen for decades, but in the last six days there has been an unexpected turn, Schubert said, without giving further details on how the authorities took the DNA sample that led to the arrest of the suspect.
The crimes of the Golden State assassin affected many Californians: "It had a significant impact on our family. My father bought a gun, armed it every night and hid it under his pillow. The whole square was scared. "One day my little brother, who was very young at the time, was playing in bed, he found the gun and shot my father," said Penny Ryan, the suspect's neighbor.
The story of the "Golden State assassin" became a book by American author Michelle McNamara entitled "And I Disappear in the Night," which was released this year.