The so-called "Golden State Killer" pleaded guilty to multiple murders on Monday, as well as dozens of rapes and kidnappings, drawing a line in a tragic criminal case that has terrorized California for more than two decades.
Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. admitted to being a notorious murderer and rapist during a petition hearing in the altered University Ballroom in the state capital of Sacramento in the 1970s and 1980s.
The 74-year-old French-looking DeAngelo arrived in the courtroom wearing an orange jumpsuit and a clear face shield, answering the judge's questions "Yes," "No," "Guilty" and "I agree," because he agreed. Terms of request.
Prosecutor Amy Holliday, former police and Vietnam Navy veteran, has pleaded guilty to a total of 13 degrees of murder and said the death penalty is the equivalent of 11 consecutive life sentences in state prison. Ready to delete. .
"Family members of murder victims have waited decades for justice for their loved ones, and victims of sexual assault have waited decades for justice," she said.
By resolving the case "at this time", the remaining victims and families "will accept the defendant for hearing these acts and crimes".
"The Golden State Killer" deals with decades of crime and terrorism in California in the 1970s and 1980s.
Investigators arrested Dangelo after 40 years of manhunting in 2018 after investigators compared the DNA evidence of the perpetrator to the family genealogy database his relatives used to track down the killers.
- 'I agree' -
Brian and Katie Magigore were first charged with the 1978 murders of a newly married couple who shot and killed their dog in the Sacramento suburb of Rancho Cordova. At that time, he entered without any appeal.
But authorities said DeAngelo was involved in more than 50 rapes and 150 thefts from DNA or other evidence.
The statute of limitations for rape and kidnapping has expired.
But prosecutor Holliday said that under the agreement, defendants "agreed to plead guilty to six felony counts in all five California counties."
Known attacks began in 1975, before spreading throughout the state, in the Sacramento area of central California.
The spray ended abruptly in 1986 with the rape and murder of an 18-year-old girl.
Along the way, the exact mask assorted many nicknames, including the East Area Rapist, the Diamond-Knot Killer, and the Original Nightstalker.
In 1979, DeAngelo was fired from the police department in Auburn, California, forming a hammer and dog repellent shop.
He retired in 2017 as a truck mechanic in a warehouse for the city's grocery store chain, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northwest of Sacramento, where he has lived for more than 20 years.
Cold-case DNA breakthroughs led to his arrest, re-establishing public interest in the infamous case following the best-selling true crime book "I'll Be Gone in the Dark."
Its author Michelle McNamara - the wife of Hollywood actor and comedian Patton Oswalt - died before its release.
During the afternoon break, DeAngelo's guilty plea was accepted by Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael Bowman in nine cases.
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