How a Family Tree Caught the Golden State Killer After 44 Years | The Joseph DeAngelo Case

From 1974 to 1986, one man moved through California as the Visalia Ransacker, the East Area Rapist and the Original Night Stalker. He killed 13 people and attacked around 50 women, and he was never caught. Then, in 2018, investigators tried something nobody had done before: genetic genealogy. This is how a DNA profile from a 1980 rape kit, a public genealogy website and decades of saved evidence led to a retired police officer in Citrus Heights. It's also about the survivors and the families, and about the investigators who never let the case die. We remember: Claude Snelling, Brian Maggiore, Katie Maggiore, Robert Offerman, Debra Manning, Lyman Smith, Charlene Smith, Keith Harrington, Patrice Harrington, Manuela Witthuhn, Cheri Domingo, Gregory Sanchez and Janelle Cruz. This video describes violent crimes, including sexual assault, without graphic detail. No crime-scene images are shown. DeAngelo's family members and the relatives found through genealogy are not named. CHAPTERS 0:00 Intro 0:44 Before he had a name 1:44 The East Area Rapist 2:56 The calls 3:33 The Maggiores 4:08 Down south 4:58 Nineteen eighty-one 5:27 Janelle Cruz 5:43 The files 6:34 A name for the case 7:18 A new idea 8:14 The door handle 8:34 The arrest 9:08 Who he was 10:01 In the ballroom 11:13 What it changed 11:38 Remember them SOURCES Sacramento County DA, sentencing press release and case materials (People v. DeAngelo, 18FE008017): https://www.peopleversusjosephdeangel... DA sentencing memorandum (Aug 2020): https://assets1.cbsnewsstatic.com/i/c... FBI, "Help Us Catch the East Area Rapist" (Jun 15, 2016): https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/help... Wikipedia, Joseph James DeAngelo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_... Sacramento Bee (Aug 21, 2020): https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/art... Los Angeles Times (Aug 21, 2020): https://www.latimes.com/california/st... New York Times (Aug 21, 2020): https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/21/us... New York Times (Apr 27, 2018): https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/27/us... ABC News, unsealed warrant: https://abcnews.com/US/dna-tissue-all... AP: https://apnews.com/article/16441bb64e... CapRadio (Aug 13, 2018): https://www.capradio.org/articles/201... CNN (Aug 21, 2020): https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/21/us/gol... CREDITS Real footage (public domain): FBI, "Clues Sought in Unsolved East Area Rapist Case" and interviews with FBI Special Agent Marcus Knutson and Sacramento County Sheriff's Sgt. Paul Belli (2016); Sacramento County District Attorney's Office, press conference, Apr 25, 2018. Public-domain images: FBI (evidence photos, sketches, map), Sacramento County Sheriff (2018 booking photo), Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office, Rancho Cordova PD sketches, U.S. Navy. Photos (Wikimedia Commons): "City of Rancho Cordova American River" by RanchoCordovaExpert (CC BY-SA 4.0); "Citrus Heights - City Hall" by J.smith (CC BY-SA 2.5); "Goleta shoreline" by Exoplanetaryscience (CC BY 4.0); "Ventura California Aerial Photo" by Don Ramey Logan (CC BY-SA 4.0); "Tustin and Irvine California Aerial" by formulanone (CC BY-SA 2.0); "Sacramento, California skyline in 2023" by Quintin Soloviev (CC BY 4.0); "2009-0725-CA-Exeter" by Bobak Ha'Eri (CC BY 3.0); "Downtown Auburn California" by Noah_Loverbear (CC BY-SA 3.0); "CSP Corcoran" by an unknown author (CC BY-SA 3.0); "Dana Point, Orange County, California" by Mertbiol (CC0); "Sacramento Skyline Sunset" by CrazyPhotos (CC0); "Visalia CA downtown 1" (public domain). Licences: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/ Stock video: Pexels (Pexels licence). Narration: synthetic voice reading an original script. Music: original.