Joseph James DeAngelo's Real Name: Joseph James DeAngelo

Quick answer: The man later identified as the Golden State Killer is Joseph James DeAngelo. The Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times both use that name; the Times also uses Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. (Associated Press; Los Angeles Times).

Real name and early life

This page uses the documented public and court name Joseph James DeAngelo, and notes the "Jr." form in the Los Angeles Times account. The Times says he is a former police officer who graduated from Sacramento State University with a degree in criminal justice. The same account identifies Rancho Cordova as his hometown. He was arrested in 2018 after investigators used genetic genealogy, a method the Times described as the first time a U.S. cold case had been solved by tracing a suspect through relatives' DNA on public genealogy sites. The Associated Press likewise reports that investigators pioneered DNA tracing through publicly accessible genealogy websites.

Career highlights

DeAngelo's public identity is that of a convicted serial offender, not of a professional career in the ordinary sense. After the 2018 arrest, both sources report, crimes once attributed to separately nicknamed attackers in the 1970s and 1980s—including the Visalia Ransacker, the East Area Rapist, and the Original Night Stalker—were tied to him by DNA and then widely referred to under the later name Golden State Killer.

Legal history

In June 2020 he pleaded guilty to 13 murders and 13 rape-related charges for crimes committed in California between 1975 and 1986, the Associated Press reports; the plea agreement allowed him to avoid a death sentence. The Los Angeles Times also notes that, as part of the plea, he admitted a larger set of attacks across multiple counties. On August 21, 2020, Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Michael Bowman sentenced the then 74-year-old DeAngelo to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The Times specifies consecutive life terms. The hearing was held in a ballroom at Sacramento State University so that victims and relatives could attend with physical distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. This page records the convictions and sentence only, without graphic crime-scene or victim detail.

Name notes for searchers

Joseph James DeAngelo is the documented name; some reports add Jr. He was also known to the public, before his identification, by investigative nicknames including the Golden State Killer. Searchers looking for the former officer sentenced in Sacramento in 2020 are aiming at the same person.