Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. is an American former Police officer known for being the killer behind the Golden Gate Killings that took place between the years, 1976 to 1986. After decades of investigating, a breakthrough in DNA testing linked him to the murders.

DeAngelo Jr. is a native of California and has lived in the state for most of his life. For nearly 30 years, he lived in the neighbourhood of Citrus Heights. He is remembered for also living in the city of Sacramento, California.

DeAngelo moved to rural Auburn with his mother and stepfather as a kid.

DeAngelo's stepfather worked at Sierra Crane and Hoist as a welder making indoor overhead cranes.

The stepfather bought a piece of land and built a home.

His mother worked as a waitress at a Denny’s in Auburn.

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As a young man, DeAngelo was a clean cut man with pleasant features.

He had one younger brother.

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DeAngelo Jr. joined the U.S. Navy in the 1960s. He traveled to North Vietnam often and returned in the year 1967.

He said he was injured while serving in the military and lost a finger.

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DeAngelo is a former police officer who worked in Exeter near Visalia from 1973 to 1976, according to Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones.

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In the early 1970s, DeAngelo Jr. joined the Auburn Police Department as part of the gun line just outside of Sacramento.

In 1979, he as fired from his position after he shoplifted a can of dog repellent and a hammer from a drug store.

Decades of investigations has led authorities, reporters, and investigators of crime alike to speculate that the killer remains alive.

After the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department and District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert received a tip the killer of 12 people and rapist of more than 37 people was living in the Sacramento area.

DeAngelo Jr. was identified after a renewed push of the investigation.

Authorities believe he raped 37 people in the Sacramento area and Central Valley and killed two between 1976 and 1978.

From there, authorities believe, he moved on to the the Bay Area and Southern California.

FBI agents and law enforcement from Sacramento County and Southern California made the arrest outside of his house in Citrus Heights on the morning of April 25th, 2018.

He has lived there for close to 30 years.

East Area Rapist or Golden State Killer suspect was responsible for 12 homicides, almost 50 rapes and 120 home burglaries that spanned a decade starting in the late 1970s in Sacramento County.

From 1976 to 1978, the suspect developed one of his most sadistic signatures.

If the home he chose for his crime had a couple living inside, he would incapacitate the man first, binding him with strips of towels or shoelaces.

He would then carefully balance a stack of dishes from the kitchen on the male victim’s back.

The killer would then warn the couple that if a plate broke he would kill both the man and the woman.

He would then rape the woman.

From May 1976 to 1977, the East Area Rapist was primarily in Rancho Cordova, Citrus Heights, Sacramento, Carmichael and Orangevale.

In June and July of 1978, attacks were reported in Davis and Modesto before moving on to the Bay Area and continuing from 1978 to 1979.

There were reported attacks in Concord, San Ramon, Danville, Walnut Creek, San Jose, Fremont and Rancho Cordova.

In 1986, he was last reported to have killed in Goleta and Irvine areas before disappearing entirely.

In the evening of April 24th, 2018, Joseph James DeAngelo was arrested by the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department and booked on two counts of murder into the Sacramento County Jail at 2:30 a.m., according to jail records.

He was charged two murder charges for the 1978 deaths of Brian Maggiore and his wife, Katie, who are believed to be the Golden State Killer's first victim.

He was also charged with the murders of Lyman and Charlene Smith of Ventura who were found dead in their home by their 12-year-old son.

Police say a DNA match in the past six days linked him to both crime scenes.

He lived in the Citrus Heights area for more than 30 years.

He has three older daughters.

He was once married to a woman named Marie Huddle in 1973, but they have since divorced.

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His neighbors have described him as an angry figure who had a habit of shouting obscenities while working in his yard.

One said the suspect "had anger pouring out of him."

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He was an avid bike rider with both a mountain bike and a road bike.

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