Photo: left: FBI, right: Sacramento Sheriff / CC0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Let me be clear: there is nothing to admire here. DeAngelo's profile matters to me only as a case study in institutional failure and scientific redemption. A former police officer who terrorized California for over a decade, he escaped justice for some forty years, partly because investigators struggled to connect crimes across jurisdictions. What finally caught him in 2018 was forensic genetic genealogy, a technique his case effectively legitimized. To me the real story is the victims and survivors who waited decades, and the investigators who never let the file close. His arrest redefined cold-case work worldwide, and that legacy belongs entirely to the people who pursued him.
Overview
Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. (born November 8, 1945) is an American serial killer, serial rapist, and former police officer known as the Golden State Killer, the Original Night Stalker, the East Area Rapist and the Visalia Ransacker, who committed thirteen murders and numerous rapes and burglaries across California between 1974 and 1986.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Joseph James Dengelo
- Name (Japanese)
- 黄金州の殺人鬼
- Reading
- 不明
- Born
- November 8, 1945 (age 80)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Scorpio / Rooster
- Origin
- Bath, New York, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- 2 cm
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- military personnel / serial killer / thief / damage controlman / police officer
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Folsom High School
- University
- Sierra College
Awards & achievements
- National Defense Service Medal
- Vietnam Service Medal
- Vietnam Campaign Medal
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Military personnel — see all → · Serial killer — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-11
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.