Serial Killers: The Golden State Killer

Many people are familiar with serial killers like Ted Bundy and Jeffery Dahmer because of recent exposure in the media through streaming apps like Netflix. However, the one my research paper describes is one commonly unknown. He goes by the Golden State Killer. Throughout his killing spree, he lived in different locations of California, but undercover as what people trust the most. Research shows the peaceful life he had with his family during the day and the gruesome monster he evolved into at night. Research will describe the gruesome crimes he committed as well as identify the deceased and traumatized victims. And finally, research will describe how the identification of this killer assisted many other forensic cases. Joseph James DeAngelo

Author Avi Selk states that, “He was a Vietnam veteran before the spree”(Selk, 2018). Selk claims that DeAngelo was, “a repairman on the USS Canberra in the late 1960s during the Vietnam War”(Selk, 2018). After he returned from overseas, “California State University a degree in criminal justice”(Selk, 2018). Then, “DeAngelo joined the Exeter police force in May 1973” (Selk, 2018). After he joined the Exeter Police Force, he began committing petty felonies. Mark Berman, Avi Selk, and Justin Jouvenal state, “During those years, a slew of house invasions - linked to a then-unknown assailant dubbed the ‘Visalia Ransacker’ - took place about 10 miles from the police department's headquarters.”(Berman et al., 2018, par. 8). The Visalia Ransacker was only one of the many names DeAngelo acquired. However, in 1976, it is published that, “News reports from the time say he was fired after he was caught shoplifting a

DeAngelo certainly meets the criteria to the American Psychiatric Association’s definition of a serial killer because according to Berman, Selk, and Jouvenal it mentions, “horrific attacks that terrorized Californians in the 1970s and 1980s.” (Berman et al., 2018, par. 3) and “brutality, killing a dozen people” (Berman et al., 2018, par. 5). DeAngelo murdered more than three individuals, at all different locations, and separated between the 1970s to the 1980s so he is undeniably a serial