Thursday, July 12th:
*Motions Hearing continues (@ 1:35pm PT) - CA - Katie (20) & Brian (21) Maggiore (Feb. 2, 1978 in Rancho Cordova) - Joseph James DeAngelo (72/32 @ time of crime) (East Area Rapist/Golden State Killer) - arrested (4/24/18) & formally charged (4/27/18) with 2 counts of 1st degree murder with special enhancements for burglary and rape; did not enter plea. Sacramento County. Relative's (Great-great-great grandfather’s) DNA from genealogy website (GEDMatch) cracked East Area Rapist case, DA's office says.
4/27/18 Update: charged in Ventura County of 2 counts of 1st degree murder with special circumstances for being a double homicide in the deaths of Charlene (33) & Lyman (43) Smith on 3/13/80 in Ventura.
5/10/18 Update: charged in Santa Barbara County of the 4 counts of 1st degree murder with special circumstances, where investigators believe he killed Dr. Robert Offerman (44) & Dr. Debra Alexandria Manning (35) in December 30, 1979 and Cheri Domingo (35) & Gregory Sanchez (27) in July 27, 1981, all in Goleta. Each carries a possible sentence of death or life in prison without parole.
5/11/18 Update: charged in Orange County with 4 counts of 1st degree murder with special circumstances. Patrice Harrington (28) & Keith Harrington (24) on 8/19/80 in Dana Point, Manuela Witthuhn (21) on 2/26/81 in Irvine & Janelle Lisa Cruz (18) on 5/4/86 in Irvine. Total 12 counts of 1st degree murder.
5/2/18: A motion hearing involving a sealed search warrant in the case.
5/4/18: Judge denies defense motion. Rules search warrant seeking photos & DNA of JJD will proceed.
5/14/18: DeAngelo's last hearing was on 5/29 for the judge to decide on various motions from the defense, including one to close coverage of the hearings to the media. DeAngelo's lawyers also are fighting to keep the arrest warrant and search warrant affidavits sealed, despite a motion from The Sacramento Bee and numerous other news organizations to release them. JJD might enter a plea at today’s (5/29) hearing.
5/29/18: Judge will decide on 5/31/18 regarding release of some documents.
5/29/18 Update: East Area rapist case will be continued to Thursday (5/31) afternoon @ 1:35pm. No decision yet on whether judge will unseal warrants. Judge expects to release some documents in East Area Rapist case by Friday, with redactions. JJD did not enter a plea on Wednesday 5/29.
5/31/18 Update: Lawyers in the East Area Rapist case. This hearing was closed to the public, held Judge’s chambers. Attorneys Thursday continued to hash out what information should be redacted from arrest and search warrants that a judge in Sacramento plans to release as early as Friday (6/1).
6/1/18: Hearing was closed to public. Another Motions hearing today, June 1st.
6/1/18 Update: The DNA evidence that authorities used to arrest Joseph James DeAngelo in the East Area Rapist case came from swabbing his car door in a public parking lot and later retrieving a used tissue from his trash can, newly released court documents show. Investigators had JJD under surveillance as a suspect. Details related to homicides could be unsealed, Judge Sweet said, adding that DeAngelo has been charged with the offenses and information is already in the public domain. But information related to sex crime allegations will remain under seal, Sweet ruled, agreeing with defense attorneys that "widespread public dissemination may result in inaccurate, inadmissible information." "The defendant is not charged" with sex crimes, Sweet said. Information about possible sex crimes, the judge said, would prejudice his right to a fair trial. The judge agreed that search warrant information regarding DeAngelo's alleged murder victims, including Brian and Katie Maggiore, who were killed in Rancho Cordova in 1978, can be released. They didn’t release any evidence found. But the judge said he was keeping sealed for now any information about what was seized from computers, cellphones, photo albums, cars or his home, saying that releasing that information would "create an overwhelming prejudice." Much of the nearly 200 pages of documents focus on attacks the East Area Rapist made in the Sacramento area in the 1970s, and although many of those details have been publicly known for years, the judge had many redacted because they related to sex crimes for which DeAngelo has not been charged.
7/11/18 Update: DeAngelo has already been charged with 12 GSK murders up and down the state and will soon be charged with a 13th. Sgt. Damon Maurice, public information officer for the Visalia Police Department, said in an interview last week that VPD submitted its criminal case against DeAngelo on May 30 for the murder of Claude Snelling. “The case is currently under review by the District Attorney’s Office,” Maurice said.
His mayhem touched 10 counties, and he was variously called the East Area Rapist, Original Nightstalker, Diamond Knot Killer and Visalia Ransacker before authorities discovered that the various strings of crimes appeared to be the work of a single man. responsible for 12 homicides, 45 rapes, and 120 home burglaries between 1974 and 1986, when his crimes appeared to mysteriously end. It's also believed the serial killer also possibly killed Claude Snelling (45) on 9/11/75 in Visalia, Tulare County. In 2001, DNA evidence linked the East Area Rapist and Original Nightstalker cases.