East Area Rapist Victims
Before becoming the Golden State Killer, Joseph James DeAngelo committed at least 50 rapes in the Sacramento area as the East Area Rapist. He terrorized neighborhoods from 1976 to 1979.
Between 1976 and 1979, a masked intruder terrorized the Sacramento area, breaking into homes and raping women while their partners were tied up in adjacent rooms. He was known as the East Area Rapist.
The attacker committed at least 50 sexual assaults with a distinctive MO: he would stake out neighborhoods, sometimes calling victims beforehand, and would stack dishes on the bound partner's back to alert him if they moved.
The East Area Rapist was later linked through DNA to the Original Night Stalker murders in Southern California, and both were linked to the Visalia Ransacker burglaries—all committed by the same person.
The case was finally solved in 2018 when genetic genealogy identified Joseph James DeAngelo, a former police officer, as the perpetrator. Michelle McNamara's book 'I'll Be Gone in the Dark' helped revive public interest.
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