The Golden State Killer Served as a Cop During the Murders

True crime lovers know the story of the Golden State Killer. A man who almost got away with 13 murders and close to 50 sexual assaults was finally arrested as a suspect in 2018.

After decades of investigation into the identity of the Golden State Killer, Joseph DeAngelo was arrested and faced trial for 13 murder and kidnapping charges. DeAngelo, who says he will plead guilty to the charges, was a cop when the murders began. He is expected to confess to the sexual assault charges against him as well.

The Golden State Killer terrorized California from 1974 to 1986, kidnapping and sexually assaulting his victims.

DeAngelo was not initially considered a suspect in the case until law enforcement used DNA analysis to trace the evidence to him. Law enforcement used the data of users from the DNA ancestry website, GEDMatch, to compare with the DNA samples retrieved from the crime scenes.

On June 29, DeAngelo told a judge he would plead guilty to all 13 kidnapping and murder charges against him. According to The Guardian, DeAngelo told Sacramento county prosecutor Thien Ho, “I didn’t want to do those things. I destroyed all their lives. So now I’ve got to pay the price.”

In addition to these charges, it's reported that DeAngelo will admit to all of the sexual assault charges that are also against him. 

At a time when distrust for law enforcement is high, many are giving special attention to the fact that the Golden State Killer was a police officer around the time the killings began.

According to The Guardian, DeAngelo served as a police officer from 1973 to 1979, starting his service in Exeter, Calif., before moving to the Auburn police department in 1976.

The first known crime believed to be committed by the Golden State Killer happened in 1974, and he allegedly terrorized the towns neighboring those where he served as an officer.

The Los Angeles Times notes that in the search for the killer (which spanned over 40 years), there was speculation he had police or military background, noted by how easily he managed to slip away before law enforcement arrived and understood just what they would be looking for.

According to retired Orange County Sheriff’s detective Larry Pool, DeAngelo was not initially a suspect considered within the reported 8,000 names being investigated. 

“I don’t think this guy was really ever a cop,” Pool told the Los Angeles Times of DeAngelo. “He used that to further what he really did.”

Twitter users have taken note of DeAngelo's employment, pointing out that the current police system allowed him to be free for many years, despite being right under the investigators' noses.

"The #GoldenStateKiller was literally a cop and b---hes still have the nerve to tell me that supporting ACAB is bulls--t," one Twitter user tweeted.

DeAngelo was only fired from his duties as a police officer after he was caught stealing dog repellent and a hammer from a local hardware store.