Golden State Killer/East Area Rapist Caught?

[Al Bundy]

http://fox40.com/2018/04/24/sources-...a-rapist-case/
SACRAMENTO — Sources confirm that the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department is working a significant break in the search for the East Area Rapist.

A possible arrest in the decadeslong case may have been made. The department said it hopes to release further information Wednesday.

Police believe the East Area Rapist or Golden State Killer was responsible for 12 homicides, almost 50 rapes and 120 home burglaries that spanned a decade starting in the late 1970s in Sacramento County.

“It is the most prolific unsolved serial killing case probably in modern history,” said Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert.

FOX40’s own “Exposed: East Area Rapist” podcast covered the cold case through interviews with victims, their families and the original investigators.

[frozenchief]

Originally Posted by underEJ

Oh shit! They matched the DNA in a genealogy website database! That is going to be a big deal in the court case. Does that really count as "discarded" DNA? No wonder they were so cagey with the wording there.

A court order compelled the company to comply with the search, but that is a pretty bold move. It matched a relative and then they traced to the individual. Certainly glad the man is caught, but there will need to be a quick response to establish guidelines for that kind of DNA mining from private companies that promise privacy.

They did not really match the DNA in a genealogy database. They took DNA from the crime scene and compared it to DNA profiles that are publicly available from a website. From some news sites, it appears that there is some DNA marker that is relatively rare that enabled them to limit their focus.* It seems that they focused upon a man in Oregon in 2017. He was in a nursing home and they got DNA from him, which turned out to exclude him as a suspect.

So they went back to the website and looked for that marker. They reviewed the site for people with that marker. They then reviewed the family members of those they identified to see if those who submitted DNA had family members who fit their profile, which would be someone in the military or law enforcement who lived in northern California/Sacramento area in late 70s. So from the website, they would have determined that D'Angelo, who fit the profile, was a family member of someone who had that genetic marker and had provided a DNA profile to the website.

From there, they likely got D'Angelo's garbage. The US Supreme Court has ruled that cops don't need a warrant for garbage because people have abandoned it. From his garbage, they could get a soda can or cigarette butt and extract DNA on the item. This would be the abandoned DNA that they used. A review of that DNA 'failed to exclude' D'Angelo (see below) and was thus used to get an arrest warrant.

Legally speaking, this will likely stand up. The publicly available DNA database is searchable by anyone. Those who contribute information generally sign a release authorizing the use of their data. As I noted, cops don't need a warrant to seize your garbage so they likely won't have any issues getting that admitted. That Supreme Court decision is a federal decision so California law may be different. Last I saw, though, most state courts have allowed seizure of garbage without a warrant. I am unfamiliar with any state court that has prohibited that practice.

The effect this will have is people suddenly reviewing the releases they sign for DNA testing companies, maybe not signing up with 23andme or Ancestry.com. You might also see some people revoking their consent or maybe even legislation about this but I doubt that the cops' method to grab evidence will derail this case unless there is something I am not seeing in news articles.

* it would take far too long to explain a DNA 'marker' but DNA profile companies typically look at certain locations on various genes to see what are the patterns for the genome proteins and see if they match. A failure to match will exclude someone from providing DNA so DNA analysis does not really 'match' but rather 'fails to exclude'.

[B_Ambuehl]

DeAngelo has 1 daughter who is a Dr. and another one that is a PHd candidate. He must have met a good woman sometime in the 80's and stopped the crimes.

[patteeu]

Originally Posted by B_Ambuehl

DeAngelo has 1 daughter who is a Dr. and another one that is a PHd candidate. He must have met a good woman sometime in the 80's and stopped the crimes.

Poor girls. This has to be devastating news.

[Why Not?]

Originally Posted by patteeu

Poor girls. This has to be devastating news.

God, how that would suck.

[threebag]

Not as bad as being a victim

[threebag]

Originally Posted by B_Ambuehl

DeAngelo has 1 daughter who is a Dr. and another one that is a PHd candidate. He must have met a good woman sometime in the 80's and stopped the crimes.

Hope they lived close so someone got that roast out of the oven

[patteeu]

Originally Posted by threebag02

Not as bad as being a victim

Maybe

[KChiefs1]

Fantastic podcast about his crimes. It’s a very long podcast that goes very deep into the cases. Very interesting.



https://audioboom.com/posts/6577780-...st-1976-part-1

https://audioboom.com/posts/6577779-...st-1977-part-2

https://audioboom.com/posts/6577778-...77-1978-part-3

https://audioboom.com/posts/6577777-...78-1979-part-4

https://audioboom.com/posts/6577776-...stalker-part-5

https://audioboom.com/posts/6577775-...s-1-interviews

https://audioboom.com/posts/6577774-...us-2-interview

[TribalElder]

They did match him on a genealogy site initially, then used discarded dna to verify the match

They were talking on tv earlier today about using this same technique to look for the zodiac killer next (searching online genealogy databases)

[Halfcan]

Originally Posted by TribalElder

They did match him on a genealogy site initially, then used discarded dna to verify the match

They were talking on tv earlier today about using this same technique to look for the zodiac killer next (searching online genealogy databases)

Catching the Zodiac would be like catching Jack the Ripper.

[KChiefs1]

Originally Posted by Halfcan

Catching the Zodiac would be like catching Jack the Ripper.

DNA = the enemy of all criminals.

[KChiefs1]

Originally Posted by B_Ambuehl

DeAngelo has 1 daughter who is a Dr. and another one that is a PHd candidate. He must have met a good woman sometime in the 80's and stopped the crimes.

Going to be interesting to hear all the back stories.

[Halfcan]

Originally Posted by KChiefs1

DNA = the enemy of all criminals.

I believe that DNA has already eliminated a few of the early suspects.

If they could track the family tree- they might be able to get a living relative to confirm one of the lasting suspects that were never cleared.

It would solve one of the most mysterious murder cases in history.

[New World Order]

Originally Posted by Halfcan

I believe that DNA has already eliminated a few of the early suspects.

If they could track the family tree- they might be able to get a living relative to confirm one of the lasting suspects that were never cleared.

It would solve one of the most mysterious murder cases in history.

Investigators are now in the process of obtaining DNA from Zodiac and doing a similar familial DNA search as the East Area case:

Several months ago, the Vallejo Police Department sent two letters written by the Zodiac Killer to a private lab in hopes of finding his DNA on the back of the stamps or envelope flaps that may have been licked. They are expecting results soon.

"They were confident they would be able to get something off it," Vallejo police Detective Terry Poyser told the Sacramento Bee.

Poyser said he hopes a full DNA profile will be found that will enable detectives to try the same DNA sleuthing techniques that were used to arrest Joseph DeAngelo last month. Authorities suspect he committed at least 12 murders and 50 rapes in California between 1976 and 1986.

https://www.sacbee.com/news/business...210371994.html

[Al Bundy]

Originally Posted by KChiefs1

Fantastic podcast about his crimes. It’s a very long podcast that goes very deep into the cases. Very interesting.



https://audioboom.com/posts/6577780-...st-1976-part-1

https://audioboom.com/posts/6577779-...st-1977-part-2

https://audioboom.com/posts/6577778-...77-1978-part-3

https://audioboom.com/posts/6577777-...78-1979-part-4

https://audioboom.com/posts/6577776-...stalker-part-5

https://audioboom.com/posts/6577775-...s-1-interviews

https://audioboom.com/posts/6577774-...us-2-interview

This is an excellent podcast.