Landmark Case

Golden State Killer Case

Also Known As East Area Rapist / Original Night Stalker (EARONS)

DNA and Genetic Identification

A series of murders, rapes and burglaries committed across California between 1974 and 1986, publicly known under several monikers before genetic genealogy identified Joseph James DeAngelo as the offender in April 2018. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Facts

Case Year

2018 1

the subject's own accountCrimes span 1974 to 1986; 2018 is the year of identification and arrest.

Locationthe subject's own account

California, United States 1

Investigative or Reform Significancethe subject's own account

The first cold case resolved through forensic genetic genealogy: investigators uploaded a crime-scene DNA profile to the public genealogy website GEDmatch and built a family tree from distant relatives to identify the offender, a technique now used across law enforcement. 1

Case Statusthe subject's own account

Closed; convicted (pleaded guilty in June 2020 as part of a deal to avoid the death penalty). 1

Case Status

Case Status (category)the subject's own account

Closed / Convicted 1

FAQs

How was the Golden State Killer finally identified after four decades?

Investigators used genetic genealogy: DNA recovered from crime scenes was uploaded to a public genealogy database and matched to distant relatives, and the family tree that produced was narrowed until it pointed to Joseph James DeAngelo, a former police officer, who was arrested in April 2018. Publicly, the perpetrator had gone by several different monikers across the series of California crimes committed between 1974 and 1986 before that identification.

Connections