Solving the Unsolvable - The Monster Unmasked

Part Two - No Longer Gone in the Dark

Blinded by the unforgiving glare of a flashlight, eyes heavy with sleep, brain clouded by that thin line between slumber and consciousness, the victim struggles to comprehend just what’s happening. Please, no. Is this a nightmare? Adrenalin spikes to nauseating heights as the tip of a hunting knife presses against the right temple of her head, the masked man whispers, “make a sound and I’ll kill you, then I’ll be gone in the dark.”

This nightmare was reenacted over fifty times by Joseph James DeAngelo. He’d escalated from committing over one hundred and twenty voyeuristic burglaries (meaning the crimes were sexually motivated and not for financial gain) and it happened before graduating to murdering thirteen victims. His atrocities earned him different monikers throughout his fertile hunting period between 1975 to 1986. The Vasilica Ransacker morphed into the East Area Rapist. When that reign of terror ended and his impulses to kill took over, he was known as the Original Night Stalker and finally, he was given his last name of the Golden State Killer by the true crime author Michelle McNamara (who was helping the authorities hunt him whilst writing her book, I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, as discussed in part one of this story.)

The why did he do what he did can never be fully understood. We can make academic assumptions based on our knowledge of modern psychology and as a mystery author, yes, this fascinates and frightens me. After hours with varying psychologists, the conclusion was drawn that DeAngelo was a sadistic sociopath. Highly intelligent. Highly functioning. A master manipulator, which, if you read psychology, seems to be a proud benchmark for most sociopaths.

To simply say, he’s a lunatic and dismiss further discussion is a dangerous folly. Because here’s the thing - Joseph James DeAngelo, Dennis Rader and Ted Bundy for example, were all active in their community, in their education, in their profession, they were highly functioning and someone’s family member and neighbour. They hid their monstrous intentions behind a mask, they did it well and with ease. And isn’t that the most frightening thing of all. Understanding as much as we can surely serve as cautionary advice to the rest of us, because most of these monsters don’t arrive with a warning label. Until it’s too late.

The question that makes me uneasy is the how did he manage to escape justice for so long? Over four decades. Even if you subtract the infancy of forensics (because this was the 1970’s and 80’s), we’re still left with a vast mishandling of so much of the early beginnings of this case and a lot of that hinges on the poor treatment of the rape victims. It comes as no surprise to us today that sexual assault cases have been systematically mishandled, overlooked and downright ignored for decades, often leaving victims feeling isolated, mentally distressed and violated all over again when their trauma comes into question. Some of the victims even had to undergo a lie detector test.

And this is where this story takes a darker turn. After the police announced that only ‘single women or those who choose to live alone’ should fear the East Area Rapist and the media ran with that banner, advising women to make sure they didn’t attract unwanted invitation (yes, was actually printed) DeAngelo decided to raise the stakes.

His next victims were a married couple. Carefully selected. To ensure the point was made that he was in control and everyone was playing by his rules. He would bind the man, places dishes and crockery dragged from the couples kitchen cabinets (in some cases,, tragically it was their wedding dinner services sets - forever tainted) and place them all over the male victims’ back and whisper ‘if I hear one sound of these plates move, I’ll kill you both and I’ll be gone in the dark.’ He would eat food from their fridge, drink beer, make himself right at home - prolonging the agony and unleashing his full ‘control’. The men couldn’t do anything to protect their wives, DeAngelo had stripped every ounce of power away from them. And now we have two victims, forever changed, forever shattered. Many relationships can’t survive that sort of trauma.

The authorities and media still didn’t learn. Cat and mouse. After reassuring the public that ‘he’ might have moved on, the East Area Rapist began to call his previous victims on the telephone, to re-enact his atrocities. This is unusual behaviour for this type of predator and it set him apart. Time to study. So the early FBI profiling experts climbed on board trying to make sense with the who and what they were dealing with. The experts understood that he was a profiler of sorts himself, methodical and analytical. He would gain entry to the house hours before the attack, familiarise himself, place bindings and weapons all around the house…prepare. He’d cut phone lines and move furniture around to suit his purpose. He’d take trinkets as souvenirs.

And then he’d wait.

In 1979 there was silence and the authorities breathed a sigh of relief. Except Detective Larry Crompton who warned that he’d likely simply moved up with California coast and had escalated to murder. “Well, at least he’s not our problem anymore” Larry was told by his bosses. That weighed heavy on him until the day he retired and wrote his own book on his personal dealings and frustrations with the case.

Of course, Larry was right. DeAngelo had relocated from Sacramento to Golita, Santa Barbara, and that became his new hunting ground. Thirteen more victims. This time, he’d escalated to murder. His early homicide victims were mislabelled as victims of The Hillside Strangler. Confusion. Lack of understanding. No communication between different authorities and different jurisdictions. If he wasn’t active in their jurisdiction then they didn’t need to worry about it anymore. It all aided his reign of terror, his iron grip of control.

And then, in 1986, he faded from view. He was really gone in the dark. Now we know why - he’d just become a father again.

The case languished, the files eventually boxed up and moved into storage units to gather dust. DNA evidence was filed away should it ever become traceable. The rape victims and loved ones of the homicide victims were forgotten and left to pick up fragments of their shattered lives. Detectives whispered about it and wondered if they would ever be the one to open the old files and solve the unsolvable.

Larry Poole would become that detective, taking the lead in the countless cold cases and joined forces with a young forensics expert named Paul Holes who’d been immersed in trying to ‘modernise’ the DNA of The Golden State Killer. They would eventually meet true crime author Michele McNamara and this time; the hunter had become the hunted. No more darkness and shadows to lurk in.

Michelle had mentioned the new art of genealogy tracing and inspiration moved to action. Paul met with an expert and they began running DNA testing against thousands of genealogy site data entries. Months turned into a year. I’ve read so much on this part of the investigation that I cannot stress to you enough just how much work was poured into tracing and matching the DNA. It was remarkable and it was enormous. Thousands and thousands of hours of their life was spent studying the data. Overwhelming amounts of information had to sifted through, but still they worked, diligently and with determination. Until only one person, one name, remained.

Joseph James DeAngelo.

Finally unmasked for no ski mask could conceal him now. Finally dragged into the light. And finally…justice.

For Joseph James DeAngelo would no longer be able to be gone in the dark.