Sacramento County DA’s new book tells the inside story of the Golden State Killer investigation

Few criminal cases have loomed larger in Sacramento’s history than that of Joseph James DeAngelo, one of the most notorious serial criminals in U.S. history.

Known by many monikers — the Golden State Killer, East Area Rapist, Visalia Ransacker, Original Nightstalker — the former police officer is tied to at least 13 murders and dozens of rapes and burglaries across California during the 1970s-1980s. Most of those crimes took place in Sacramento.

DeAngelo’s case went unsolved for decades before he was eventually found living unsuspectingly in a home in Citrus Heights at age 72, a discovery largely thanks to advances in DNA genealogy. 

Following his trial in 2020 DeAngelo was convicted and sentenced to multiple life sentences without the possibility of parole, and remains in prison to this day.

Thien Ho is Sacramento County District Attorney, first elected in 2022. He announced Tuesday a bid for the U.S. House of Representatives in the newly-redrawn 6th Congressional District.

But before this, Ho was the lead prosecutor in DeAngelo’s trial and conviction. Recently, he detailed the work of investigators and captured never-before-told accounts from survivors in a new book titled The People vs. the Golden State Killer.  

Ho spoke with Insight Host Vicki Gonzalez about the insider account into how one of America’s most elusive predators was finally unmasked.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Interview highlights

You have been with the Sacramento County District Attorney’s office for more than 20 years, and were involved in the years leading up to DeAngelo’s arrest and eventual conviction. Did you know you always wanted to write a book about this?

I never thought that the possibility of writing a book would ever present itself at all. As I’ve discussed before, I’m an immigrant and a refugee. When I came to this country, I didn’t know how to speak English. Twenty years later, graduated from law school. I never thought I’d be a lawyer; I frankly never thought I’d graduate from college much less be a prosecutor, a district attorney who handled this case, or even a published author.

So this was never at all in my mind until near when the case was completed and I got to know some of the survivors, listened to their stories, and wanted to amplify their voices. 

Prior to his arrest in 2018, how big of a presence was this looming unsolved crime spree within the DA’s office? 

There was always an awareness, always an undercurrent, both in the office and the community. When you’re going back to the 1970s he changed, literally, the entire community in this region. You know how hot the summer gets? We leave our windows open for the Delta breeze. But when he committed his crime spree people locked their windows, Their doors, they put bars on it. They ordered alarm systems and dogs and guns. It changed the landscape of our community back then for many, many years, and it’s always stayed with us.

DeAngelo was tracked down decades after his crimes due to advances in DNA technology, particularly genealogy. He was 72 years old and living in the Citrus Heights neighborhood for decades. Was there a real possibility that these crimes would go unsolved?

I think when I first learned about the case, which was about six years before he was caught,  one of the detectives on the task force to find him — another homicide prosecutor in my office who grew up in Rancho Cordova — they all believed he was dead. And even though I think the vast majority of law enforcement believed that he was dead, they never gave up the search. That’s one of the things I highlight in the book ,that relentless pursuit to find the monster.

How do you toe the line of capturing the gravity of the crimes while also protecting survivors, and avoiding the glorification of a notorious serial predator?

Michelle McNamara wrote “I’ll Be Gone in the Dark,” and it’s a very popular book. It focused on the crime and the criminal. Michelle passed away before he was caught. Then Paul Holes, my colleague in Contra Costa who came up with the idea of using genetic genealogy, wrote a book about that technique.

But my book is what I would call “the third” in the trilogy where it covers the investigation, the capture, and the prosecution. And it’s the first one that really tells the story of the survivors, from the survivors’ perspective as well. And I wanted to be mindful of that so while I go into the details, I stopped short of all the gory details. And on top of that, a portion of the proceeds of the books that are sold will go to fund a nonprofit called Phyllis’s Garden that was started by one of the survivors of the East Area Rapist. 

Survivors are the North Star in this case. How did they shape and fuel the commitment of investigators and prosecutors like yourself over the years? 

I’ll give you an example of it. The very first rape victim in Sacramento was Phyllis. I’d read the police reports, I’d seen the description of her in the crimes. The first time I show up to court a lady walks up to me. Barely five feet tall, gray hair, in her early 60s with Coke bottle glasses. She reaches her hand out, she says, “Hi. My name is Phyllis. I’m victim number one.” Another victim comes up. “Hi, I’m Kris. I’m victim number 10.” Every time in court Phyllis would sit there in the front row, and I would sit down, talk with her about the case. 

Near the end of the case, Phyllis told me that she was diagnosed with cancer and she couldn’t be in court. So when it was time for Joseph DeAngelo to accept responsibility… all the other victims in the makeshift courtroom at Sac State stood up for her. Two months later when he was sentenced, I looked across the room and there’s Phyllis with a twinkle in her eye. She died three months later from cancer. And so, when I think of the case and I think of what we did, I think of Phyllis. That’s the nonprofit that was started in her name, because this is really about survivors supporting survivors. 

How has your idea of justice evolved after this trial? 

You know, we sought the death penalty. And if anybody deserves the death penalty, it was Joseph DeAngelo. You’re talking about 13 known murders, upwards of 50 sexual assaults, 120 burglaries in 11 different counties up and down the state of California. But when it came down to it, we were in the middle of COVID… In March 2020 we were trying to get the case into a courtroom and all of a sudden we’re hit by a pandemic that the world hadn’t seen in a hundred years.

But it was the victims who came to us. It was the victims who continually talked about making sure that all of their voices, those that had cases that were charged and those that had cases that were uncharged, were heard. And so what really shaped me on this is the reminder of the resiliency of the human spirit.

What struck you about how Joseph DeAngelo handled himself following his arrest, interrogations, and ultimately his trial?

He’s the master manipulator. We retraced every step of his life from the moment he was born in Bath, New York to the moment he was arrested, and even afterwards. A few hours before his arrest he’s riding his motorcycle, he’s jumping in and out of his boat, he’s doing all sorts of heavy yard work. But the moment we arrest him, he sits there like in a comatose state. The moment we wheeled him into court he’s in a wheelchair, acting as if he’s out of it. I have video of him… I have DeAngelo walking to a cell with a cane, limping. The moment the door closes the cane’s dropped, he’s doing jumping jacks, he’s climbing up and down his bunk bed. He was constantly manipulating everybody.

What also surprised me were statements from some family members and loved ones of his who described him as wonderful, caring and loving. How do you reconcile or rationalize that?

He’s able to compartmentalize his life. Remember this: he was a police officer, swore to protect and to serve, during a series of his crimes. Whether it was as the ransacker down in Visalia, whether it was the East Area Rapist, the East Bay Rapist, and then he was fired as a cop back in 1979. So, he’s always been able to compartmentalize and manipulate people and present certain images.  But when you pull away the mask, you see the monster behind that mask. You can’t hide from it. Sooner or later justice will find you. 

DeAngelo didn’t really speak until that final day in trial.  He stood up and said, “I’ve listened to all of your statements, each one of them, and I’m truly sorry to everyone I’ve hurt.” Did you expect him to speak, and does that have any meaning for you?

A couple of days before the sentencing we were informed by the public defenders, his attorneys, that he might speak. There was a point in time when the judge called a break, and that break was to clear everybody out and to unhook him from his belly chain… we didn’t want to do that in front of everybody.  

I knew he was going to speak, but here’s the deal. He is a master manipulator who craves control. When he was in people’s homes committing the crimes he did, eating their food, drinking their beer, stacking plates on the backs of the males and committing the sexual assaults. When he left, he took one earring and left the other one behind as a reminder of what was lost and taken. Here he was with no control, the control was taken from him. So him standing up and speaking was him trying to change that narrative and [get] some of that control back. So I don’t buy it one single bit at all.

What is DeAngelo’s current life in prison like? 

He’s currently in the protective needs unit. When you are a child molester, a rapist, a snitch, a gang member, you’re put in [that] unit. He works in the cafeteria, but what I can say is he’s constantly looking over his shoulder. He’s there with other predators, he’s there with other deviants. Obviously CDCR cannot put him in [general population] because he’s going to get murdered if he was there, and they [would] probably end up getting sued. There are people looking to kill somebody like Joseph DeAngelo.

You also weave in your own personal journey about becoming the district attorney. You’ve opened up on Insight about it, escaping Vietnam with your family and becoming one of the very few Asian-American DAs in the country. Why make this part of the book as well? 

I feel as if I was given a second chance coming to this country, and I feel like every day I have to earn it. That’s why I became a prosecutor, that’s why I’m trying to give back. It’s an interesting time for us to talk about this because there’s so much angst towards immigrants and immigration and refugees. But let’s not forget that this country is built on immigrants. 

I don’t want us to forget that, and I don’t want to forget the vision of what this country is about — a country of second chances.  We shouldn’t be denying people second chances and in the same way, when I look at victims and survivors, they yearn for a second chance to get their life back together. If we can do that for them then it’s all worth it, because then we have earned it.