A Decades-Long Trail of Terror

SUNDAY,JUNE16, 2019 MAN IN THE WINDOW ASPECIALREPORTONTHE GOLDEN STATEKILLER CASE ADECADES-LONG TRAIL OF TERROR BY PAIGEST. JOHN Police sketches of the East Area Rapist/Golden State Killer,and aphoto of JoeDeAngeloasapolice officer in 1973. To an earlyloveinterest,Joe DeAngelowas energetic and worldly, aVietnam vet with an appealing swagger.Now,nearly50yearslater,the formercop and truck mechanic stands accused of unleashing an extended spasm of violence —home invasions,rapes, murders —inthe 1970sand ’80s. d MAN IN THE WINDOWPODCAST Download thesix-partMan in the Window podcast andsubscribetoour newpodcast newsletter at latimes.com/maninthewindow. U2 SUNDAY,JUNE 16,2019 LATIMES.COM LATIMES.COM SUNDAY,JUNE 16,2019 U3 MAN IN THEWINDOW The neighborhoods of fear Joseph James DeAngelo Jr., 73, is accused of being one of America’s Folsom Lake most prolific serial killers. During the 1970s and ’80s, the Golden State Killer went on aseemingly unstoppable crime rampage, spanning over CITRUS HEIGHTS 11 counties in California. 80 Violent crimes North Killing or attackingdogs,assault, Highlands Orangevale Folsom sexual assault and murder. Nonviolent crimes Breaking intohomes,stealing guns, coins and rings,car theft. Fair Oaks 80 Carmichael 80 5 RanchoCordova DeAngelo family Davis Sacramento SACRAMENTAMENTOO residence River American Bay Area 50 MATHER AIR Rosemsemonontt FORCE BASE Visalia 99 Goleta Ventura Irvine Dana Point BAY AREA VISALIA GOLETA 99 198 5 Concord Stockton Cathedral Oaks Rd. Tulare Ave. Danville San Jose Dr. Creek San San Ramon Blvd. Ave. Francisco 580 Ave. Modesto Ave. 680 Cambridge 101 99 Mooney Walnut Ave. Kellogg Fremont Patterson Fairview Dr. St. Calle Real 1 63 280 San Jose 5 101 Courtesy of the Colwell family County Center 217 SAYING YESTOANEASY TALKER Giddings Whitendale Ave. JoeDeAngelo, at top right in yellowshirt, poses with the familyofhis fiancee, Bonnie Colwell, left. Joebecame her guide to lifeoutside her sheltered home. At top left, DeAngelo shows off ahorned owlinBonnie’s care, and, at left, his high schoolsenior class photograph. Sources: F.B.I., Times reporting, USGS National Map, Nextzen, OpenStreetMap. Graphics reporting by Paige St. John Lorena Iñiguez Elebee LosAngeles Times least106 victims. When andifthere is atri- ing Vietnam veterans at aNavyhospital in lowdeck as amechanic. DeAngelo spent gether,”Joe protested. “We’reperfectto- CHAPTER ONE al —the multi-countycase is years from Oakland. the next unremarkablethree years at sea, gether.” going to ajury, and DeAngelo is noticeably Boys didn’t pay muchattentiontoher on the Canberraand the Piedmont, then a “We’renot agood fit,”she replied. “I’ve Aring, an deterioratinginjail —prosecutors plan to at Del OroHigh School. By the time she ar- year in the Naval Reserve beforebeing already decided.” seek the death penalty. He has not entered rived at Sierra College, Bonnie wasbright honorablydischargedback to California. She gave himback the whitegold ring aplea. and inexperienced. Dating Joerepre- His mother had nowmarried the welder, with the high solitarydiamond. engagement Prosecutors say he rangedacross the sented akind of unshackling. and Joemoved in with theminthe hills DeAngelo leftthe house visibly upset. state, from SacramentotoOrange DeAngelo had just finished four years outside Auburn. As he walked to hiscar,hehurled thedia- County.Atevery stop in his allegedevolu- in the Navy,three of those on tour in Viet- At Sierra College, DeAngelodid not mond intothe tall grass behind her house. —and then tion from burglar and prowler to dog killer, nam. The storyhetold Bonnie about los- come offasaparticularly strong student; She searched in vain, with her siblings and rapist and serial murderer,they say, he es- inghis fingertip conjured images in her Bonnie tutoredhim to apassing grade in friends joining thehunt. Therewas no ring caped detection to startanewunder an- mind of ahardened four-man boat gliding astronomy. Classmates thought the pair to be found. They concluded Joemust agrowing fear othersobriquet: the Cordova Cat Burglar, through the jungle with machine guns, an oddmatchnot only in intelligence but have faked the throw. the Visalia Ransacker,the East Area Rap- and cast him in the same favorablelight as also style. Bonnie favoredthe brainy lyri- Days later she sawhim in psychology ist, the CreekKiller,the Diamond Knot her convalescentsinOakland. But Joesaw cismofSimon and Garfunkel. Joemoved class,holdinghands with an unfamiliar Killer,the Original Night Stalker. no suchaction. Navyrecords showhe to asingular soundtrack: the acid lust of girl. Some heartbreak, shethought. The Californiasun caught the light in In the long sweepofcrimes,dogswere servedasacarpenteraboardlarge ships the Doors. Afew nights later,Bonnie wasasleep Bonnie Colwell’slong, honey-blond hair as bludgeoned to deathinthe same manner that shelled Viet Cong strongholds from a Her friendssaw Joeassomeone trying when she awoketoatappingonher bed- she stood in the gravel commons of Sierra as people—with alog. He locked children safe distance. His fingertip, afamily friend hardtofit in with the younger students. room window. She knelt on her bed and College. in bathrooms or tied them to aheadboard said, wasslicedoff when Joedidn’t gethis But he wasconsiderateand easygoing. He pulled aside the drape to seeahandgun It washer sophomoreyear.She worked whileherepeatedly raped their mothers. hand out of the wayofarolling drum below laughed alot. He draped his thick arms inches from her face. Behind it wasDeAn- as alab assistant in the science depart- Attackssometimes lasted hours; he raped deck. around people he’djust met. He gave off a gelo. ment, responsiblefor asmall menagerieof and sodomizedwomen againand again. Bonnie wasthe kind of honors student whiffofJames Dean badness, slouching in “Get dressed,” he ordered. “We’regoing rats,rattlesnakes and orphaned birds. He tortured men, their hands and feet professors asked to tutorothers.Between jeans and aT-shirt, with suede ankle Sierra College to Reno.” She had brought twoofher charges, a bound so tight the skin turned black. He college classes she worked as alab assist- boots. DIFFERENCESINSMARTS AND STYLE Bonnie bolted out of bed and ran to the young greathorned owland astarling,to promised to bring themthe ears of their ant, tendingtoanimalsand preparing lec- Bonnie’sfather, Stan Colwell, had been Bonnie, second from right, and fellowscience club membersatSierra Col- end of the hall to her parents’room, where practice flying. wives and girlfriendsifthe perfume bot- ture aids for the science faculty. DeAngelo atough truant officer beforebeing pro- legein1970. Classmates thought she and DeAngelo were an odd match. she rousted her father. Theowl, not yetfledged, grabbed Bon- tles he balanced on their backsshould top- wasstudyingpolitical scienceand hadno moted to principal at asecond-chance “Joe is outside and he has agun and he nie’sshoulder as the starling launched ple. He hoveredoverhis blindfolded vic- reason to be in the building. Soon, though, high school. He did not approveofanolder wants me to go to Reno with him and from the topofher head and wildly intothe tims in silence, watching. he wasather side, sitting for hours while mandating his teenagedaughter.Hehad marryhim right now!” Bonnie cried. air,onlytoreturn to the safetyofthe teen- Bonnie wasathomeinItaly,helping she mounted slides,chatting hisway into rigid ideas about the roles of menand Therewas no wedding date. To her,the And he lovedhunting, teaching Bonnie Her father told her to lock herself in the ager’s loosehair. twoAmerican friendsnavigatethe coun- her heartand then into her large family. women and their paths in life, putting him ring wasJoe’sway of staking aclaim marksmanship, then taking her on adove bathroom and wait until he came to get The spectacle drew the attention of a try’strainsystem, when DeAngelo re- DeAngelo’sown family past wasfrac- at odds with the rapidly changing times. against the young clinic doctors he hunt.Bonnie dropped adovewith asingle her. stocky,grinning man Bonnie had never enteredher life in April 2018. turedand rootless. He grew up following Therewas oftentension in the family warned her to stay away from. But she did shot from the Browning rifle he hadgiven Stan Colwell could have called police, noticed before. JoeDeAngelo wasthick- Her former husband called. his father to military bases in Germany farmhouse when Colwell clashed with his not object. The engagement notice that her.Joe lauded the kill, but Bonnie but he did not. Forthe rest of his life, he ne- muscled and dough-faced, with an odd “What wasthe name of the guyyou and across the United States. By junior increasingly independent daughter. ran in the local paper washer declaration watched in horror as the dyingbirdcon- vertold his daughter why. jounce to his gait. He wasfiveyears older dated beforeme?” high theyhad landed in Rancho Cordova. Still, Stan Colwell wasaWorld WarII of independence, away outofher father’s vulsed. Joepicked it up and, as he usually As best as theycan guess, Bonnie and thanthe 18 -year-old sophomore. He made “Do youmean JoeDeAngelo?” Joe’sfather, an Air Forceofficer,bought a herowho went behind enemy lines to res- house. did, field-dressed the dove withhis fingers, hersiblingsnow believe that their father abeeline across the open space to her. “Yeah,that’s the one,” her ex-husband small tract house with mortgaged furni- cuedowned pilots, and he warmed up to It wasthe ring itself that troubled her. pullingout the breast meat and dropping knewitwould

Load more