# Golden State Killer/East Area Rapist/Original Night Stalker arrested? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 25, 2018, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golden-state-killer-east-area-rapist-original-night-stalker-arrested/813110 "2018-04-25T18:11:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golden-state-killer-east-area-rapist-original-night-stalker-arrested/813110/21 "2018-04-26T00:07:16Z")
> [@Poysyn](#): > > Agreed. Sexual predators don’t just _stop_. They either die, or are caught. Gary Ridgway (the Green River Killer) just stopped. He reached middle age, and lot interest in it. I guess if there is a certain amount of hormone drive in sexual murder, that could happen. > [@Leaffan](#): > > I don’t understand why, but I am intrigued by this sociopathic serial killer stuff. > > I’m just curious what makes people become this. They’re usually intelligent white men. It’s fascinating really. I don’t know why I am interested, but I certainly am. I read a fascinating article a long time ago by a clinical psychiatrist who took some time out from his practice to research what made some abused children become abusers, and some not. He looked into the backgrounds of a large number of men incarcerated for very violent crimes, and discovered that almost to a man, they had been violently abused by a parent. But when he researched further, he found out that they hadn’t just been beaten bloody or had broken bones: they all very specifically had gotten head injuries from their abusers. Then he discovered that of the few men who had not been abused, nearly all had also had a head injury as a child-- they’d been in car accidents, or fallen from significant heights, or something. Meanwhile, his group of abused children who had not grown up to be violent themselves had suffered great abuse-- he had people in the sample who had had limb bones broken-- but had, nearly to a person, never had a head injury. So, it looks like if you want to raise a serial killer, start out with not making your kid wear a bike helmet, and then, put them in PeeWee football. I wish I could find this article to cite it, but I read it in a print journal something like 18 years ago, and I have not been able to track it down. As far as them being men and white, there are probably some things that contribute to that: the head injury may not make you violent per se, as much as it impairs judgment as impulse control (albeit, I remember reading someplace else that Aileen Wuornos, and a UK female serial killer who started out as a teen, had had head injuries). Women who lack impulse control may face other problems, or they might be violent with their children, but may not fetishize violence so that they become serial killers. Whites also get a pass a lot where black people don’t. So maybe there are black people who commit serial-type crimes, but they are pursued more aggressively, or just watched more closely in the first place, so they get caught before they rack up a body count. Or maybe it’s economics. Every serial killer in the 20th & 21st century has seemed to own a vehicle, and had at least some disposable income. Black people have fewer resources on average. Actually, one of the reasons I suspect the police got the right man in the Atlanta child murders, was that he was middle class, and owned a car. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golden-state-killer-east-area-rapist-original-night-stalker-arrested/813110/22 "2018-04-26T06:34:39Z")
I went to High School in Folsom from 1975-79. This was when the East Area Rapist was terrorizing the nearby communities. Vividly remember that time, so great to see him finally caught. What is even stranger to me, is that he went to my same high school many years before. Shit, small world. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golden-state-killer-east-area-rapist-original-night-stalker-arrested/813110/23 "2018-04-26T06:42:51Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > What is even stranger to me, is that he went to my same high school many years before. Shit, small world. Shit indeed. Folsom High is where I went as well, though much later ('92-'96). I’m tempted to edit the Wiki page for FHS under the “Notable alumni” section. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golden-state-killer-east-area-rapist-original-night-stalker-arrested/813110/24 "2018-04-26T16:01:13Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > They’re usually intelligent white men. I don’t think this is necessarily borne out. There are criminologists who [contend](https://www.theroot.com/of-course-there-are-black-serial-killers-1790880259) that the IQ distribution of serial killers is no different from the general population, and the perception otherwise is a media creation. It seems to me that it may also be that dumber serial killers get caught more easily before they can really get going. Also, it’s not clear that serial killers are disproportionately white as compared to the general population. Lists of black serial killers are [here](https://www.ranker.com/list/black-serial-killers/ranker-crime) (includes some spree killers) and [here](https://www.quora.com/Why-are-there-fewer-black-serial-killers) (scroll down). I have seen it [argued](https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/wicked-deeds/201412/serial-killer-myth-6-they-are-all-white) that the media is less interested in black serial killers because their victims tend to be black as well. They do seem to be disproportionately male. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golden-state-killer-east-area-rapist-original-night-stalker-arrested/813110/25 "2018-04-26T17:00:04Z")
It’s like a retired serial killer just melted away into suburbia. It will be interesting to see what led authorities to him with such certainty. The news this morning was speculating the details of the crimes suggested someone with military and/or law enforcement experience, and this person had both. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golden-state-killer-east-area-rapist-original-night-stalker-arrested/813110/26 "2018-04-26T17:33:44Z")
> [@Gray\_Ghost](#): > > . . . Or (Applies tin foil) a close relative submitted genetic material to e.g., [23 and Me](https://www.23andme.com/), . . . Your comment got me thinking, **Gray Ghost** , and I Googled about police access of the DNA databases of these genealogy services. I was surprised to learn that the police can indeed look into their databases. Your musing about this is not so far-fetched at all. ---
**Author:** ![BeeGee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@BeeGee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeeGee)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golden-state-killer-east-area-rapist-original-night-stalker-arrested/813110/27 "2018-04-26T17:54:32Z")
I just watched the shows on him on Discovery ID. Between that and the podcast, maybe enough memories were jogged to lead to this guy. I notice that they said that when he was confronted that it looked like he was trying to remember an escape plan. that and the look on his face in his mug shot makes me wonder if various health problems didn’t cause him to stop killing. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golden-state-killer-east-area-rapist-original-night-stalker-arrested/813110/28 "2018-04-26T19:45:58Z")
I was meaning to read the McNamara book so I went ahead and did that yesterday and today. The part she wrote and polished is good. The other parts not so much. It’s incomplete. No summing up by her or anything. Anyway. This guy was a cop from nearby caught shoplifting dog repellent and a hammer. I.e., the tools of a break-in prowler. Lot’s of people at the time suspected a cop. Shoplifting such items helps cover your tracks. Number one on the suspect list? No, they let him walk away from the job with no investigation. :eek: On how they got their break, I’ve heard: 1. They used deep genealogy research to locate suspects, eventually targeting him. 2. Genealogy had nothing to do with it. :smack: My bet: Someone close to him ratted him out. That’s why the cops are mum on it, to protect their source. But I’m not making a big bet. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golden-state-killer-east-area-rapist-original-night-stalker-arrested/813110/29 "2018-04-26T20:45:17Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > I don’t think this is necessarily borne out. There are criminologists who [contend](https://www.theroot.com/of-course-there-are-black-serial-killers-1790880259) that the IQ distribution of serial killers is no different from the general population, and the perception otherwise is a media creation. It seems to me that it may also be that dumber serial killers get caught more easily before they can really get going. > > Also, it’s not clear that serial killers are disproportionately white as compared to the general population. Lists of black serial killers are [here](https://www.ranker.com/list/black-serial-killers/ranker-crime) (includes some spree killers) and [here](https://www.quora.com/Why-are-there-fewer-black-serial-killers) (scroll down). I have seen it [argued](https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/wicked-deeds/201412/serial-killer-myth-6-they-are-all-white) that the media is less interested in black serial killers because their victims tend to be black as well. > > They do seem to be disproportionately male. Female serial killers, like most female criminals, are more likely to do their thing with people they know - in this case, they might have killed their husbands and/or children, or their patients, by working in a place like an ICU or a nursing home, and use harder-to-trace methods like suffocation or poison. Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer, was an exception to the “above average IQ” rule; IIRC, his IQ tested in the 80s. Albert DeSalvo’s IQ was also slightly below normal (and yes, I know he was probably not THE Boston Strangler). In addition, serial killers often commit their crimes with members of their own race, and we all know that crimes with Hispanic or black victims are more likely to not be thoroughly investigated than those involving white victims. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golden-state-killer-east-area-rapist-original-night-stalker-arrested/813110/30 "2018-04-26T23:01:29Z")
It looks like Gray Ghost was correct: > [@](#): > > The break that authorities said led them to the man accused of being the Golden State Killer came when they linked DNA evidence from the slayings to genetic information contained on a consumer genealogical website, authorities said Thursday. > > Investigators knew the killer only through a string of DNA recorded in several of the dozen murder scenes. Shaun Hampton, a spokesman for the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department, said officials had struggled for years to figure out who that DNA belonged to. Recently, they tapped genealogical databases that the public uses to search for relatives and ancestors, he said. > > Law enforcement sources told The Times that information from that websites dramatically reduced the the size of their search. Eventually they narrowed the investigation to several families listed in the database, with a pool of about about 100 men who fit the age profile of the killer, said the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. > > Hampton declined to name the site used or provide details about exactly how authorities made the match. The trail eventually led them to Joseph James DeAngelo, a 72-year-old former police officer living in Citrus Heights, a suburb of Sacramento. > **[Police used consumer genealogical websites to identify Golden State Killer...](https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-dna-golden-state-killer-20180426-story.html)** > > The break that authorities said led them to the man accused of being the Golden State Killer came when they linked DNA evidence from the slayings to genetic information contained on a consumer genealogical website, authorities said Thursday. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golden-state-killer-east-area-rapist-original-night-stalker-arrested/813110/31 "2018-04-26T23:25:47Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > It looks like Gray Ghost was correct: > > [Police used consumer genealogical websites to identify Golden State Killer suspect](http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-dna-golden-state-killer-20180426-story.html) I’ll be damned. Until today, I would have thought your DNA records would have been protected, as if they were covered by HIPAA. Good news for law enforcement trying to crack cases. Bad news for anyone trying to get away with a crime if they left some DNA behind and a relative of theirs had been to 23andme. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golden-state-killer-east-area-rapist-original-night-stalker-arrested/813110/32 "2018-04-27T00:36:19Z")
According to an online Time article, 23andme and other prominent DNA testing companies have told newspapers that they were not involved. It would have to be one that got permission to provide public matches along with the test. I wonder if it’s likely to be Ancestry. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golden-state-killer-east-area-rapist-original-night-stalker-arrested/813110/33 "2018-04-27T00:41:35Z")
> [@teela\_brown](#): > > I’ll be damned. Until today, I would have thought your DNA records would have been protected, as if they were covered by HIPAA. > > Good news for law enforcement trying to crack cases. Bad news for anyone trying to get away with a crime if they left some DNA behind and a relative of theirs had been to 23andme. Even worse news as we learn more about genomics and figure out more and more hereditary maladies you will be susceptible to. Then again, if you didn’t want your DNA out there, you shouldn’t have given it to someone to sequence, should you? Probably buried in the Terms of Service that you agree to let the sequencing company do damned near whatever they want with your material and data. So, I wonder how this works, as I don’t know much about the nuts and bolts of contemporary DNA sequencing, despite having run a few gels during undergrad. Is there one standard DNA gel run that all samples get run through, where multiple lanes and bands are standardized? I can visualize how, say, fingerprints are standardized and digitized for easy comparison in a database, but I don’t know how the same works for DNA analysis. But if it’s as standard as digitizing a fingerprint, then I wonder just how often the private sequencing sites databases are polled and compared to police databases? Not happy that my paranoid musings were proved right here, although it’s great that this guy—assuming he did all of those horrible things—is going to jail. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golden-state-killer-east-area-rapist-original-night-stalker-arrested/813110/34 "2018-04-27T03:47:03Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > Shit indeed. Folsom High is where I went as well, though much later ('92-'96). > > I’m tempted to edit the Wiki page for FHS under the “Notable alumni” section. Bwahahahahha. You should. I was class of '79. More students ended up as guards or inmates at Folsom prison than went to college. And that is not hyperbole. ---
**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golden-state-killer-east-area-rapist-original-night-stalker-arrested/813110/35 "2018-04-27T11:47:11Z")
I don’t know how the genealogy websites work, but would it have been possible for the cops to have just entered his DNA into the site and asked for close matches? Just like someone would if they’re trying to track down their relatives? ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golden-state-killer-east-area-rapist-original-night-stalker-arrested/813110/36 "2018-04-27T12:09:25Z")
That’s what I was wondering **C3**. Do those sites tell you if you have relatives in a given area? ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golden-state-killer-east-area-rapist-original-night-stalker-arrested/813110/37 "2018-04-27T12:33:05Z")
> [@teela\_brown](#): > > I’ll be damned. Until today, I would have thought your DNA records would have been protected, as if they were covered by HIPAA. > > Good news for law enforcement trying to crack cases. Bad news for anyone trying to get away with a crime if they left some DNA behind and a relative of theirs had been to 23andme. The ancestry labs are not medical care providers, so no HIPAA, and there is a paucity of regulation of their activity. Some state legislatures have passed laws against genetic profiling but it’s not uniform. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golden-state-killer-east-area-rapist-original-night-stalker-arrested/813110/38 "2018-04-27T13:00:22Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > That’s what I was wondering **C3**. Do those sites tell you if you have relatives in a given area? 23 & Me gave me hundreds of 5th cousins, sometimes with a name, but never addresses. Indeed, I agreed to let them give information to anyone they want to. I didn’t realize that the police were able to do research in that information as well as those who study genetic causes. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golden-state-killer-east-area-rapist-original-night-stalker-arrested/813110/39 "2018-04-27T13:06:48Z")
My relatives who did 23andme got info on relatives (including each other) that were close matches. Names and locations. Looking at one of their matches I knew it had to be ~3rd cousin based on that info. Letting others see you as a match is entirely optional. You don’t have to have your info public. But a lot of people do it. I think this is even more common on the [ancestry.com](http://ancestry.com) DNA site since that is sort of the whole point. I’m of two minds about the police using such resources. The Sacramento people seem to have done things right: Found a partial match, did a genealogical search of the match, found someone the right age and location, secretly located some DNA, got a full match, did a 2nd match, then arrest ensues. The key was the whole search was secret. It’s easy to see how this can be abused. You suddenly get picked up at work due to being a relative of a possible match, dragged in, they demand a DNA sample, you’re worried about Something Else, you have to hire a lawyer etc. You end up losing money, losing your job, being ostracized by neighbors and such and it turns out you’re a close but not exact match. (Or the DNA sample wasn’t the suspect, or the test was screwed up, or … .) Too many cops don’t want to work methodically in secret. They just want to jump to the pick up and if you’re life gets ruined, so what? ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golden-state-killer-east-area-rapist-original-night-stalker-arrested/813110/40 "2018-04-27T13:16:21Z")
So it sounds like the police enrolled the killer’s DNA in the program and that at least one of the killer’s relatives participated in a service like [Ancestry.com](http://Ancestry.com). Impressive and terrifying all at once. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golden-state-killer-east-area-rapist-original-night-stalker-arrested/813110.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golden-state-killer-east-area-rapist-original-night-stalker-arrested/813110.md?page=3)