Suspected East Area Rapist — who murdered 12, raped 45 caught being held in Sacramento jail

This is huge news. This guy terrorized entire communities; at this point I never thought they'd get him.

Hope it's the right guy.

Joseph James DeAngelo, aged 72.   Former cop who was married and had kids.

Sounds like with DNA they shouldn't have much problem identifying him as the perp.

The neighbor, ... said the suspected serial killer and rapist “seemed nice, but he was very high-strung.”

This thread title reads like a headline off YahooNews.

There was a big show about the case on TV this weekend--wonder if that led to the ID or if they held off on the arrest for dramatic value, or sheer coincidence.  Will be interesting to know how this went down.  Yay that he was caught.  Ugh that this is good for re-election campaigns of DA and Sheriff.  

I am reading that murders started after he was fired from cops for shoplifting a hammer and pepper spray. Before that there were only rapes.

Yeah, it will be interesting to see how they got turned onto the guy.  From what I have read so far, the cops identified him as a person of interest about a week ago and then found some "discarded DNA" that proved to be a 100% match.

Also heard a rumor that the guy was talking.

To be (grudgingly) fair to the agencies involved, they have been putting out a bunch of info recently, plus offered a big reward, getting vics involved to make pleas to the public.  Maybe this led to a tip?

I went to HS with his last known victim, Janelle Cruz, and went to a get together at her house the night before he brutally raped and murdered her. When I got to the gathering at her home all the kids were freaked out because a guy in a ski mask had just jumped her fence. There were a couple teens in the yard who made eye contact with him, and he fled. Janelle was a sweetheart. I'm disgusted that the IPD essentially chalked her murder up to a troubled teen got what she was looking for attitude until the DNA evidence proved she was the victim of a serial killer 15 years after her brutal murder.

I hope this POS suffers what years he has left. 

Rest in peace, Janelle

Alias, it sounds like a relative's DNA led to him from what I gather. I think the media push had a lot to do with that. He wasn't in the DNA registry of felons, so either a relative was in the system, or a suspicious family member voluntarily gave up their DNA that led to him after seeing the media push. Time will tell. I've corresponded off and on with Janelle's sister in the last year or so and she was instrumental, on a never sleep level of diligence in getting the airtime you mention. 

Say it again. He was a cop.

FWIW it was the victims and family members who got the media to take notice. Not the law. IMO $50,000 reward is peanuts when we're talking about such a prolific rapist and murderer. The push the family members and surviving victims for justice was the only reason this cold case saw airtime. They were relentless and vigilant.

Also Patton Oswalt's late wife, Michelle MacNamerra deserves some credit for reviving the cold case before her untimely death. She was the one that suggested they change the killer's alias to Golden State Killer over the utterly lame "original night stalker" name LE gave him.

There's some talk that Joe DMicropenis had an accomplice. I hope if that's true he is squealing.

"I am reading that murders started after he was fired from cops for shoplifting a hammer and pepper spray. Before that there were only rapes."

This is true, unless he was able to murder people without being connected prior...he was LE and might have been destroying evidence. Who knows?

Sorry for the meltdown, been disturbed by this case for a very long fucking time.

(it was dog repellant, not pepper spray)

He beat her so brutally. Evidence showed she fought him, found her blood in the hall and her kitchen, he smashed the back of her head and beat in her face. They found some of Janelle's teeth in her lungs.

Dise, reading what you know and have been carrying around for so long is beyond terrible. I'm so sorry for your loss and for the terror she must have lived through. Unimaginable, except that it's real.

That's fucking horrifying, Willows. I'm so sorry for what your friend, her family and you went through.  Just awful...

Wow! A relative of his submitting data to one of these DNA sites is what caught him:

Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, was arrested Tuesday after investigators matched crime-scene DNA with genetic material stored by a distant relative on an online site. From there, they narrowed it down to the Sacramento-area grandfather using DNA obtained from material he had discarded, Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert said.

https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/dna-serial-killer-probe-spar...