SACRAMENTO: Joseph James DeAngelo’s six-year career as a cop came swiftly to an end after being busted for shoplifting a can of dog repellent and a hammer from a Pay N’ Save store in a Sacramento suburb in 1979.
Authorities are now wondering if the items he snatched were intended as tools for the sinister rash of crimes he’s suspected of carrying out.
DeAngelo, 72, was accused this week of being the notorious Golden State Killer who terrorised suburban neighbourhoods in a spate of brutal rapes and slayings in the 1970s and 1880s before leaving a cold trail that baffled investigators for decades.
He has been charged with 10 counts of murder in three counties after being linked to the crimes through his DNA.
Authorities said he was responsible for a dozen slayings and some 50 rapes and that other charges could be filed.
Most of the crimes occurred in the three years he was an Auburn police officer in the Sierra foothills outside Sacramento.
The attacks on sleeping women - and sometimes their partners - in middle-class suburbs led to a climate of fear and threats of vigilantism at the time. Authorities said his name never surfaced as a suspect prior to them getting a break in the case this month.
After leaving the police force the US navy veteran who served during the Vietnam War settled into his own suburban existence in a modest three-bedroom home in Sacramento.
For 27 years, he worked in a cavernous Save Mart Supermarkets distribution warehouse before retiring last year.
DeAngelo built remote-controlled model airplanes and took meticulous care of his house and manicured lawn, neighbours said.
Natalia Bedes-Correnti said DeAngelo appeared to be a “nice old grandpa” who lived with an adult daughter and granddaughter. But he also had a penchant for cussing loudly when he was frustrated.
“He liked the F-word a lot,” Bedes-Correnti said.
Deputies kept watch on the house for several days and took him by surprise on Tuesday afternoon as he walked outside. As he was being arrested, he told officers he had a roast in the oven. They said they would take care of it.
Investigators finally cracked the case by comparing DNA found at the crime scenes to genetic information on commercial genealogy websites that consumers use to explore their ancestry.
Detectives followed the family trees of close matches, seeking people who might be the killer. A week ago the DNA of a relative pointed to DeAngelo based on his age and that he lived near where the attacks occurred, according to a Sacramento prosecutor.