A DNA match in the past six days tied a former US police officer to some of the crimes committed by a notorious serial killer who is believed to have killed at least 12 people and raped 45 throughout California in the 1970s and '80s.
72 year old Joseph James DeAngelo who was fired from the Auburn Police Department, was arrested after a DNA sample came back as a match to the Golden State Killer.
Officials said DeAngelo had been arrested on suspicion of committing four killings in Sacramento and Ventura counties and charged with two counts of murder in the Ventura case.
California authorities say they studied the behaviour of DeAngelo and surprised him when they arrested him.
The Golden State killer rapes and deaths formed one of the worst unsolved crime sprees in US history.
Beginning in 1976, the Golden State Killer is believed to have raped dozens of women in their homes ‑ meticulously planning his intrusions, sometimes ambushing entire families, and killing several of his victims toward the end of his spree, before he vanished in 1986.
Source : Washington Post/AP
