By Chris Bartholomew
In 2001 criminologists matched the DNA of a suspect in 10 Southern California murders committed between 1980 and 1986 with 50 rapes committed in Northern California from 1976 to 1979. Combining the Original Night Stalker, and the East Area Rapist, we now call the suspect the Diamond Knot Killer. The identity of this rapist and killer remains unknown. This suspect showed proficiency in tying ornate knots including the 'diamond knot', or 'Chinese knot'.
The serial killer is thought to have begun his criminal career as a rapist in Sacramento in 1976, earning himself the name East Area Rapist because many of his attacks occurred in the Rancho Cordova, Citrus Heights and Orangevale areas east of Sacramento.
The man would later become known as the Original Night Stalker, because his crimes started before those of convicted serial murderer Richard Ramirez, known as the Night Stalker.
He stalked his victims. Sometimes there would be reports of prowlers for days before he attacked. Originally, he attacked single women, often after prying open sliding glass doors or windows of their homes with a screwdriver. He haunted upper-middle-class neighborhoods, prowling at night looking for unlocked doors. There were reports of screens missing from windows of houses other than where he struck, evidence that someone was sneaking around at night, looking for ways into houses.
His victims weren't just women. He started targeting couples in Southern California coastal communities in Santa Barbara, Ventura and Orange counties in 1977. He wasn't picky about his weapons and would shoot, stab or bludgeon his victims, both men and women. The rapist frequently held a knife to his victims' throats.
The rapist would break in, often waking the victims by shining a flashlight on them or speaking. He usually cuts the telephone cord and covers a lamp with something to dim the lighting. He would separate the woman from the man, often having the woman tie up her companion with bindings he brought to the house with him.
Speaking through clenched teeth in a whispering falsetto voice, he would tell the bound man he was going to kill him and the woman if he heard a sound. His warning came after he'd place perfume bottles or dishes on the man's back. He'd then leave to rape the woman in another room.
He left DNA evidence behind.
He ate from the victims' refrigerators and would tell his victims all he wanted was food and money, probably giving them a false sense of security that he would leave after he robbed them, making them feel safe enough not to try anything rash. He would rarely take anything of value, but occasionally would grab jewelry as a memento.
On April 14, 1978, the East Area Rapist struck again in the South Area of Sacramento County, attacking a 15 year old babysitter. The East Area Rapist was very methodical and calculating. He always wore a mask, so none of his victims had ever seen his face. He always wore gloves so he never left any fingerprints behind. His vehicle was never parked near the crime scenes, so his license plate was never knowingly written down.
The East Area Rapist attacks came to an abrupt end with the last reported attack occurring on June 26, 1979. However, there are at least six East Area Rapist attacks that have been unaccounted for. The last reported East Area Rapist attack was listed in the media as his 44th attack. However, some law enforcement officials have referred to 50 attacks. There has been no official explanation for this discrepancy.
In 1979, the rapist turned even more violent.
Detectives hosted town hall meetings after the Sacramento rapes to address residents' concerns. At one meeting, a man stood up and boldly proclaimed that he could protect his wife from the rapist. This couple were the rapist's next victims. He raped the wife and attacked the man. How must the people of the time have felt when they realized that the killer must, no, HAD to have been at the meeting. He also must have fit in with the other people there, in all over 300 attended and no one could think of one single person who stood out.
On Oct. 1, 1979, a man in a ski mask entered the home of Mary Brown and John Davis. The couple was awakened, a flashlight shining in their eyes, and Brown was ordered to tie up Davis with pre-cut lengths of cord that were brought to the house. While the masked intruder ransacked the house supposedly looking for money, Brown managed to hop outside to the front of her home and scream for help. The intruder pulled her back into the house. During this time, Davis made his escape into the backyard. While the intruder pursued Davis, Brown escaped again, this time running into the arms of a neighbor who had been alerted by her screams. Having lost control of the situation, the intruder was spotted escaping on a bicycle and he disappeared down a creek bed.
The man known as the East Area Rapist, who had terrified whole communities in Northern California, would simply disappear and then re-emerge approximately three months later in Southern California and transform himself from a serial rapist into a serial killer.
Robert Offerman, 44, an orthopedic surgeon, and Alexandria Manning, 35, a clinical psychologist, were both murdered in December of 1979. Both victims were restrained with braided twine, but they were shot, not bludgeoned. The killer brought a big dog to the scene, and ate from the refrigerator.
In 1981, 35-year-old Cheri Domingo, an office manager, and 27-year-old Gregory Sanchez, who worked at the Burroughs Office Machine Company, were murdered. There was no sexual assault this time, but the victims were both shot, beaten to death, and bound with twine.
When he murdered Ventura, California attorney Lyman Smith and Smith's wife Charlene, he left pre-cut lengths of drapery cord he'd used to bind them on the bodies and the fireplace log he used to kill them on the bed.
In August of 1980, the same year he killed the Smiths, he struck in Niguel Shores, California. The victims this time were the Harringtons, Keith, a medical student, and his wife Patrice, a nurse. This time he took his bludgeoning instrument with him, but left some cord behind.
His next victim, in February of 1981, Manuela Witthuhn, was a loan officer. Her husband David was not home. He was in the hospital, with a viral infection. The killer took the Witthuhns' answering machine along with some other items this time, leaving the possibility that his voice was on the machine. The ligatures were not left behind at this scene.
In 1986 he killed his last known victim, 18-year-old Janelle Cruz. A friend had stayed with her until late in the night, reading poetry, and they'd heard strange noises outside several times. Janelle was raped and murdered, and the weapon and bindings weren't left behind.
In 1990 or 1991 the rapist called one of his victims. Imagine answering the phone that night. He said over and over again that he could kill her, the victim heard children in the background and a woman speaking, possibly indicating the rapist had a family. His voice is higher-pitched than average male. When disguising his voice the suspect will attempt to make his voice sound husky or gruff.
The FBI describes the man as most likely being white with fair to light olive complexion and dark hair. He stood between 5 feet 7 inches and 5 feet 11 inches tall. He would now be in his late 40s or early 50s. He wore a size 9 shoe. He would often carry pre-cut lengths of shoelaces or twine. He would tie his victims up with an intricate sailor's knot, called a diamond knot, which is incredibly difficult to tie and points to a possible naval background. He has Type A blood. The suspect additionally is a non-secretor.
The suspect primarily targeted middle-class to upper-middle class neighborhoods with homes on or near cul de sacs or homes adjacent to vacant fields, schools, parks, creeks or homes under construction. Several of the neighborhoods targeted by the suspect had homes for sale or homes recently sold. Suspect is known to have posed as a realtor, building inspector or prospective home-buyer.
The suspect always wore a ski mask, usually the commercially available knitted ski mask. He apparently did not wear the same mask twice. On occasion the suspect wore a mask that appeared to be homemade. One time he had on a leather hood, another time he wore a hood with his eyes, nose and mouth exposed. This hood was Army green and made out of canvas or heavy denim material.
The suspect spent from one to three hours in the residence. During this time the suspect would sexually assault the victim several times. In between sexual assaults the suspect wandered about the house eating and drinking. He wandered in and out of the house. Beverage containers have been found outside where the suspect apparently stood, possibly watching for anyone approaching the house.
Because of his wanderings, the victim rarely knew when the suspect actually left the premises. It was usually thirty minutes to an hour before the victim was able to free herself and sometimes needed the assistance of a neighbor to get loose from her bonds.
Considerable research has been conducted in an attempt to find some common factor between all of the victims, without success.
Failing this it is believed that the suspect identifies his next victim by prowling and burglarizing. Burglaries of particular interest are those in which no loss or minimal loss occurs.
During the rape the suspect would frequently take small items of costume jewelry: class rings, an earring, etc. He looked through photograph albums and lingerie drawers.
Also of interest are prowler reports, particularly those where herringbone footprints are found.
As I sit here at night alone writing this article, the real concern is: is the Diamond Knot Killer still out there?
Editor's note: this article was written in 2008, when the man described in it had no name. He was identified in April 2018 as Joseph James DeAngelo, a former police officer who had served with the Exeter and Auburn departments in California during the years of the attacks, and who was traced through a genealogy database rather than through any of the police work described above. He pleaded guilty in June 2020 to thirteen counts of murder and thirteen of kidnapping, admitted dozens of rapes that could no longer be charged, and was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole in August 2020. He is now generally known as the Golden State Killer. The FBI description reproduced here, written while he was unknown, was largely accurate: he was in his seventies by the time he was caught.