"The Answer Has Always Been in Sacramento": The News Conference Announcing Joseph DeAngelo's Arrest, 2018

Name: "The Answer Has Always Been in Sacramento": The News Conference Announcing Joseph DeAngelo's Arrest, 2018
Uploaded: 2018-04-25T00:00:00Z
Duration: 22 min 47 s
Description: ABC10's raw feed of the April 25, 2018 news conference at which Sacramento's district attorney and sheriff, with the district attorneys of Ventura and Orange counties, announced DeAngelo's arrest and the first murder charges.

ABC10's raw feed of the April 25, 2018 news conference at which Sacramento's district attorney and sheriff, with the district attorneys of Ventura and Orange counties, announced DeAngelo's arrest and the first murder charges.

Subject: Joseph James DeAngelo
Recorded: April 25, 2018
Runtime: 22:47

Content warning: Refers to murders and rapes, and names murder victims who were also sexually assaulted. No graphic detail.

The Interview

This is ABC10's raw feed of the news conference held in Sacramento on April 25, 2018, the day after Joseph James DeAngelo was arrested. It runs 22 minutes 47 seconds and contains the opening statements of four officials: Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert, Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones, Ventura County District Attorney Greg Totten and Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas. DeAngelo does not appear and is not heard. Questions from reporters are not included.

Historical Context

Between the mid-1970s and 1986, the offender known as the East Area Rapist, the Original Night Stalker and later the Golden State Killer committed a long series of rapes, burglaries and murders across California. The case went unsolved for decades. DeAngelo, a former police officer, was arrested at his home in Citrus Heights on April 24, 2018, after DNA linked him to the crimes. He pleaded guilty on June 29, 2020, and on August 21, 2020, was sentenced to consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole.

Circumstances

Schubert opened the conference, introduced the officials present, and announced a complaint charging DeAngelo with two counts of murder with special circumstances for the February 1978 murders of Brian and Katie Maggiore. She noted that the day was National DNA Day. Each speaker then introduced the next. All of the statements were allegations at the time of arrest, made before any conviction.

What the Interview Covers

Schubert recalls growing up in Sacramento's East Area in 1976, the June 2016 news conference marking the 40th anniversary of the first attacks, and what she calls "Team Justice," and reads from an email sent to her the week before by Debbi Domingo, daughter of victim Cheri Domingo. She says the answer came in "the last six days" in the crime lab behind her. Jones describes the surveillance, the collection of discarded DNA and the arrest "yesterday afternoon" of a 72-year-old man in Citrus Heights (he misspeaks the name as "James Joseph DeAngelo"). Totten announces capital murder charges in Ventura County for the March 1980 murders of Lyman and Charlene Smith, which he worked on as a law clerk in 1981. Rackauckas lists the offender's names, credits Bruce Harrington and Proposition 69 for California's DNA database, and names the Orange County victims: Keith and Patrice Harrington, Manuela Witthuhn and Janelle Cruz.

What Makes the Recording Significant

It is the official announcement that a suspect had been arrested in the case, made by the officials who led the investigation, with the first charging decisions from two counties and a third district attorney's account of the Orange County murders. As a raw feed, it preserves the statements unedited rather than as excerpts.

Important Caveats

DeAngelo does not speak. The figures given by the officials ("upwards of 50 rapes, 12 murders"; "1974 through May 4th of 1986") are their statements on the day of the arrest. Sources differ on two dates Rackauckas gives: February 5, 1981, for the Witthuhn murder (the City of Irvine agrees; Wikipedia gives February 6) and May 4, 1986, for the Cruz murder (the City of Irvine gives May 5). He says "Eastside Rapist" for East Area Rapist. The crime lab director, who is only introduced, is named as heard and not verified.

Anne Marie Schubert: Morning, everybody. For those of you that don't know, my name is Anne Marie Schubert. I'm the district attorney of Sacramento County. Before I start, I'd like to just do some introductions on who is here today. We have, in addition to myself, Sheriff, Sacramento Sheriff Scott Jones; Ventura County District Attorney Greg Totten; Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas; Contra Costa County District Attorney Diana Becton; Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley; Sacramento FBI Special Agent in Charge Sean Ragan; United States Attorney for the [unclear: "Northern" (both sources)] District, McGregor Scott; Assemblyman Jim Cooper; Bruce Harrington, the brother of Keith Harrington; Irvine Police Department Chief Mike Hamel; and our crime lab director, Chip [unclear: "Pollack" (Whisper); blanked in the captions; name not verified].

Anne Marie Schubert: Let me first by saying this. The answer has always been in Sacramento. For over 40 years, countless victims have waited for justice. Over these years, hundreds of individuals have sought justice for these victims and their families. Many have dedicated their [unclear: "virtual" (both sources) / "virtually"] entire professions to seeking this answer. For many of us, it was more than a professional commitment. It became personal for many of us.

Anne Marie Schubert: For me, here in Sacramento County, in June of 1976, I was 12. I grew up in the East Area of Sacramento, near the cluster of where these crimes began. My sisters ranged from 10 to 16 at the time. As I have said many times over the last 18 years, at least for me, for us here in Sacramento, it was a time of innocence in 1976. No one locked their doors. Kids rode their bikes to school. Parents let their children play outside. The only thing we were told as a family was you just needed to be home before dark. We did not have things like cell phones or social media.

Anne Marie Schubert: And then, for all of us here in this community that lived in this community during this time, it all changed. For anyone that lived here in this community, here in Sacramento, the memories are very vivid. You can ask anyone that grew up here; everyone has a story. But it must be remembered that it was not just Sacramento that this, this case deeply affected: this entire state.

Anne Marie Schubert: And then in June of 2016, at the 40th anniversary for the beginning of this series, the East Area Rapist, a press conference was held here in Sacramento, hosted by the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department and the FBI, attended by many agencies across California that have dedicated their careers and professions to coming to some kind of answer. The message was clear in 2016: the magnitude of this case demanded that it be solved. There were upwards of 50 rapes, 12 murders, crimes that spanned 10 years across at least 10 different counties, northern, central and southern California.

Anne Marie Schubert: And it was that day in June of 2016 that we in public safety reiterated our commitment to the victims and to justice in this case, the East Area Rapist, the Golden State Killer. And it was that day that we embarked upon what I call our journey for justice. A journey by people across borders, across all professions: police officers, FBI agents, crime lab employees, victim advocates, prosecutors, community leaders, elected officials, all with one mission: to find the answer, to give victims a voice, and ultimately to identify this person and bring him to justice.

Anne Marie Schubert: We brought together, we brought teams together not long after that press conference. We dedicated more resources, more people, and we created what I have called Team Justice, an incredible collaboration of individuals with one mission. There are things about that journey and that commitment that each of us knew. The answer was and always was going to be in the DNA. We knew we could and should solve it using the most innovative DNA technology available at this time. We all knew that it would take passion. We all knew that it would take persistence.

Anne Marie Schubert: Last Wednesday, at 8:15 in the evening, I received an email from the daughter of Cheri Domingo, who was murdered in Southern California. Her name is Debbi. She was 15 at the time. Last Wednesday, she emailed, in essence, I'm going to paraphrase: "Hi, Anne Marie. I thought the editing for the recent documentary was brilliant." She quoted from the show, quote, "This case will be solved because of sheer persistence." She went on to say, "I have those words posted in a few places in my home and my workplace so I can see them at various times throughout the day. Thank you for that persistence. I have faith."

Anne Marie Schubert: We all knew as part of this team that we were looking for a needle in a haystack, but we also all knew that the needle was there. In the last six days, and I emphasize the last six days, that passion, that persistence and the knowledge finally came to an answer in this building behind us here, our crime lab: crime lab employees, DNA analysts who worked tirelessly in the last few days to provide that answer. Yesterday, an arrest warrant was issued. A complaint was filed charging that individual with two counts of murder with special circumstances for the murder of Brian and Katie Maggiore here in Sacramento in February 1978. It is fitting that today is National DNA Day. We found the needle in the haystack, and it was right here in Sacramento. And with that, I would like to introduce our sheriff, Scott Jones.

Scott Jones: Good afternoon. Before I talk a little bit about this case, I'd like to make just a couple preliminary comments. When I became sheriff in Sacramento in 2010, there were very few outstanding cases that drew the passion and the interest and the dogged determination to solve as the East Area Rapist. The sheriff that I took over from, Sheriff John McGinness, who's here with us today, told me about the importance of it, and I don't know that I fully appreciated it at that time. But I can tell you that without exception, weekly and sometimes more, I get telephone calls or emails to this day from former employees, former detectives, community members from all over this country that believe that they know, or at least have some information on, who the East Area Rapist was.

Scott Jones: I committed then to do everything that I could to solve it, and had a lot of conversations early on with District Attorney Schubert about how we could do it. And those discussions really touched the passion of both of us to solve this case. Both of us committed the best and the brightest, our hand-picked folks, to oversee the resolution of this case, and gave virtually unlimited resources and freedom to pursue whatever leads and technology currently existed. And I can tell you that over the last few days, as information started to point towards this individual, we started some surveillance, we were able to get some discarded DNA, and we were able to confirm what we thought we already knew: that we had our man. And yesterday afternoon, in a perfectly executed arrest, my detectives arrested James Joseph DeAngelo, 72 years old, living in Citrus Heights.

Scott Jones: I can tell you that although it was DNA, ultimately, that led us down the right road, there were a lot of places that road could have led. I don't want to underscore, I can't underscore enough the absolute human factor, the dogged determination of not only the detectives working on this case, but the passion of the district attorney, myself, the community and the victims. All too often we forget about talking about the victims. And today we at least brought the first step towards closure for those victims of these horrendous crimes.

Scott Jones: So I want to thank not only the district attorney and the crime lab and the DNA that helped us get here, but my own detectives and the detectives from all of these folks represented by the leaders standing behind me. When we put together this working group two years ago and brought in the FBI, [unclear: "who"] was more than happy to be part of this team and effort, we had no way of knowing that we'd be standing here talking about the resolution of all of these crimes. So I have to thank them, and again underscore the importance of the human factor and the dogged determination and passion of the individuals and human beings that led us down the right road to this individual today. I want to now introduce the district attorney of Ventura County, Ventura County, Mr. Greg Totten.

Greg Totten: Good morning. I'm very pleased to announce that this morning in Ventura County, we have filed capital murder charges against Mr. DeAngelo for the March 1980 murders of Lyman and Charlene Smith. Our complaint alleges two counts of first-degree murder with three special circumstances, namely multiple murders, murder during the commission of a rape, and murder during the commission of a burglary. While this filing is just the beginning of the prosecution of Mr. DeAngelo, it is the culmination of a decades-long, unrelenting investigation that's singularly focused on bringing this rapist and killer to justice.

Greg Totten: The arrest and charging of DeAngelo, frankly, would not have been possible without the visionary and innovative leadership of my friend, Sacramento District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert, and I want to thank her for doing such a wonderful job in this effort. She had the foresight to put together a statewide task force of, as the sheriff mentioned, some of the best and brightest law enforcement professionals in the country. I also want to thank Sheriff Scott Jones for the tremendous resources they devoted to this investigation and for the brilliantly executed apprehension of DeAngelo. I also want to thank my own sheriff's department for their great work in the crime lab and in the investigation, as well as the Ventura Police Department, which was the original investigating agency of the Lyman and Charlene Smith murder.

Greg Totten: This 1980 murder has long been a source of fear and angst in the neighborhood in which it occurred, in the community, and indeed throughout all of Ventura County. This is a case that, much like the rapes that occurred here in the Sacramento area, literally struck terror in the hearts of Ventura County residents. It also, as we know, was a source of great frustration for law enforcement over a prolonged period of time. In fact, this murder was among the first cases I was ever assigned to work on as a young law clerk in the district attorney's office in 1981. At that time, we had no idea that this killer was connected to so many other crimes. But thankfully, with the advent of DNA in the late 1980s, our understanding of this case, its depth, its complexity, its geographic reach and the sheer scope of violent crimes changed forever. We recognized at that time we were dealing with a serial killer.

Greg Totten: And at that time, at a time when law enforcement is, unfortunately, under so much criticism, I want the public to know that the work on this case reflects the very best, the very highest standards in the noble and dedicated and courageous police profession. The men and women of this task force devoted incalculable hours, tens of thousands of hours, to this case. Throughout that effort, they never gave up, they never lost their resolve, they never relented, and today's announcement of charges being filed against this man, this killer, this rapist, is the direct result of their effort.

Greg Totten: And so now a new phase begins, and as we commence the charging and prosecution of DeAngelo, this too will be a team effort, involving many jurisdictions working collaboratively and collectively together. Beyond the significant court proceedings that lie ahead and the immense investigation that is still ongoing, ongoing as we speak, we are committed, we are determined, and we will, God willing, hold this man fully accountable for his crimes. Thank you. And it's now my pleasure to introduce the Honorable Tony Rackauckas, district attorney of Orange County. [16:30 to 16:45: pause; no speech.]

Tony Rackauckas: Joseph James DeAngelo has been called a lot of things by law enforcement. He's been called the [unclear: "Eastside Rapist" (both sources); presumably East Area Rapist], he's been called the Visalia Ransacker, the Original Night Stalker and the Golden State Killer. Today it's our pleasure to call him defendant. His 12-year reign of terror lasted from June, from 1974 through May 4th of 1986. He started with ransacking, sexual assaults, rape, moved down the state from Sacramento County and ending in Orange County. From 1980 to 1986, when he was committing his murders in Orange County, I was a member of the Orange County District Attorney's homicide panel and aware of these unsolved cases, and just hoping and wishing someday we would be able to find out who this killer was.

Tony Rackauckas: The quest to solve this case was, of course, very personal to Mr. Bruce Harrington. His brother and sister-in-law were murdered in the most god-awful way. And he worked with the Orange County District Attorney's Office and other offices to write and support an initiative that later became Proposition 69. And Prop 69 was a proposition that was turned into law, and it was a proposition that required everybody arrested for a felony in this state, and some misdemeanors, to give a DNA sample. And it very, very substantially increased the DNA database of California.

Tony Rackauckas: In Orange County, still keeping this case in mind, by the way, that case was a strong incentive to work on developing this database, the California state database, which now has about two million profiles in the database. And in the meantime, the Orange County District Attorney's Office started our own local DNA database, and we put about 170,000 DNA profiles of individuals who have committed crime in Orange County in our database. All the time, we had this case in mind, eventually hoping to solve this case.

Tony Rackauckas: So we've been working vigorously together with this task force that you've been hearing about. We've been working with them since the original meeting that District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert put together here in Sacramento. And Anne Marie, I want to thank you for doing that. That was a great thing, to re-spark this investigation, to put this task force together. It was something, I'm sure all of the different agencies throughout the county who were involved had the case in mind, always wanted to solve the case, worked on it whenever they could. But with this task force, it was a concerted effort. We put resources on it, we put full-time people on it, and I want to thank the people from my office, the people who worked tirelessly on this case to work to attempt to solve the case. And I just think it's wonderful that it was eventually solved in, in Sacramento.

Tony Rackauckas: And I want to take the time to, a little bit of time, just a moment to recognize, or remember, the victims from Orange County. August 19th, 1980, the defendant, Joseph DeAngelo, is accused of brutally murdering 24-year-old Keith Harrington and 28-year-old Patrice Harrington in their Dana Point home. He's also accused of raping and sexually assaulting Patrice. On February 5th, 1981, the defendant is accused of raping, sexually assaulting and murdering 28-year-old Manuela Witthuhn in Irvine. Three months later, years later, on May 4th, 1986, DeAngelo is accused of raping, sexually assaulting and murdering 18-year-old Janelle Cruz in her home.

Tony Rackauckas: We've always believed, at least for many years, that this case would begin and end with DNA. This defendant's been able to live free in a nice suburb in Sacramento. Our team is going to work hard to make sure that he never gets out. We're going to be working together to make determinations about what the team's going to be that tries him, where he's going to be tried, and so forth. All of those things are going to be answered in a short time.

Tony Rackauckas: One other note: in 2016, myself, my office, worked very hard with Ventura County District Attorney Greg Totten and with Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert to keep and to reform the death penalty. And that was a successful effort. It was a hard effort, but it was a successful effort. So now, as we proceed forward with this case, that remains a relevant effort. So I just want to say that finally, after all these years, the haunting question of who committed these terrible crimes has been put to rest. ---