"Your Double Life Is Over": Survivors Confront the Golden State Killer, KTLA 5, 2020

Name: "Your Double Life Is Over": Survivors Confront the Golden State Killer, KTLA 5, 2020
Uploaded: 2020-08-18T00:00:00Z
Duration: 1 min 13 s
Description: KTLA 5's August 18, 2020 report on the first day of victim statements at Joseph James DeAngelo's sentencing hearings, with two survivors addressing him in court.

KTLA 5's August 18, 2020 report on the first day of victim statements at Joseph James DeAngelo's sentencing hearings, with two survivors addressing him in court.

Subject: Joseph James DeAngelo
Recorded: about August 18, 2020
Runtime: 1:13

Content warning: Refers to murders and to the rapes of dozens of women; a survivor describes lasting fear. No graphic detail.

The Interview

This is not an interview with Joseph James DeAngelo, who is not heard in it. It is a short segment from the KTLA 5 News at 3 in Los Angeles on August 18, 2020, reporting the first day on which victims addressed DeAngelo in a Sacramento courtroom before his sentencing. It includes excerpts of two survivors' statements.

Historical Context

Between the mid-1970s and 1986 an unidentified man committed dozens of rapes and at least 13 murders in the Sacramento area, the East Bay, Visalia and Southern California. Known as the East Area Rapist and the Original Night Stalker, he was later called the Golden State Killer.

Circumstances

Victim impact statements were heard from August 18 to 20, 2020, before Judge Michael Bowman in Sacramento County Superior Court, with sentencing on August 21. The court allowed pool cameras, which allowed a Los Angeles station to carry the statements the same afternoon.

What the Recording Covers

The anchor reports that dozens of victims confronted their attacker. A survivor tells DeAngelo, "Your secrets have been exposed. Your double life is over," and that he "will forever be known as a repulsive coward who hid behind a mask of evil." The anchor summarizes the plea and the 2018 arrest after 40 years without a solution. A second survivor says, "After 42 years, I still always look over my shoulder when someone approaches me from behind," and describes sleeping with two phones on the bed "when my husband is away" and checking the windows and doors before going to bed alone. The anchor closes by saying victims would continue for three more days before DeAngelo was formally sentenced to life without parole.

What Makes the Recording Significant

It preserves two survivors' statements to DeAngelo in their own voices, as carried the same day by a station in Southern California, where a number of his crimes were committed.

Archival Importance

The segment is from KTLA's own channel. It complements DeAngelo's own statement to the court three days later.

Important Caveats

DeAngelo is not heard. The two survivors are not named in the video and their names must not be added to the page. The opening seconds belong to an unrelated story. The KTLA legal expert mentioned at the end is Alison Triessl, whose "Legal Smart" segment aired on KTLA on Tuesday afternoons (name heard in the machine transcript only; identity from Wikipedia, "Alison Triessl"). The anchor's "admitted to killing 13 people and raping dozens of women" is accurate in substance: he pleaded guilty to 13 murders and admitted the rapes as uncharged conduct.

Ktla 5 Anchor: ...pending. A GoFundMe has been set up to help his family with funeral services. So sad.

Ktla 5 Anchor: Developing news now: dozens of victims of the Golden State Killer confronted their attacker during an emotional hearing today.

Survivor: Your secrets have been exposed. Your double life is over. The world, and I mean the entire world, knows who you are and what you did. You will forever be known as a repulsive coward who hid behind a mask of evil.

Ktla 5 Anchor: Former police officer Joseph DeAngelo Jr. admitted to killing 13 people and raping dozens of women in a series of attacks across California that spanned more than a decade. The crimes remained unsolved for 40 years before DeAngelo was finally arrested in 2018.

Survivor: After 42 years, I still always look over my shoulder when someone approaches me from behind. I still sleep with two phones [unclear: "and the keys" / "in the keys"] on the bed when my husband is away, and I still check windows and doors multiple times before going to bed when I'm alone.

Ktla 5 Anchor: Victims will continue to confront DeAngelo for the next three days before a judge formally sentences him to life in prison without parole on Friday. Our legal expert, Alison Triessl, is going to have more on the sentencing coming up in our next half hour. ---