Case Closed? Police Make Surprise Arrest Of Suspected Golden State Killer
April 25 2018, Updated 6:24 p.m. ET
The Sacramento County Sheriff's Department has arrested a man in connection with two counts of murder. They suspect he could be responsible for terrorizing several California communities, burglarizing over 100 homes, raping scores of women and killing 12 people between 1976 and 1986.
Joseph James DeAngelo Jr., a 72-year-old former Auburn police officer who was reportedly fired from his position decades ago for shoplifting, is now being held in the Sacramento County Main jail. He is currently not eligible for bail.
"It is the most prolific unsolved serial killing case probably in modern history," noted Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert.
LISTEN TO THE KILLER'S EERY PHONE CALLS
Authorities plan to reveal more information on the surprise arrest in a news conference later today.
As RadarOnline.com reported, comedian Oswald Patton's wife became obsessed with the hunt for the man known as the East Area Rapist/Original Night Stalker, who she nicknamed the Golden State Killer, and she was in the process of writing a book on her years-long investigation.
Tragically, journalist and author McNamara passed at the age of 46 after she accidentally took a fatal combination of prescription drugs.
Following her death, Oswalt, 49, hired writers Billy Jensen and Paul Haynes to complete the book, titled I'll Be Gone in the Dark and released in March, based on his late wife's manuscript, notes and research.
"If they've really caught the #GoldenStateKiller I hope I get to visit him," Oswalt posted on Twitter after news of DeAngelo's arrest first broke. "Not to gloat or gawk — to ask him the questions that McNamara wanted answered in her "Letter To An Old Man" at the end of #IllBeGoneInTheDark."
Jensen also weighed in on the project that consumed him before the New York Times bestseller was published.
"If you've been following the Golden State Killer case, stay tuned," he tweeted. "We will be having a rather large announcement. Two hours of sleep but an airport chocolate banana smoothie is going to get me through what I hope will be an amazing day. #IllBeGoneInTheDark #GoldenStateKiller #intothelight."
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