Who Were Golden State Killer Joseph DeAngelo’s Wife and Kids?

For more than 40 years, the man eventually dubbed the Golden State Killer remained one of the greatest mysteries in American criminal history. Between 1974 and 1986, Joseph DeAngelo committed at least 13 murders, at least 51 rapes and more than 120 burglaries across California, terrorizing communities while repeatedly evading investigators.

In 2018, advances in investigative genetic genealogy finally helped identify DeAngelo after decades of failed leads, bringing one of the nation's longest-running serial crime investigations to a dramatic close. Two years later, he pleaded guilty to 13 murders and numerous related charges, receiving 11 consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.

Before his arrest, however, DeAngelo spent decades living an outwardly ordinary life. After being fired from the Auburn Police Department in 1979, he worked as a mechanic and became a husband, father and grandfather while concealing the crimes that made him one of America's most notorious serial offenders.

Born in 1945 in New York, DeAngelo spent part of his childhood living on U.S. military bases while his father served in the Army before the family settled in California. Friends and relatives later described his father as domineering, physically abusive and quick to anger; family members also said both parents disciplined the children harshly. DeAngelo grew up in a home marked by fear, violence and emotional instability. As a child living in West Germany, he also reportedly witnessed two airmen sexually assault his older sister—an experience some believe left a lasting emotional impact.

After graduating from high school, DeAngelo joined the U.S. Navy and served during the Vietnam War before earning a degree in criminal justice from California State University, Sacramento. He then entered law enforcement, working first as a police officer in Exeter before joining the Auburn Police Department.

Friends, classmates and former girlfriends later described DeAngelo as intelligent but jealous, controlling and prone to sudden anger. Before meeting his future wife, he was engaged to Bonnie Colwell, but the relationship ended after she reportedly became frightened by his increasingly possessive behavior.

DeAngelo met Sharon Marie Huddle in 1971. The couple married in November 1973, just as he began his career with the Exeter Police Department. Over the next four decades, they had three daughters while Huddle earned her law degree and built a successful career as a family law attorney in Northern California.

Although friends and neighbors later described the family as quiet and private, they also recalled DeAngelo's volatile temper. He was known to erupt in angry outbursts over seemingly minor issues, yelling profanities at neighbors, threatening one family over a barking dog and obsessively maintaining his home and yard. By the time investigators identified DeAngelo in 2018, the couple had reportedly been living apart for years, though they remained legally married. Huddle filed for divorce several months after his arrest, and it was finalized in 2019.

Following the arrest, Huddle released a brief statement expressing sympathy for the victims and asking for privacy while her family processed the shocking revelations. In a victim impact statement submitted before DeAngelo's sentencing, she wrote that she had trusted her husband when he said he was working, hunting or visiting relatives and never imagined he was secretly committing violent crimes. She also reflected that she and their daughters had unknowingly shared a home with him throughout much of his crime spree.

There is no public evidence that Huddle or any other members of DeAngelo's family knew about his crimes before his arrest.

DeAngelo and Huddle had three daughters together, born during the years investigators believe he was committing many of his attacks. Unlike the relatives of some notorious criminals who later write books or participate in documentaries, DeAngelo's children have so far remained almost entirely out of public view, with little publicly released information.

As he raised a family, DeAngelo settled into what appeared to be an ordinary suburban life. After being fired from the Auburn Police Department in 1979 for shoplifting dog repellent and a hammer, he spent nearly three decades working as a mechanic at a distribution center for the supermarket chainSave Mart.

At the time of his arrest, he was living with his eldest daughter and granddaughter. Neighbors recalled seeing DeAngelo repairing bicycles, gardening, playing with grandchildren and helping around the house. Those everyday moments made his arrest all the more shocking for people who believed they knew him, as he appeared dependable.

The public learned little about DeAngelo's relationship with his family until his sentencing hearing in August 2020. His eldest daughter submitted a letter asking the court to consider the father she had known. She described him as "the best father I could have had," recalling a man who taught her practical skills, encouraged her education and later became a loving grandfather.

When DeAngelo finally addressed the courtroom after four days of emotional victim impact statements, he offered a brief apology.

"I've listened to all your statements. Each one of them," he said. "And I'm truly sorry to everyone I have hurt."

Since DeAngelo's sentencing, his former wife and daughters have not spoken publicly beyond the statements submitted during the court proceedings, and the family has avoided documentaries and other media projects about the case.

Today, DeAngelo is serving 11 consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole at California State Prison, Corcoran, where he is housed in a protective unit because of his notoriety. His victims continue to define the legacy of the Golden State Killer, while the family who unknowingly shared his life for decades has largely disappeared from public view.