One of the more shocking things that came out in identifying DeAngelo as the Golden State Killer was learning that this murderer had been a police officer. Did DeAngelo’s occupation make it easier for him to avoid getting caught?
Sure. He knew response times—how much time he had to escape—and so he would plan the escape route ahead of time. And in the 1970s [and for decades after], law enforcement agencies worked in silos. They wouldn’t communicate with each other. He knew that, and took advantage of it. When was committing crimes as the East Area rapist [in the Sacramento area] and then he went down to Southern California, he knew they wouldn’t communicate. And that they didn’t realize the crimes were connected.
And he knew what clues investigators would be looking for. When he was in the [victims’] houses, he would talk to himself. He would create a lie, saying he was there for drugs and money. And he knew that would be reported to law enforcement. He knew that if he created an image of someone crazy, it would distract law enforcement from who he really was.
Did DeAngelo have access to his case files during his killing spree?
I don’t believe he did, because he was a police officer in Auburn and he committed the crimes in Sacramento. But he had access to databases, so he could look up license plates, see names and look up DMV records and phone records. And that was important for victim selection.
What was he like in the courtroom?
He was a master malingerer. The first time he came in, he was in a wheelchair and barely uttered a single word, his mouth agape. It was like he was in a half-comatose state. But in his jail cell he was moving around. He’d walk to his cell using a cane. He didn’t realize we had a camera in his cell. And the moment he was back in there, he’d put the cane down and start doing jumping jacks.
Like some other serial killers, DeAngelo stopped killing long before he was arrested. Why do you think he did?
I get asked that a lot. To that I say, “How do you know he stopped?”
Are you saying you believe that he was killing people right up until his arrest?
No. I do believe over time he stopped the murders, because to do the crimes he was doing the way he was doing them—that requires a physicality you lose over time. But what I do know is that he evolved as a killer and a rapist.
Early in his crime spree he would leave witnesses. Early in his crime spree he would leave behind the ligatures—the ropes and bindings. By the end he was taking them with him. And by the end he was bludgeoning his victims to death. Because if you shoot somebody people might hear a gunshot. But if you bludgeon them, you can escape quietly into the night. So, his last known murder was Janelle Cruz in 1986 in Irvine. Do I think he stopped right then? I don’t.
In your book you talk about making a promise to a survivor of one of DeAngelo’s attacks, and say that the promise you made informed the way you prosecuted his case. Can you explain that?
Her name was Phyllis Zitka, and she was his first sexual assault survivor. She was raped when she was 23. And here we were 4 years later—this was the first time he appeared in court—and she comes up to me, shakes my hand, and says, “Hi I’m Phyllis. I’m victim No. 1.” It was as if I was reaching across time and space. And what I told her in that moment was that I promised I would give her justice. And I told her her voice would be heard.
It’s one thing to read something on a piece of paper, or to see a two-dimensional photograph, and it’s another to meet them immediately after the crime, but it’s still yet another thing to meet somebody and see the pain in their eyes even 40 years later. It just struck me. All that pain and anguish and hurt had remained with her. Time does not heal all wounds.
She’d been diagnosed with cancer, and so she couldn’t always come to court. But when it was time for sentencing, I saw her.
How did meeting Ms. Zitka affect the way you prosecuted the case?
We’d been seeking the death penalty. And mind you a death penalty case of this magnitude is going to stretch on for years. Part of the issue that we were facing was that the statute of limitations had run on Phyllis’s rape case, and on many of the rape cases. So to take the death penalty off the table [as part of a plea deal offered to DeAngelo], one of the requirements we had was that DeAngelo had to admit to the uncharged crimes. He couldn’t plead guilty to them, but he had to say, “I admit to doing that.”
I wanted Phyllis to get to hear that, and to give Phyllis the opportunity to give a victim impact statement. So it impacted how we approached the litigation of the case, to make sure Phyllis and the other survivors whose statute of limitations had run could have their day in court.
Was she there when he was sentenced?
She was. This was during the COVID pandemic, so she had her mask on, but you could see the light shining in her eyes and the weight coming off her shoulders. She passed away three months later.
