Crime after crime, it was that same terrifying m. O. I saw a flashlight shining down the hall, and i thought, now, thats odd. The leather gloves i really, really remember cause they made kind of a sound, you know, when they moved. He started ripping sheets, or towels, im not sure, but it was very methodical, and it was very slow. It was a time when a vast area was terrified of one evil being. This was a criminal who went by many different names. He was known as the east area rapist in Sacramento County. The original night stalker in Orange County. A 29yearold wife was raped while her tiedup husband had to listen. A 17yearold girl was attacked here. He put his knees on the victims chest. He had a gun in one hand and a flashlight in the other. Peepings, prowlings, stalking. Over 100 burglaries. Police say he checks the home out before he strikes. He put plates on the mans back. And he told the man, if i hear these rattle, i will kill your wife. At least 13 homicides. This is a sustained campaign of cruelty and viciousness that lasted for decades. Welcome to crime scene, a podcast that examines real life crimes. Im Michelle Mcnamara of truecrimediary. Com. Michelle mcnamara was a true crime blogger. She was a writer and producer. She was a citizen detective. And a true crime writer. Very much being a mom during the day, very much writing about true crime at night. She was working on all different types of unsolved cases. Then she found a case that really dug its claws into her. What turned him on was terror. The east area rapist original night stalker is californias most prolific serial offender. He murdered more people than the zodiac killer, but has little name recognition. Partly thats because he moved between communities and his crimes spanned ten years. Everything about it is a mystery and it has such a boogeyman aspect to it. Michelle used to talk about this case and the thing that boggled her mind is that people didnt know about it. This was one of the most horrific serial killers in history. And nobody talked about him. Its summer, 1976. It was the bicentennial. Its all about happy days, laverne and shirley. In those days, the middle class in america was thriving. We felt safe but the crime rates were going up. Suburban sacramento was considered a safe place in the mid70s. You could ride your bike all over town. My parents would just tell us, be home before dark. People didnt lock their doors. They left their windows open, especially people close to the river, wed get the delta breeze. Everything changed in the summer of 1976. An attack occurred in rancho cordova. The young lady woke up and there was a guy standing in the doorway and he blindfolded her, tied her up. And then sexually assaults her. This is the first known Sexual Assault attributed to the man we know as the east area rapist. Nobody knew about the first attack except the police. The first attack, the second, the third, the fourth. When this first started in sacramento a lot of the people didnt know what was going on. They didnt put it in the paper at the time. The press had not yet covered it because Sacramento CountySheriffs Department asked them not to. There was a reason for that, that if you put it in there the suspects going to know that youre looking for him. At the time the rapes started happening in sacramento, the sacramento Sheriffs Department didnt have a specialized Sexual Assault unit. Just whoever had a free caseload, you know, that could tack on another case. And so i did not become involved with these cases until rape number five, when it was jane carson. I was 30 years old. I was married with a 3yearold son. My husband was stationed at Mcclellan Air force base. Jane was a nurse. She was a colonel in the air force reserve. It was about 6 30 in the morning. My 3yearold son hopped in bed with me for a snuggle. I heard the garage door close and i knew my husband had just left for work. I saw a flashlight shining down the hall, and i thought, now, thats odd, and i screamed out to my husband, what have you forgotten . And there was no answer. Then the rapist, all dressed in ski mask and dark clothes, shining a flashlight at her. He told us, with clenched teeth, shut up, or ill kill you. He tells her to turn over and hes gonna tie her up. He gags us, both of us, he blindfolds us, and he ties us up with shoelaces, very tight. His next move was to move my son. I was already scared to death, but this is where the fear really took place. All shes thinking about is the life of her little boy and saving him. After the rape was over, praise the lord, he moved my son back next to me. I could feel his body, and then i was relieved. So we hobbled around to the front fence, screamed for a neighbor, and she called the police. And then carol daly, the female detective, showed up. And i call her my angel. One of my great heroes of this story is carol daly. She was an investigator for the Sheriff Department in sacramento. She was asked to go out and interview the victims. Maybe something that the man said, or something that he did to you, or something that you recall hearing. Through that process, she was able to glean a lot of information like what he would say to his victims. And sometimes he would call out a name. In one of the cases, the victim said that she heard him crying and saying, bonnie. For years, detectives didnt know what to make of this name. Whos bonnie . Bonnie was a mystery woman, at the center of the case. Bonnie was the girlfriend and then fiance of Joseph Deangelo. One of the first women to get a real glimpse of the psychopathy behind joe deangelo was bonnie colwell. Shes 18, really smart, going to a community college, studying nursing. And shes in the middle of the quad this older guy ambles up to her and begins a conversation. Bonnie talked about her relationship with joe deangelo on the hbo docuseries, ill be gone in the dark. He was very gregarious, outgoing to all my friends. Wed been together close to a year. He gave me a high solitaire Engagement Ring and he told me that were going to be married. They were both students at the time. He was studying criminal justice. So joe was someone who initially was impressive to bonnie. He was exciting. He had a motorcycle. He taught her to shoot. But the longer she dated him, the more trouble began materializing. He takes her on thrill rides. And this is where the relationship starts to show its hand with joe. Joe, without saying a word to me, just turned right, went down a very steep bank that i had no idea what he was doing. Hes obviously thrilled not just by the speed but hes thrilled by bonnies terror. The rules were never for him. So many of the things that we did together, he pushed me toward fear. As theyre riding on the motorcycle, a German Shepherd comes out from the side of the road and nips at the tires. And joe swings a foot out and breaks the dogs neck instantly. And theres such an efficiency to his movement, that stuns her. Eventually bonnie said, i dont want to be with you anymore. She actually broke their engagement. He showed up at her house in the middle of the night. He had a gun, and he told her that she had to marry him. Just inches from my face there was the barrel of a gun pointing at me and it was joe. What he said to me was, get your clothes on, get dressed. Were going to reno. Were going to get married tonight. Her dad was able to break it up and send joe on his way. I think its a foreshadowing of the fact that he was going to use violence against people in the future. Bonnie breaks her engagement with joe deangelo and within just a few years, strange crimes start happening in rancho cordova. He would empty female underwear drawers and perfectly line up the underwear down the hallway. Its all control and power. This is my house now. These are my items now. Hes the king of the house. And today, were turning on 5g across the country. With the coverage of 5g nationwide. And, in more and more cities, the unprecedented performance of ultra wideband. The fastest 5g in the world. It will change your phone and how businesses do everything. Im proud, because we didnt build it the easy way, we built it right. This is the 5g americas been waiting for. Only from verizon. Can we stop . Its mcdonalds. Please oh cmon, its right there. No. Were both so yes thank you, youre my favorite roommate. Its on the mcdonalds 123 dollar menu. Get your faves for a few bucks like anysize soft drink for just a dollar. Ahonooooo ha get your faves for a few bucks like anysize soft drink noooooo quick, the quicker picker upper bounty picks up messes quicker and is 2x more absorbent, so you can use less. 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It was around midnight on july 3th, 2012, when i opened a document id compiled listing all the unique items hed stolen over the years. He would take mementos, almost like they were trophies from inside the home. He would steal rings with engravings on them. He stole a drivers license, he stole photos from albums. There is a fantasy component about these crimes. I still have a part of you. I have your jewelry. I have your drivers license. I have, you know, something that means something to you. And now i own it. He was a serial rapist known as the ear, attacking women and girls. First in east Sacramento County. This place meant something to him. He attacked here first and kept coming back. Was it home . Some of the investigators, especially the ones who worked the case in the beginning, think so. We were always trying to figure out why victims were chosen and why the locations were chosen. For joe deangelo, this was his home. Right in his own backyard. He lived in three or four houses in this exact same area where many of the rapes were committed. He grew up in rancho cordova, he was familiar with the playgrounds, the schools, the empty lots. This is the home of the first documented rape that occurred in Sacramento County. He was very agile. He could jump over fences. He knew which way to go, from whatever neighborhood he was in. He knew the best way to get in and out. He knew the area like the back of his hand. He grew up there. Joseph deangelo jr. Grew up the son of a Master Sergeant in the air force who moved around a lot. We met joe when he was 13 years old. My father was stationed at Mather Air Force base and his father was transferred there and we shared a duplex. A girl who became very close to him at the time, judy, described a very lonely boy. He was missing a family. His mother and father had split when he was young. At a very young age he was neglected. He and his siblings would be locked in the closet and then beaten by the father. Per his siblings, joe deangelo received the worst of his vitriol and anger when they were growing up. Joe was always over at our house. And he just became a good family friend. He never talked about himself. He never talked about any problems he might have. He never discussed anything that was bothering him. They started reporting, you know, the peeping toms here in rancho. And i remember i was in the bedroom and i was asleep and i had this feeling. I woke up cause i had this feeling somebody was there. And when i looked up and glanced towards the window, i saw this outlined figure standing. I didnt do anything to let em know i saw them, that i was aware of them. The next morning, i came in here and i says, dad, i says, somebody was peeking in my window last night. And he says, what . And i says, yeah, and there was footprints out there in the dirt, two distinct footprints there. Its very common for sexual offenders to start out, particularly in adolescence, as peepers or voyeurs that are creeping around the neighborhood, looking in windows, watching women undress. Its almost like a training ground. Many of us had never seen anything like this before in our career. His whole thing was terror, it wasnt the sex, it was the terror that we wanted to put in these people, that was his number one priority. His victims ranged in age from 13, i think, to 39. Out of the first ten attacks, six of those were juveniles. Oftentimes sex offenders or sexual serial murders will start out with, i guess, easier victims. Victims that are younger, that are more vulnerable. Victims that he could control. My name is kris pedretti. I was 15. I was a kid. Just a normal kid. Cartwheels in the front yard and really not a care in the world. It was not ever even a thought that our world might be unsafe. So it was a week before christmas. She had been left home alone. I was supposed to go to a High School Dance and it was the last day before christmas vacation. I put a pizza in the oven and i went to go play the piano. I remember hearing a noise and i stopped playing and listened. Didnt hear it again. Oh, it was nothing. So i kept playing. It was very shortly after that, probably seconds, that he approached me. She turned around and she saw a man in a ski mask. I froze. The brain stopped thinking at that point. I mean, i just went straight into survival mode. I dont remember thinking at that point anything other than kind of turning into a robot. Just do what he says. Do what he says. It was like kris had left the body and it was just the body left. That individual led her to the back patio. He tied her up. I didnt know about rape. I certainly didnt know about sex. What he did to me, what he took from me, i cant ever get it back. He kind of ruined my childhood. You know, he took it away. Everybody knew something was going on but nobody knew exactly what. The sheriff decided that we would hold community forums. I had no idea there were going to be several hundred people that would show up. If we have a gun, could we shoot him . Knowing what i know about this man, if i had a gun, i definitely would shoot him. And i would not shoot to injure, i would shoot to take care of him. He liked this. He liked the police being on edge. He liked the town being on edge. I have a gun but i still dont feel safe being, you know, at home alone. Law enforcement saw that his rampage of violence continued with his tactics changing. No one knew what he would do next. I have to admit im scared to death. T, the fastest nationwide 5g network. Now, new and existing customers can get our best deal. Really . mom at t has the deal for new and existing customers i will. So whatd she say . Its the wrong person. Its a guy named carl. But hes very excited and on his way. Wordofmouth advertising. 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Click, call, or visit a store today. The young girl made one bad move after another. Her attitude was much too inviting. She should never have stopped to window shop at night. In the 1970s, when a woman reported rape, she was shamed. She was blamed. Often, she was ostracized by her own community. Rape cases really werent considered serious. They were a misdemeanor. You had to make an arrest within a year or else they were not prosecuted. Even if an arrest was made, the defense was always, it was the victims fault. Rape was such a prevalent crime back in those days that there were multiple serial rapists operating in california. 217 were reported last year, thats about one every day and a half. In the bay area you had the stinky rapist, who smelled like diesel fuel. I had the pillowcase rapist. We had the keycard rapist. When the east area rapist became active in sacramento, he quickly upstaged all the other rapists in the area because of how terrifying his m. O. Was. Concern over rape is mounting in this community. There was panic in the city of sacramento. The fact that they couldnt catch this guy just ignited the city in fear. No one knows when or where hell strike again. They were getting guard dogs, they were putting in alarm systems in their homes. Have a dog in the house. A big dog. The worst t