Raw emotions took center stage Tuesday in a California courtroom when victims and surviving family members had their first chance to confront the man known as the Golden State Killer, which raped or murdered more than a dozen people beginning in the 1970s.
Forty years of pain flooded the Sacramento courtroom. “You can go straight to hell,” Pat Murphy said as he raised a middle finger.
Murphy said she was a normal 15-year-old girl until 1976 when serial rapist and murderer Joseph James DeAngelo raped her.
“Turning a knife told me would kill me if I did not do what he demanded,” Chris Pedretti said.
Pedretti was one of 16 to confront the so-called Golden State Killer on Tuesday when the 74-year-old stoned face.
“He’s really an evil monster,” Patricia Cosper said.
“We have suffered for 44 years,” said Pete Schultz, speaking for his mother.
“He tied me to the bed and performed horrible acts on my mother, who bound and bound,” Schultz said.
DeAngelo, a former police officer, terrorized women mostly in Central California from 1975 to 1986. Many nicknames were used to describe the serial killer, including Visalia Ransacker, the East Area Rapist and the Original Night Stalker, CBS Los Angeles reported. . He escaped arrest until 2018 when new techniques for DNA testing visited him.
DeAngelo pleaded guilty in June to the murder of 13 people and raped more than 50 others – and saved himself from the death penalty.
“It is unthinkable that such a sick creature exists in the world. May he rot in hell,” said Phyllis Henneman, a sister of one of the victims.
The emotional reckoning will continue on Wednesday as more victims confront DeAngelo.
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