'I didn't want to do those things': Golden State killer admits 13 murders

DeAngelo Jr entered the guilty pleas as part of an agreement with prosecutors to admit to all allegations against him.

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Golden State killer admits 13 murders
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A 74-year-old former police officer has admitted 13 murders, saying an inner voice made him carry out the killings.

Joseph James DeAngelo Jr, known as the Golden State killer, terrorised the Sacramento region as a serial rapist in the mid-1970s before going on to kill more than a dozen people across California, evading capture for decades.

Speaking at a court hearing on Monday, Sacramento County prosecutor Thien Ho said DeAngelo had made incriminating statements after his arrest and indicated he was driven by an uncontrollable force inside him.

Mr Ho said that when DeAngelo was alone in a police interrogation room, he began speaking to himself, saying: "I did all that."

Joseph James DeAngelo has appeared in court to face further charges
Image: DeAngelo was arrested in 2018 after authorities used DNA to track him

DeAngelo, who has never publicly acknowledged the killings, is said to have added: "I didn't have the strength to push him out. He made me. He went with me. It was like in my head, I mean, he's a part of me.

"I didn't want to do those things. I pushed Jerry out and had a happy life. I did all those things. I destroyed all their lives. So now I've got to pay the price."

The prosecutor said the time had come for DeAngelo to pay the price, adding: "The scope of Joseph DeAngelo's crimes is simply staggering. Each time he escaped, slipping away silently into the night."

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DeAngelo entered the guilty pleas as part of a broader agreement with prosecutors to admit to all allegations against him - including dozens of rapes too old to prosecute - dating back to the mid-1970s.

The plea deal will spare him from a potential death sentence but he will face a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Prosecutors said the deal would prevent ageing survivors, victims' families and witnesses from prolonged legal proceedings.

DeAngelo, who wore orange prison scrubs and a plastic face shield, was seated on a makeshift stage in a university ballroom as he admitted the crimes.

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The killer was arrested in 2018 after authorities used DNA to track him using a popular genealogy website.

A Vietnam veteran and grandfather, he had not been on the radar of investigators until DNA collected from the crime scenes was used to find a distant relative through the genealogy database, eventually leading detectives to DeAngelo.

They then tailed him and secretly collected DNA from his car door and a discarded tissue to get an arrest warrant.

It capped more than four decades of investigation after the case gained renewed attention when the bestselling book I'll Be Gone in the Dark was released.

Victims had described a masked assailant who entered houses through open windows and tied the homeowners up at gunpoint.

He would tie up husbands and boyfriends and threaten to kill them if they made a noise while he assaulted the women.

The criminal would then escape on foot, managing to evade police.

Joseph James DeAngelo. Pic: Sacramento County Sheriff
Image: DeAngelo's victims are expected to confront him at his sentencing in August

DeAngelo became a police officer in 1973 in the San Joaquin Valley farm town of Exeter, where it is believed he committed his first killing.

He was among the officers trying to find a serial burglar dubbed the "Visalia Ransacker", who was responsible for about 100 break-ins.

The burglar, now known to be DeAngelo, killed community college professor Claude Snelling, who was attempting to prevent his 16-year-old daughter being kidnapped.

DeAngelo later got a job as a police officer in the Sacramento area, until he was caught shoplifting dog repellent and a hammer.

People stand at the Sacramento County courtroom
Image: People stand at the Sacramento County courtroom

His victims are expected to confront him at his sentencing in August.

Ahead of the court hearing, the daughter of victim Lyman Smith - a lawyer who was killed in 1980 - said she had "been on pins and needles because I just don't like that our lives are tied to him again".

Gay and Bob Hardwick, who were among the survivors, said they were pleased DeAngelo would be admitting their 1978 assault and they did not believe the death penalty was realistic anyway.

"He certainly does deserve to die, in my view, so I am seeing that he is trading the death penalty for death in prison," Ms Hardwick said.

"It will be good to put the thing to rest. I think he will never serve the sentence that we have served - we've served the sentence for 42 years."