ByJenny Espino and Gretchen Wenner, USA TODAY
The man known outside California as the Golden State Killer has many other names inside the state's borders: the Visalia Ransacker, East Area Rapist, East Bay Rapist, the Original Night Stalker, the Diamond Knot Killer.
Some were monikers drawn from areas where the crimes were committed — from the Central Valley to the San Francisco Bay Area. In Southern California, he was known as the Original Night Stalker, and the Diamond Knot name came from the way he bound some of his victims.
But not until Wednesday did the public have the name of a flesh-and-blood suspect that prosecutors say is linked via DNA evidence to the string of crimes from 1975 to 1986. At least 12 murders and 45 rapes are included in that tally.
Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, of the Sacramento suburb of Citrus Heights made his first appearance Friday in Sacramento County Superior Court, sitting handcuffed to a wheelchair. He is being held without bail.
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DeAngelo initially was charged with two counts of suspicion of murder in connection with the 1978 deaths of a young Rancho Cordova couple, shot as they walked their dog.
Here are the slayings that prosecutors consider to be tied to the Golden State Killer:
Janelle Lisa Cruz
Janelle Lisa Cruz, 18, was raped and killed May 4, 1986, at her parents’ home in Irvine and is believed to be the final victim of the Golden State killer
A real-estate agent discovered the restaurant cashier's body the day after she died, the Los Angeles Times reported. An autopsy showed that blows to the head killed her.
Cruz had been alone while her parents were on vacation, and investigators believe that the killer attacked her shortly after her boyfriend left her Orange County house, according to the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. Irvine is about 40 miles southeast of Los Angeles.
Blood, semen and hair samples saved from murder investigations of Patti and Keith Harrington and Manuela Witthuhn linked the same killer to Cruz, the Times reported.
Cheri Domingo and Greg Sanchez
Greg Sanchez, 27, and his girlfriend, Cheri Domingo, were killed July 27, 1981, in a home near Goleta where Domingo, 35, was house-sitting.
DNA evidence has linked DeAngelo to the 1981 double murder, according to the sheriff's office.
While charges had not been filed for the double murders as of Friday, Santa Barbara County officials have said they believe that DeAngelo committed the crimes.
Keith and Patti Harrington
Keith and Patti Harrington, ages 24 and 27, of Laguna Niguel, Calif., were bludgeoned to death Aug. 21, 1975, and are buried in Pacific View Memorial Park in Corona del Mar, Calif. (Photo: Find A Grave)
Keith Eli Harrington, 24, and Patrice Briscoe Harrington, 27 were found bludgeoned to death Aug. 21, 1975, at their home in a gated community in Orange County's Laguna Niguel, about 50 miles southeast of Los Angeles.
Keith Harrington's father, Roger Harrington, owned the home and discovered the slain newlyweds when he arrived for dinner on a Thursday night, according to a Los Angeles Times article two days after the killings.
Keith Harrington was a fourth-year medical student at the University of California-Irvine. He and Patrice Harrington, a pediatric nurse, had met at the university's Medical Center and been married just a few months, the Times said.
Brian and Katie Maggiore
Brian Maggiore, 21, and Katie Maggiore, 20, were walking their dog at about 9 p.m. PT Feb. 2, 1978, in their Rancho Cordova neighborhood when they encountered their killer.
As the confrontation turned violent, Brian Maggiore, an administrative specialist at what used to be Mather Air Force Base east of Sacramento, and his wife tried to get away, The New York Times reported.
Detectives have speculated that the suspect, who shot the young couple in the backyard of a home as they fled, was attempting to protect his identity after the Maggiores saw him, according to The Washington Post. They died from their wounds at a Sacramento-area hospital.
DNA obtained during the investigation linked their slaying to other crimes committed in the Bay Area.
Dr. Robert Offerman and Debra Manning
Debra Manning, 35, and Dr. Robert Offerman, 44, were killed Dec. 30, 1979. Both are buried in Santa Barbara Cemetery. (Photo: Find A Grave)
Dr. Robert Offerman, 44, an orthopedic surgeon, and Debra Alexandria Manning, 35, a psychologist, were murdered Dec. 30, 1979, in their condominium near Goleta, about 100 miles northwest of Los Angeles, according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office.
The crime was the first of two double murders in the Goleta area and followed what authorities believe was an attempted double murder near Goleta in October 1979. In that crime, a couple escaped after being attacked while they slept.
Lyman Smith and Charlene Smith
Lyman Smith, 43, and Charlene Smith, 33, were killed March 13, 1980, in the bedroom of their Ventura home, about 65 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
The lawyer and his wife, an interior decorator, had been bound and bludgeoned with a fireplace log. Charlene Smith, who had been sexually assaulted, was bound with a drapery cord fastened in an ornate knot.
Lyman Smith's 12-year-old son from a previous marriage found the Smiths' bodies three days later. DNA collected from the scene of the double murder was used to identify DeAngelo, according to Greg Totten, Ventura County district attorney.
Claude Snelling
Claude Snelling, 45, was killed Sept. 11, 1975, at his home in Visalia, roughly halfway between Sacramento and Los Angeles.
A criminal dubbed the Visalia Ransacker already had been active when 16-year-old Elizabeth Hupp awoke around 2 a.m. to a man hovering over her and wearing a ski mask.
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The man attempted to kidnap her, Hupp said. But her father, a College of the Sequoias journalism professor, confronted him outside the back door. The man shot Snelling, hit and kicked Elizabeth, and ran. Snelling died.
"The fact that he died saving my life means the world to me," Hupp said. "My mom always said it wouldn't have mattered if there were 20 guys outside with guns, he would have saved me."
To date, no DNA evidence ties DeAngelo to Snelling, and authorities continue to exclude his death from the official count of 12 murders.
Manuela Witthuhn
Manuela Witthuhn, 28, was home alone in Irvine when her killer broke in. She was found dead Feb. 5, 1981.
Her husband was sick and in a hospital at the time.
Detectives believe her killer may have wanted to target both and was surprised to find Whitthuhn by herself, the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin reported.
Her husband, David Witthuhn, died in 2008. He was a suspect in his wife's slaying, but DNA evidence cleared him.
Contributing: Silas Lyons, Redding (Calif.) Record Searchlight. Jennie Espino reports for the Redding Record Searchlight; Gretchen Wenner reports for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star. Follow Espino and Wenner on Twitter: @jennyespino_RS and @GretchenWenner
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