He watched. He waited. And then he attacked. For over a decade, the Golden State Killer terrorized California—leaving behind a trail of eerie clues, traumatized survivors, and a case that went cold for years. Morgan and Kaelyn unpack the chilling escalation, the breakthrough DNA evidence, and the moment everything changed. Clues is a Crime House Original Podcast, powered by PAVE Studios. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. Don’t Miss out on all things Clues! YouTube: @CluesPod | @crimehousestudios Instagram: @cluespodcast | @Crimehouse TikTok: @Crimehouse Facebook: @crimehousestudios X: @crimehousemedia Clues is hosted by Morgan Absher & Kaelyn Moore Instagram: @morgsyabsher | @itskaelynmoore TikTok: @twohottakes | @heartstartspounding To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: Who was the Golden State Killer and what crimes did he commit?
But today, because of some very vital clues, we now know him by his actual name.
Don't go anywhere, because we're about to unpack how the Golden State Killer's reign of terror unraveled, one unexpected clue at a time, and how a serial killer who hid in plain sight for so long was finally exposed.
I'm excited for today's episode. I did not know a lot about this case until 24 hours ago. Wow. But you had heard about it before. I had, like, loosely heard about it, but I had no idea, like, truly the depths of this case. So I went... So I deep dived yesterday. I don't know. But you guys, I like did not sleep last night.
I gave myself nightmares like, yeah, this is probably one of the more intense cases we are going to cover.
I agree. This one is one of the scariest cases I've ever read about. I think the first time I really did a deep dive on it was reading I'll Be Gone in the Dark. Which to me is like on the Mount Rushmore of true crime classics. It's like right up next to In Cold Blood. But it's one of my favorite books. It's written so well.
And it really does a good job of like getting into the nitty gritty of this case, which this is a huge case to cover. And I think, you know, we're going to really try to break it down for everyone today.
Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, it's a little close to home for us. We're living in California. So a lot of the places we're going to talk about are familiar for both of us.
So I went to college right around the corner because I went to college in Orange County. And so he was operating in Irvine. And it's just it's so scary to kind of know the map that he was operating on.
It is going to be an intense day today. So before we open up the case file, I do just want to give everyone a bit of a warning. As mentioned, this case really is intense. Talks about sexual assault, murder. So if you feel you can't handle any of those things and the graphic details they could entail, please come back for next week's episode. But otherwise, let's dive into this case.
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Chapter 2: What was the Visalia Ransacker's modus operandi and early crimes?
Very calculated, very well thought out. And we do know the types of items he would steal from these homes and kind of adds to the mystery and confusion with these crimes. Definitely.
Yeah. So we know that the Visalia Ransacker would clean out a piggy bank, but he would leave large sums of money from the same house. And he wouldn't take a ton of jewelry.
He would often take like class rings, wedding rings, engraved bracelets and personalized lockets, things with personal value, which to me also is like a calculated thing, kind of working on the psyche of the person he was stealing from. Oftentimes he would take just single earrings. And this became one of his calling cards.
This was something where police showed up to a burglary and they saw that only one of the earrings had been taken. They knew it was this ransacker. He would also steal collectibles like coins, family photos, and he would take weapons too. Firearms, ammunition, knives, hammers, billy clubs. Very strange objects that he was stealing.
I know from one source I saw, he would actually take these blue chip stamps, which were basically like a store coupon. And if you think about, you know, the single earring or some of the other items, a lot of these felt like they were just kind of like Those hard items to replace but not super important, like he would almost like inconvenience people by taking these items.
And again, the psychological aspect of, you know, class rings and more of those sentimental items to family photos.
Yeah. Like the robbery felt more psychological than monetary. Yeah. Which the police started taking note of. And in addition to being interested in women's jewelry, he was especially interested in bedrooms and clothes. Sometimes he would put on women's clothing from the house he was ransacking. There was also evidence that he would masturbate at some of these scenes.
So it was clear to authorities that there was a sexual component to these crimes. This is really not a standard burglary. It was later discovered that the Visalia Ransacker was also a peeper and prowler because shoe prints would be found under windows as if he were watching or stalking certain women when they were home and then breaking in when they were gone.
Standing outside looking in the windows like getting a really good profile of the person that he's about to steal from. And a few other things were also really peculiar about what the ransacker was doing. So, for example, one of the things I read about was he would eat a lot of ice cream while he was in the houses.
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Chapter 3: How did the Visalia Ransacker's crimes escalate to homicide?
He only hits Officer McGowan's flashlight. But glass from the flashlight hits Officer McGowan's eye. And he had to stop to deal with this injury, which he later recovered from. But as that's happening, the suspect runs away. And he doesn't really get a good look at this guy.
I mean, talk about aim and left hand and the distraction technique and to be able to take advantage of the officer pulling out a flashlight, trying to get a better look at him. I mean, it's diabolical. And I know practically all of Visalia was on high alert at this point. Neighborhood was extremely scared. But something specifically led to this stakeout spot being chosen, right?
Yeah. Yeah. So this stakeout location was actually chosen because there were shoe prints discovered outside of the house. So they called the police and McGowan was able to stake out at a house nearby. And despite the close encounter that he had with the Visalia ransacker, it did not lead to any arrest. The only clue was another physical description of the suspect from Officer McGowan.
Officer McGowan described the man as white, blonde, no facial hair, 25 to 35 years old, 5'10", and 180 pounds or more with a, quote, thick neck. If you're watching on YouTube, you can see these composite drawings of the suspect, or you can check them out on our Instagram. Again, it's at Clues Podcast. And something to note here with this.
Officer McGowan started to have some suspicions about who this person could be. Right. Based on this encounter and how the person acted, how the person wielded their flashlight. And what did he start thinking? Officer McGowan suspected that this could be a police officer.
And he would know. I mean, he's a cop. So he knows how they use their weapons, what they're trained to do.
Yeah. According to one source, I found after his death, there were handwritten notes from Officer McGowan in the Visalia Ransacker file requesting that he be sent photographs of all policemen entering the police academy from a particular year. So he was so close, he was right there, and it just didn't line up at the time. He had the right idea.
So the attempted homicide of Officer McGowan did mark the end of the Visalia Ransacker, but that's only because he was about to move on to something else. In June of 1976, things in Visalia, California had been quiet for around six months with no sign of the Visalia ransacker. But 200 miles north, a new reign of terror was about to begin. At 4 a.m.
on June 18th, 1976, a woman in Rancho Cordova ended up becoming the first victim of a criminal who would go on to be known as the East Area Rapist, or EAR. As these attacks continued, there was a clear modus operandi or MO that began to form. The attacks always occurred at night when victims were typically sleeping. He would come in and he would blindfold and gag the victims.
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Chapter 4: What are the details of the East Area Rapist's attacks and MO?
A lot of them were around 15 years old.
I know. I saw an interview with one of the victims and she was talking about her and her mom, you know, discussing this and being scared. Yeah. And her mom had made a comment that I'm too old and You're too young. But he ended up coming to the house.
Exactly. He would threaten the men with death or he would say that he would murder their kids or their wives if they moved. And he physically threatened the victims with various weapons like ice picks, guns, knives. So they really couldn't do anything when he was in the home.
And the threats didn't stop there. Our next clue in this case is a series of phone calls. These began during this period and are thought to belong to the East Area Rapist, but they haven't been definitively proven. We're gonna actually play you guys a 1977 call For me, you can clearly hear someone saying, I'm going to kill you.
Yeah.
But we're going to play it. You guys let us know in the comments what you think and if you can clearly hear that too.
Yeah. It has that very, what the victims described as he would speak through gritted teeth often. And I feel like you can hear that in that recording.
Alright.
I'm gonna kill you.
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Chapter 5: How did the East Area Rapist escalate his attacks to couples and murder?
And authorities offered a $2,500 reward for information on the suspect, but once again, nothing came from it.
We do have composite sketches of both suspects. And these photos were released in the spring of 1978. I mean, looking at them, they do look like pretty different people.
Sort of. But I feel like with police sketches, a lot of times it's more of like the vibe of the person, right? Because each sketch artist is going to draw it a little differently. The way that the people are described by the witnesses is a little bit different. But I mean, both of them were looking at guys with sideswept blonde hair. Mm-hmm.
kind of like a thinner like longer face chin high cheekbones I think they look like the same person just one has grew a mustache it's the mustache it's really the mustache but I mean how long does it take to grow a mustache depending yeah like it could have just been two weeks that he just didn't shave this is true
And, I mean, could have grown quickly or could have just been changing their appearance because it is something that sometimes criminals will do to ensure they don't get caught or recognized. Yeah. But we do get a final clue here as well. An important piece of evidence from the majority's murders was a shoelace found lying in the grass near where they had been shot.
It was tied in a double loop, so it was essentially pre-tied in a ligature piece. And of course, we know that shoelaces were used in the ER rapes to tie victims up.
But still, the majority murder was not conclusively linked to the East Area Rapist until much, much later. But we'll get into that in a bit. But this double homicide in February of 1978 was the East Area Rapist's last known crime in the Sacramento area.
In October 1979, over 400 miles away from Rancho Cordova, a series of violent attacks began unfolding in the Central Coast and Orange County regions of Southern California, Santa Barbara, Goleta, Ventura, Dana Point, and Irvine. These crimes were all attributed to what became known as the original Night Stalker.
As a side note, because I've gotten in trouble for this on social media before, this is not to be confused with Richard Ramirez, who was later known as the Night Stalker. But if you guys are interested in that case, let us know. Maybe that's another one that we cover for Clues.
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Chapter 6: What clues and evidence were gathered from the East Area Rapist's crimes?
Yeah. And I will say I did see in one source that this also could have been because of what happened with Sherry. And Greg, it did appear because Greg was unbound that he might have lunged and tried to go after him. And that could have really shaken him up.
Another close call. Absolutely. I know there's all sorts of reasons why they do it. Sometimes it's because they have young children at home and they're raising their families, which is...
wild sometimes it's because they go to jail for something else sometimes maybe they got spooked at the crime scene but a lot of killers are known to have these cool down periods so on may 5th 1986 after this cool down period janelle cruz who was 18 was killed at a family's home in irvine while her mother was on vacation her body was also discovered by a realtor janelle was found lying face up in bed with a blanket over her head and she was nude from the waist down
She died from multiple blows to the face and head by an unknown blunt object.
And just like all of the other original Night Stalker cases that were mentioned, there was DNA from semen found at the crime scene that was collected in a sexual assault kit. Yeah.
So dozens of law enforcement professionals were working on solving these crimes for over four decades. And so much of what we're talking about actually comes from Paul Holes, who was a homicide detective and cold case investigator. And he gave a keynote address at the International Symposium on Human Identification, also known as ISHI. And it was a conference in 2019.
Paul Holes was an investigator and chief of forensics at Contra Costa County in the Bay Area. And he became interested in DNA testing in the 1990s. So in 1994, he discovered the East Area Rapist cold case, and he started to get to work on it. And he found that there were three rape kits or sexual assault kits left from EAR cases, and he got permission to use them for DNA testing.
In 1996, DNA testing from this semen in the sexual assault kits linked the homicides of Lyman and Charlene Smith with three other homicides in Southern California, Keith and Patrice Harrington, Manuela Wattoon, and Janelle Cruz. Remember, those happened like hundreds of miles away from each other, so they weren't even thinking that those were all related at the time.
No, the dots are finally being connected. Exactly. In 1997, further DNA testing linked the semen evidence from Charlene Smith to three Contra Costa rapes from 1978 to 1989. Four years go by. DNA testing continues to improve. The technology gets better and better. And Paul Holes was still working on the Bay Area cases.
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Chapter 7: Who was the Original Night Stalker and how are his crimes connected?
Some speculate that he was trying to gain his father's approval by joining the armed services and due to the fact his dad was so decorated. Yeah. After this, he moved back in with his mom in the Sacramento area and enrolled at a nearby community college, Sierra College. He wanted to study criminal justice and joined the California Highway Patrol.
He lived in various parts of California for his entire adult life. At Sierra College, though, is where he met Bonnie Colwell, an 18-year-old classmate. They became engaged. According to a Los Angeles Times article I found, Bonnie recalls going on animal killing adventures with D'Angelo. And there's a lot of speculation that he also killed animals in his younger years as well.
Yeah, which is pretty typical of serial killers. Yeah. And Bonnie recounts killing doves, frogs, deer, vultures. And there's even one experience she describes where they're riding on his motorcycle and there was... a dog that came up barking at them, and he kicked it and actually snapped the dog's neck.
Wow.
But what drove Bonnie to break things off was in 1971, Joseph asked her to help him cheat on an exam. Bonnie later said that Joseph was controlling and also weird about sex. He would want to do it repeatedly for hours and always while listening to The Doors. And Bonnie does also mention that this was her first relationship. She really didn't have anything else to compare it to. Yeah.
But did start to realize, you know, how bad it was. She also notes that he liked to break rules, driving motorcycles over the speed and hunting and fishing in off-limits areas. Joseph did not take Bonnie calling off their engagement lightly. He actually went a bit off the rails and Bonnie had the foresight to kind of know that was coming.
So on the night of the breakup, Bonnie called Joseph to come see her at her father's house. She told him they weren't a good fit, gave back the ring, and Joseph was so upset he actually threw the ring in the bushes and left. but not for long because a few nights later, Bonnie woke up to tapping on her window. And Joseph was there, standing outside, pointing a gun in her face.
He told her to get dressed and come with him. They were going to get married, and he would not take no for an answer. Bonnie ran out of her bedroom, woke up her dad, and her dad actually spent two hours talking to Joseph while Bonnie hid inside. Something Bonnie's dad said must have stuck with Joseph because he did finally leave and did not come back.
But this experience left Bonnie pretty traumatized. She actually dropped out of school for a semester just so she wouldn't have to see Joseph again. This broken engagement would appear to haunt Joseph for the rest of his life. There's accounts from victims where during these attacks, he would call out things like, I hate you, Bonnie. And so clearly deeply affected by this.
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