Police collected the Golden State Killer suspect's DNA from his car while he shopped for craft supplies

Joseph James DeAngelo, the suspected &#039;Golden State Killer&#039;, appears in court for his arraignment on April 27, 2018 in Sacramento, California.

(Image credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

published 2 June 2018

Law enforcement collected the DNA evidence that led to the arrest of the Golden State Killer suspect, Joseph James DeAngelo, as he shopped at a Hobby Lobby crafting supply store in April, court documents unsealed Friday reveal.

While DeAngelo was inside the store, detectives took samples of his DNA from the driver's side door handle. Testing showed it to be a match for evidence from multiple crime scenes, and DeAngelo was arrested within a week. A previous attempt to collect DNA evidence from a trash can outside his home did not yield enough testable material.

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.

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