'Golden State Killer' pleads guilty to series of murders, rapes

As expected, Joseph James DeAngelo — known colloquially as the "Golden State Killer" — pleaded guilty on Monday, and admitted to committing a series of rapes and murders throughout California over a 12-year span in the 1970s and 1980s.

DeAngelo, now 74, has been in the Sacramento County Jail since he was arrested in 2018 after DNA evidence from old crime scenes matched with a potential relative on a genealogical research site, allowing investigators to build a family tree. He's now expected to face life in prison without parole.

Overall, DeAngelo, a former police officer, pleaded guilty to 13 counts of murder and 13 counts of kidnap for robbery and was scheduled to admit to 62 rapes and other crimes for which he wasn't formally charged.

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The Sacramento Bee reports that more than 150 people filled a California State University, Sacramento ballroom, which was converted into a courtroom because of the coronavirus pandemic, to witness DeAngelo's admission of guilt. His victims and relatives of victims were reportedly among the attendees. Read more at The Sacramento Bee.