Golden State Killer Probe Led Investigators To Oregon City Man

OREGON CITY, OR – It was early March last year when the Oregon City Police Department got a call from law-enforcement colleagues in Sacramento, California. Their colleagues needed help.

Investigators in California had been tracking the man known alternately as The Golden State Killer and the Original Nightstalker for more than 40 years. The man had been linked to a dozen murders and more than 50 rapes. And they had not made any progress.

Until recently.

Investigators started using DNA from the killer's crime scenes, comparing it to records kept by an online genealogical site that allowed people to send in their DNA to track their ancestry.

The crime-scene DNA revealed a rare, unusual genetic marker. Using the online database, investigators thought that they had their man – a 73-year-old man in Oregon City, Oregon, who was now in a nursing home.

The Oregon City Police were asked to get a search warrant that would allow them to get a DNA sample from the man.

One month later, the FBI arrived at the home of the man's daughter and asked for help to look for relatives. While they had determined her father was not the man they were looking for, the rare genetic marker was unusual enough they wanted to check his relatives as well.

They later determined neither the man nor any of his relatives were the suspect.

Last week, officials in California announced the arrest of Joseph DeAngelo, a former police officer, and charged him in connection with the case.

This time, they think they have the right man.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Photo credit: Booking photo via Sacramento County Sheriff's Department; Rich Pedroncelli/Associated Press