People

Anne Marie Schubert

Prosecutors

Anne Marie Schubert served as Sacramento County District Attorney and led the prosecution effort that resulted in DeAngelo's arrest and conviction. Schubert announced DeAngelo's arrest at a press conference on April 25, …

Barbara Rae-Venter

Academics & Scientists

Retired patent attorney and genetic genealogist whose family-tree research led investigators to Joseph DeAngelo, arrested as the Golden State Killer in April 2018.

Joseph James DeAngelo

Perpetrator

Former California police officer who pleaded guilty in 2020 to 13 murders as the Golden State Killer and was sentenced to life without parole after a 2018 arrest based on genetic genealogy.

Retired Contra Costa County sheriff's lieutenant who joined the East Area Rapist task force in 1978 and wrote the 2010 book Sudden Terror about the case.

Michelle McNamara

Journalist

True-crime writer who named the "Golden State Killer" and wrote "I'll Be Gone in the Dark." She died in 2016, two years before investigators used genetic genealogy to identify Joseph DeAngelo.

Patton Oswalt

Public figure

Patton Oswalt is a comedian and actor who was married to Michelle McNamara. After her unexpected death in 2016, Oswalt worked to ensure her book "I'll Be Gone in the Dark" was completed and published, collaborating with …

Paul Holes

Investigator

Paul Holes is a retired Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office investigator who spent over 20 years working the East Area Rapist/Golden State Killer case. Holes was instrumental in pushing for the use of forensic…

Richard Shelby was a Sacramento County Sheriff's detective who was one of the original investigators on the East Area Rapist case in the late 1970s. He authored "Hunting a Psychopath," detailing the investigation and the…