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, 2018, and oversaw the multi-county prosecution that consolidated cases from six California counties. She advocated for the use of forensic genealogy in criminal investigations and coordinated with investigators across multiple jurisdictions to build the comprehensive case against DeAngelo.

Barbara Rae-Venter

Academics & Scientists

Barbara Rae-Venter is a retired patent attorney turned genetic genealogist who played a central role in identifying Joseph DeAngelo as the Golden State Killer. Working with investigator Paul Holes and the FBI, Rae-Venter uploaded crime scene DNA to the public genealogy database GEDmatch, then painstakingly built family trees from partial matches to narrow the suspect pool to DeAngelo. Her work on this case pioneered investigative genetic genealogy (IGG) as a law enforcement tool and has since been used to solve hundreds of cold cases.

Joseph James DeAngelo

Perpetrator

Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. (born November 8, 1945) is the Golden State Killer — responsible for at least 13 murders, 50 rapes, and 120 burglaries across California between 1974 and 1986. DeAngelo served as a police officer in Exeter (1973-1976) and Auburn (1976-1979), committing crimes while employed in law enforcement. He was fired from the Auburn PD after being caught shoplifting. DeAngelo evaded identification for over 40 years until forensic genealogy matched crime scene DNA to his family tree in 2018. He pleaded guilty in June 2020 and was sentenced to life without parole in August 2020.

Larry Crompton

Investigator

Larry Crompton is a retired Contra Costa County Sheriff's detective who investigated the East Area Rapist cases in the late 1970s. He authored "Sudden Terror" (2010), one of the first comprehensive books about the case, which compiled police reports and established the full scope of the East Area Rapist's crimes. Crompton's work was instrumental in keeping the case in public awareness and connecting crimes across different jurisdictions.

Michelle McNamara

Journalist

Michelle McNamara was a true crime writer and journalist who became obsessed with the East Area Rapist/Original Night Stalker case. In a 2013 Los Angeles Magazine article, she coined the name "Golden State Killer," which became the widely adopted moniker for the unknown offender. McNamara spent years investigating the case, building a massive research database and collaborating with law enforcement. She died unexpectedly in her sleep on April 21, 2016, at age 46. Her posthumous book "I'll Be Gone in the Dark" — completed by Paul Haynes and Billy Jensen — became a bestseller and HBO documentary, significantly renewing public interest in the case.

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 researcher Paul Haynes and journalist Billy Jensen. The book was published in February 2018, just two months before DeAngelo's arrest. Oswalt has spoken publicly about McNamara's dedication to the case and her role in keeping pressure on law enforcement to solve it.

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 genealogy, working with the FBI and genealogist Barbara Rae-Venter to upload crime scene DNA to GEDmatch. He identified DeAngelo as a suspect through the resulting family tree analysis. Holes retired the day before DeAngelo's arrest was announced — a case he had pursued for most of his career.

Richard Shelby

Investigator

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 frustrations of trying to catch a serial offender who seemed to know police procedures. Shelby came agonizingly close to identifying DeAngelo during the original investigation — DeAngelo was briefly considered as a suspect due to his law enforcement background but was not pursued.