East Bay Rapist Strikes in Danville

KRON-TV news footage from December 9 1978 with reporter Mary Civiello in Danville CA (Contra Costa County) where a man being referred to at the time as the East Area Rapist, who is thought to have raped over 35 women, has just struck again. Includes interviews with residents who express their concern and with police officer Robert Shaw, who has difficulty accounting for why this criminal is so hard to catch. As Civiello states in a to-camera commentary: "He's elusive and leaves very little evidence." In fact this rapist went onto become a murderer and was also known as the Original Night Stalker or the Golden State Killer and wasn't apprehended until April 24 2018, when Sacramento County Sheriifs arrested Joseph James DeAngelo at his home in Citrus Heights, CA. On June 29 2020 DeAngelo pleaded guilty to 13 counts of first-degree murder and special circumstances (including murder committed during burglaries and rapes), as well as 13 counts of kidnapping, in a deal to avoid the death penalty. A former police officer, DeAngelo was responisble for at least three major crime sprees in California, during the 1970s and 1980s. Opening graphic designed by Carrie Hawks.