Irvine, Calif. (April 25, 2018) – Today, the Sacramento District Attorney’s Office and the Sacramento County Sheriff announced the arrest of Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, in a cold case referred to as the East Area Rapist, also known as the Original Night Stalker or the Golden State Killer. The East Area Rapist is linked to 12 homicides and 45 rapes over the past four decades. The person who committed these heinous crimes is believed to be the perpetrator of two homicides in Irvine in the 1980s.

On Feb 5, 1981, Manuela Witthuhn, 28, was raped and killed in her Irvine home. Witthuhn was a bank teller who was home alone while her husband was in the hospital at the time that she was killed. 

On May 5, 1986, Janelle Cruz, 18, was raped and killed in her home while her family was away on vacation. She was discovered by Realtors who entered the home.

Irvine Police Department detectives have relentlessly pursued this case over the years and actively participated in the multiagency effort to find this notorious killer.

“Today’s arrest is the first step in achieving justice for all of the victims and their loved ones who were devastated so many years ago and will forever be scarred,” said Irvine Police Chief Mike Hamel.

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