Golden State Killer: Final Chapter: Joseph DeAngelo and 40 Years of Terror
A documentary overview of Joseph James DeAngelo's crimes and arrest
What is the book about?
Golden State Killer: Final Chapter, published by Crown in December 2025, is the definitive work on one of the most complex and terrifying criminal cases in American history. The book begins in the 1970s, when a series of brutal rapes in central California shook the local community under the name East Area Rapist. Through thorough research and access to new court documents, the publication outlines how this perpetrator escalated to serial murder and managed to evade justice for over four decades.
The work not only focuses on the technical details of the investigation but also gives a voice to the many survivors, including Kris Pedretti, Jane Carson-Sandler, and Gay Hardwick. Their testimonies and the collective trauma processing in the courtroom in 2020 form the emotional core of the book. The reader gains insight into how Joseph James DeAngelo lived an apparently normal life as a family man and retired mechanic while the police searched for him across the country.
The real case
The case of Joseph James DeAngelo is unique in criminal history due to its scope and the method that led to his arrest. After committing at least 13 murders and over 50 sexual assaults between 1974 and 1986, the trails gradually disappeared. It was not until 2018 that investigators from the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department utilized genetic genealogy—a method where the perpetrator's DNA is uploaded to databases like GEDmatch to find distant relatives.
This groundbreaking technique led directly to DeAngelo, who had previously worked as a police officer in Exeter and Auburn. His knowledge of police methods had enabled him to avoid leaving traces for years. In August 2020, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after a series of heartbreaking confrontations in court, where the victims finally had the opportunity to look their executioner in the eye. You can read more about the technical aspects of the case in our CrimeDex on genetic genealogy .
About the author
The publication from Crown is an editorial collaboration that draws on the expertise of leading crime reporters and legal analysts who have followed the case since the arrest in 2018. By combining archival material from the FBI with the latest updates from the trial in California, the editorial team has created a work that serves as a sequel to previous books on the subject, including Michelle McNamara's influential work. Crown has previously been behind several award-winning true crime biographies.