VISALIA (KMJ) — Tulare County District Attorney’s Office has filed charges against the alleged Golden State Killer. Joseph Deangelo has been accused of a 1975 murder in Visalia.
Claude Snelling was killed while trying an intruder from kidnapping his daughter, according to Visalia Police. The DA’s office believes Deangelo shot Snelling.
“That is based upon an investigation not only by the Visalia Police Department but in cooperation and conjunction with really law enforcement and prosecutors across the state,” explained District Attorney Tim Ward.
“With the filing of this charge we have officially linked the Visalia Ransacker to be the same individual that has come to be known as the East Area Rapist and now tragically known as the Golden State Killer.”
The District Attorney’s Office said that cooperation with other departments, following Deangelo’s initial arrest in April, has helped narrow down a suspect.
“With the filing of charges as we’ve done today [Monday] we begin that process to heal some of those wounds and finally bring justice to the family and the community as well.”
Numerous other crimes allegedly committed by Deangelo in Tulare County cannot be filed due to the statute of limitation expiring. Deangelo is currently in Sacramento County Jail.
Hear the report from KMJ’s Dominic McAndrew as it aired:
