On Monday August 27 1979 Officer Joseph DeAngelo was fired from the Auburn Police Department. Police Chief Nick Willick said an investigation into DeAngelo’s fitness and conduct had determined his dismissal was warranted. Auburn City Manager Jack Sausser led the probe sparked by DeAngelo’s citation on July 21 for attempting to shoplift a hammer and a can of dog repellent from a Citrus Heights Pay ‘n Save. Sauusser said DeAngelo failed to answer any of the city’s investigations but at some point DeAngelo’s home on Granite Lane in Auburn was searched by investigators. Did DeAngelo consent to a search or did investigators have a warrant? During the search power tools and hammers that were suspected to be stolen were allegedly seen in the house. Soon after DeAngelo was fired, Willick’s 4 yr old daughter saw a prowler shining a flashlight into her bedroom window. When she told her father and he went to investigate he found footprints around the home. Bizarrely, shortly after the prowling incident, DeAngelo supposedly admitted to someone, possibly a therapist or a claims adjustor, that he’d gone to Willick’s home to kill him but couldn’t find his bedroom. This revelation was apparently relayed to Willick by the investigator. Nothing was done about this self-confessed flashlight wielding prowler out to kill or his home full of stolen tools. Four days after DeAngelo was fired, on Friday August 31 1979 at 10:30 pm a 14 yr old Auburn girl was kidnapped by a man who broke into her home and took her to a remote area of Placer County where he raped her. The girl was found at 12:00 am and taken to Auburn Faith Community Hospital. The rapist was described as about 25 yrs old with shoulder-length curly blond hair and two day’s growth of beard. On September 11 1975 Claude Snelling was shot dead by the Visalia Ransacker as he interrupted the kidnapping of his 16 yr old daughter from their home. On November 10 1976 the EAR kidnapped a 16 yr old girl from her home in Citrus Heights where he forced her into a nearby canal. The kidnapping facet of the EAR’s methods appear to have been under-investigated. Joe DeAngelo is alleged to have confessed to being out prowling in Auburn around the same time a rapist kidnaps a teen girl from her Auburn home. What are the chances? Where did all the stolen power tools in DeAngelo’s home come from? it’s hard to believe investigators were unable to do anything about the suspected stolen property. It’s also hard to believe DeAngelo wouldn’t take advantage of the opportunities afforded to him as a police officer living and working in Auburn to commit crimes. Looks like somebody couldn’t help shitting all over their plate.
August 27 1979 Joseph DeAngelo Fired Auburn, CA
August 31 1979 Auburn Kidnap Rapist Auburn, CA
August 31 1979 Auburn Arson Auburn, CA
1979 Auburn/Roseville Area Burglaries (Note: if the date isn’t mentioned in the article, the date of the newspaper in which the crime was reported is listed)
Below is Van Ness Drive on Roseville where Joseph’s wife Sharon DeAngelo owned a home at some point prior to Joe’s dismissal in August 1979. In July 1979 a handgun & jewelry were stolen from a home behind the one Sharon owned.
January 1 1979 Auburn Tool Box Stolen
January 2 1979 Auburn Tape Deck Stolen
January 3 1979 Auburn Ransacker
January 4 1979 Roseville Ransacker
January 6 1979 Auburn Burglary
January 8 1979 Auburn Tool Theft
January 11 1979 Roseville Commercial Burglary
January 14 1979
January 16 1979 Roseville/Auburn Burglaries
January 17 1979 Citrus Heights Arson/Auburn Hardware
January 22 1979 Auburn Tools/Guns Stolen
January 24 1979 Auburn Stolen Tools
January 26 1979 Loomis Burglar
January 27 1979 Auburn Tools Stolen
January 29 1979 Loomis Burglar
January 30 1979 Penryn Burglar
January 31 1979 Roseville Guns Stolen
February 2 1979 Loomis Arson
February 5 1979 Auburn Stolen Saws
February 6 1979 Roseville Burglar
February 7 1979 Loomis Burglar
February 8 1979 Rocklin Tools
February 17 1979 Auburn Burglary
February 21 1979 Placer School Burglars
February 23 1979 Roseville Guns/Jewelry Stolen
February 24 1979
February 28 1979 Auburn Baseball Snack Stand Ransacked
March 3 1979 Loomis Power Tools
March 9 1979 Roseville Cash
March 14 1979 Roseville Coins Stolen
March 19 1979 Auburn Stolen Tools
March 21 Rocklin Tools
March 29 1979 Roseville Coins Stolen
March 29 1979 Rocklin Burglar
March 30 1979 Lincoln Rifles/Shotguns/TV
April 2 1979 Auburn Burglaries
April 4 1979 Auburn Denny’s
April 6 1979 Auburn Stolen Chain Saw
April 7 1979 Auburn Ransacker
April 10 1979 Roseville Stolen Power Tools
April 11 1979 Roseville Stolen Music Equipment
April 14 1979 Auburn Women’s Center Burglar
April 17 1979 Loomis/Folsom Lake Stolen Guns/TV
April 18 1979 Roseville Firearms/Jewelry Stolen
April 23 1979 Tool Thefts in Auburn
April 25 1979 Auburn Tools Stolen
April 28 1979 Auburn Ransacker Across From Auburn PD
May 1 1979 Roseville Tool Theft
May 2 1979 Auburn Burglaries
May 3 1979 Roseville Gas Thief
May 4 1979 Toni Smith Lee Identified
May 15 1979 Auburn Ransacker
May 23 1979 Auburn
May 25 1979 Auburn Complaints about DeAngelo from an Incident on May 13 on Brewery Lane. On July 14 household items were stolen from a burglary nearby.
May 31 1979 Auburn Car Thefts
June 1 1979 Roseville Burglar
June 3 1979 Alta
June 6 1979 Auburn Vandal
June 8 1979 Auburn
June 12 1979 Auburn Clubs Stolen
June 15 1979 Roseville Tool Burglar Foiled
June 18 1979 Roseville Bedding Stolen
June 25 1979 Stolen Tools Auburn
June 27 1979 Loomis Stolen Tools
June 28 1979 Roseville Ransacker
July 6 1979 Foresthill Hardware Store Burglarized
July 7 1979 Weimar/Roseville Burglaries
July 10 1979 Roseville Theft
July 11 1979 Folsom Lake Stolen Tools
July 12 1979 Roseville Stolen Tools
July 13 1979 Roseville Stolen Rifle/Calculator
July 14 1979 Newcastle Stolen Tools
July 16 1979 Auburn Vandalism
July 17 1979 Auburn Vandal/Roseville Tool Theft
July 18 1979 Auburn Stolen Tools
July 19 1979 Roseville Radio/Change
July 20 1979 Auburn Meadows Burglary
July 21 1979 Rocklin Stolen TV
July 22 1979 Penryn Arson
July 23 1979 Sierra College Blvd Arson
July 24 1979 Auburn Stolen Tools
July 25 1979 Auburn Shady Glenn Inn Burglar
July 27 Auburn Stolen Tools
July 28 1979 Lincoln Burglary
August 8 1979 Roseville Stolen Tools
August 9 1979 Auburn Burglary Across from APD
August 13 1979 Roseville Air Compressor Stolen
August 14 1979 Roseville Burglary
August 15 1979 Roseville Power Tools/Meadow Vista
August 16 1979 Roseville Stolen Bike
August 17 1979 Roseville Stolen Tools
August 18 1979 Roseville Tools Stolen
August 20 1979 Roseville Stolen Tools
August 21 1979 Roseville Handgun/Jewelry Stolen Next to DeAngelo’s Wife’s Home
August 22 1979 Roseville Cash Box
August 23 1979 Colfax Vet Euthansia Stolen
Was the Euthansia stolen used to poison DeAngelo’s neighbors dog?
Murder, Inc. 