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Sacramento DA Thien Ho to Release 'The People vs. the Golden State Killer' on Nov. 11

The prosecutor recounts how preserved evidence, aided by genetic genealogy, led to Joseph DeAngelo’s 2020 guilty pleas.

Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho's new book, "The People vs. the Golden State Killer", is scheduled for mass release Nov. 11, 2025. Infamous predator Joseph DeAngelo had at least three crimes in the San Ramon Valley in the 1970s. (Image courtesy Third State Books)
A section of the American River that runs behind the neighborhood of Cordova Meadows, an area that Joseph DeAngelo stalked in the mid-1970s. Photograph by Scott Thomas Anderson

Overview

  • The book is set for mass release on Nov. 11 by Third State Books, with Ho planning local promotion after launch.
  • Ho highlights Contra Costa County’s retained DNA and case files as the linchpin that enabled charges across jurisdictions.
  • The account examines investigative genetic genealogy as the method that identified DeAngelo and linked crimes statewide.
  • Ho notes that discarded rape evidence and earlier statutes forced some San Ramon Valley attacks to be charged as kidnappings.
  • DeAngelo was arrested in 2018, pleaded guilty in 2020 to murders and kidnappings while admitting additional crimes, and remains in a state prison unit for high‑profile offenders.