CITRUS HEIGHTS, Sacramento County — Jeannie and her husband, Bob, were nervous Wednesday as they waited to hear back from their daughter. Standing on a crowded residential street here, several doors down from the brown house blocked off by police tape, they still hadn’t figured out how they would break the news to her.

How does one tell a daughter that she babysat for a man accused of being one of the most prolific serial killers and rapists in California history?

“I’m just anxious to talk to her,” said Jeannie, who asked to withhold the family’s name to protect privacy. “She didn’t just babysit for him once.”

At a news conference an hour later in Sacramento, authorities announced murder charges against 72-year-old Joseph James DeAngelo, a Navy veteran and former Auburn (Placer County) and Exeter (Tulare County) police officer suspected of at least 12 murders, 45 rapes and 150 burglaries from 1976 to 1986.

DeAngelo was arrested early Wednesday after authorities determined he was the “East Area Rapist,” also known as the “Golden State Killer” and the “Original Night Stalker.” DNA evidence allegedly links him to two brutal murders, one in Sacramento County and another in Ventura County.

Jeannie, Bob and their daughter knew DeAngelo simply as Joe, the man who seemed a little odd but always stopped to say hello if he saw them.

“She enjoyed babysitting for him as far as we know,” Bob said of his daughter.

Now, DeAngelo is being held without bail in Sacramento County Jail, to the relief of an untold number of families that were terrorized over the course of a decade more than 30 years ago.

Bob and Jeannie moved to the Citrus Heights neighborhood in 1982, four years before DeAngelo’s last alleged attack.

“He was always a little different,” Bob said, shrugging. “He would always ask how my daughter was doing and how she did a good job babysitting.”

DeAngelo was divorced, Jeannie and Bob said, and his two daughters were about 6 to 8 years old at the time their daughter looked after the children.

“They were there most of the time,” Bob said. “Seemed like normal kids. Both of them moved out. One of his daughters has already had kids.”

DeAngelo apparently had the babysitter at his house for a few hours in the evening but never overnight, Jeannie said, adding that her daughter never raised any concerns. Jeannie couldn’t help but worry, and hopes that her daughter would feel comfortable enough to tell her if something did happen.

“Our daughter is a quiet kid,” Jeannie said softly. “She liked his kids.”

DeAngelo recently retired after working out of a Save Mart distribution center, according to aSacramento Bee report. He often spent time in his garage fixing up his motorcycle and boat, leaving the light on at night and the door open, his neighbors said.

“He once told me, ‘I don’t have a TV, I just like to keep busy,’” Bob said. “He was kind of loud as far as his voice. We kind of thought we remembered him yelling at his kids.”

“Oh, but you know, we used to do that,” Jeannie said. “It’s one of those things that happens.”

FBI investigators set up a tent outside DeAngelo’s house on Canyon Oak Drive and investigators shuffled in and out of the front door as Bob, Jeannie and other neighbors kept their distance a few houses down from the crime scene.

Then they walked back to their home — built in the same fashion as DeAngelo’s, minus his extra garage — so they could wait for their daughter’s call.

Correction: Joseph James DeAngelo’s work history has been updated to note he most recently worked for Save Mart, instead of another company noted by his nieghbors.

Sarah Ravani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani