MURDER INC EXCLUSIVE:









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



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?

“We were saying ‘Oh my God, it’s The Crazy Cop,’” Brown said. Relations between Brown’s family and next-door-neighbor DeAngelo were always testy, particularly when it came to his dislike of their dog, Brown said. “There was a war of words over the fence,” she said. “He didn’t seem to like kids or dogs and he moved into a neighborhood with lots of kids and dogs. He was an odd duck.” Then Worthless, the family dog, unexpectedly died.Brown’s mother confronted DeAngelo after learning from a veterinarian that the cause was poisoned meat. Brown said she looks back now with a new and chilling perspective on that time. “I absolutely believe he did it,” Brown said.

August 24 1979 Murder of Clendon Ray Baker/Roseville Power Tools











August 25 1979 Auburn School Burglary



August 26 1979 Auburn Ammunition Theft



August 27 1979 Joseph DeAngelo Fired



August 29 1979 Auburn Arson





August 30 1979 Loomis Firearms Stolen



August 31 1979 Auburn Kidnap Rape





September 4 1979 Loomis Guns



September 5 1979 Auburn Tools Stolen



September 9 1979 Auburn Stolen Tools





September 12 1979 Roseville Motorbikes



September 19 1979 Auburn Prowler



October 4 1979 Loomis Burglary



October 12 1979 Roseville Tools



October 31 1979 Auburn



November 12 1979 Ophir Guns/Knives



November 22 1979 Loomis Prowler



November 26 1979



November 30 1979 Auburn Vet Burglary



December 4 1979

December 18 1979 Auburn Stolen Tools



