Police searched alleged Golden State Killer's home for Ventura couple's gold jewelry

Megan Diskin | Ventura

Show Caption Hide Caption DA unveils new charges in serial killer case Santa Barbara County District Attorney Joyce E. Dudley announces charges against Golden State Killer suspect Joseph DeAngelo.

Investigators in the Golden State Killer case were searching for gold jewelry and a Chinese gambling chip missing from the Ventura home of Lyman and Charlene Smith after their 1980 slayings, according to recently unsealed court documents.

The decision by a Sacramento County Superior Court judge to make the documents public provided another layer of insight into a 12-year crime spree spanning April 1974 to May 1986 that is suspected to be the work of Joseph DeAngelo. The 72-year-old alleged serial killer connected to 12 homicides across the state is also believed to be the East Area Rapist and Visalia Ransacker linked to no fewer than 57 sexual assaults and dozens of burglaries.

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DeAngelo was arrested outside his Citrus Heights home on April 24 and booked into Sacramento County jail in connection with two 1978 murders in the area’s Rancho Cordova neighborhood. As Sacramento County authorities were securing DeAngelo’s arrest warrant and another to search his house, their counterparts in Ventura County were doing the same, said Chief Deputy District Attorney Miles Weiss.

The Ventura County District Attorney’s Office filed charges against DeAngelo in the Smith killings the day of his arrest and Ventura County Superior Court Judge Patricia Murphy signed off on his arrest warrant.

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In the weeks that followed, district attorneys in Santa Barbara and Orange counties also filed murder charges against DeAngelo in the eight other homicides. They included the Goleta-area killings of Greg Sanchez and Cheri Domingo in July 1981 and the slayings of Drs. Robert Offerman and Debra Manning in December 1979.

DeAngelo has not yet entered a plea.

The Sacramento County search warrant details the major role DNA from the Ventura double homicide played in linking the Golden State Killer crimes to the East Area Rapist.

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DNA profiles were made from evidence found in three Contra Costa County sexual assault cases thought to be the work of the East Area Rapist. In 2001, DNA analysis linked the semen found on Charlene Smith’s body to the Contra Costa County cases. Years earlier in 1996, DNA found on the Ventura woman matched semen found in four Orange County homicides. By 2011, the DNA on Charlene Smith matched a semen stain found at one of the Santa Barbara County double homicides.

With the knowledge of both criminal monikers reflecting the same person, the partially redacted search warrant indicates that the East Area Rapist’s affinity for taking property from his victims seemingly continued through the rest of his rampage. The warrant listed specific items taken during the East Area Rapist crimes and from the scenes of the Golden State Killer homicides.

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Of the two double homicides in Santa Barbara County, a judge redacted the items taken from the 1981 case. However, the warrant states in the 1979 case that claimed the lives of the two physicians, an old doctor’s bag full of medical supplies was missing from the condominium the victims shared. The other items listed in the document have been redacted.

In the Ventura case at the Smith home on High Point Drive, the list was much longer. Seven gold rings, some with rubies, diamonds and pearls, were missing. A gold heart, gold nugget, gold horseshoe and gold earrings were also gone in addition to several gold chains. A “one of a kind” Chinese gambling chip and keys to a residence also were on the list, according to the warrant.

It’s unknown whether any of the items were found, but the document granted investigators broad access.

It allowed them to search DeAngelo’s home and any outbuildings, boats or containers on the property. It gave investigators access to any journals or diaries chronicling the crime, any locked safes or chests and information depicting ownership of a possible storage unit.

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Questions about where and how the cases will be prosecuted also remain unanswered. Weiss said the district attorneys from each county that filed murder charges against DeAngelo will be meeting at the end of the month.

DeAngelo is due back in Sacramento County Superior Court on July 12.