The terrifying 10 months when the East Area Rapist emerged in the Bay Area

Sketches of the East Area Rapist, also known as the Golden State Killer, sit on display during a news conference at the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department in Sacramento, California, on Wednesday, June 15, 2016. less Sketches of the East Area Rapist, also known as the Golden State Killer, sit on display during a news conference at the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department in Sacramento, California, on Wednesday, June 15, ... more Photo: Connor Radnovich / The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Connor Radnovich / The Chronicle Image 1 of / 43 Caption Close The terrifying 10 months when the East Area Rapist emerged in the Bay Area 1 / 43 Back to Gallery

When the rapes finally stopped in the Sacramento area in early 1978, locals breathed a sigh of relief. The East Area Rapist, after dozens of unsolved attacks, was finally gone.

But he’d only moved on, changing his stalking grounds to the quiet Bay Area suburbs.

The man also known as the Golden State Killer has spent 32 years in the shadows, after a crime spree that included 10 terrifying months haunting the Bay Area. A suspect in some of the California crimes is reportedly in Sacramento police custody. From Oct. 1978 until July 1979, Sacramento's East Area Rapists is thought to have moved west, targeted single women and couples in Concord, Walnut Creek, San Ramon, Danville, Fremont and San Jose.

The first attack took place in Concord on Oct. 7, 1978 after a three-month hiatus. Just a few days later, he struck again in Concord, near Ygnacio Valley Road.

The Golden State Killer broke into a young couple's home in the early hours of Oct. 13. He bound and gagged the husband and locked the couple's eight-year-old daughter in the bathroom, something he often did when children were in the home. He then raped the wife, and bound and gagged her, too, before leaving.

MORE: The sadistic Golden State Killer terrorized California 40 years ago. Here's what we know.

"Gun sales in Concord have really escalated as a result," Concord police chief Jim Chambers told the Chronicle on Oct. 19.

"We've had a bunch of little old ladies who called to ask an officer to come and show them how to load their guns," he added. "If some of these people don't shoot themselves in the foot, it will be a miracle."

The East Area Rapist attacked once more that month, targeting a couple in San Ramon, on Oct. 28. When the woman tried to call 911, she learned it didn't work in unincorporated San Ramon. She had to call the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office to get help.

He then moved onto San Jose, raping one woman in November and one in December.

The Golden State Killer’s attacks weren’t random; he spent days or weeks keeping the entire neighborhood under surveillance. In the weeks leading up to attacks, strange occurrences were often reported in the area: gates left open, windows found ajar, pictures moved around in homes. It’s thought the killer learned layouts of homes, bribed neighborhood dogs with treats and elaborately planned exit routes in advance of his crimes.

In the 1970s, many parts of the suburban East Bay were under construction, raising middle class subdivisions out of previously rural areas. Some investigators believed the Bay Area crime scenes’ proximity to I-680 indicated the Golden State Killer’s job might have regularly taken him down the corridor. Others think he chose sites near active construction, where the comings and goings of strange men wouldn’t be out of place.

On Dec. 9, the Golden State Killer emerged in Danville, where he raped a woman alone in her home. He went quiet again, disappearing until April 1979, when he attacked a couple in Fremont. His behavior spiked in June, when he raped two teen girls in Walnut Creek and one woman in Danville.

His final Bay Area crime was on July 5, 1979, when he broke into the home of a Danville couple. After that, the Golden State Killer moved onto Southern California and escalated to almost exclusively murders.

The suspect in custody at the Sacramento County Jail is reportedly former Auburn police officer Joseph James DeAngelo, 72. He was arrested by the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department and booked on two counts of murder, according to jail records. The Golden State Killer murdered a married couple, Charlene and Lyman Smith, in Ventura in 1980. Officers were expected to provide further details at a noon press conference on Wednesday.

According to an Aug. 29, 1979 newspaper article in the Auburn Journal, DeAngelo was dismissed from the police force after he was accused of shoplifting a can of dog repellant and a hammer from a Citrus Heights Pay N’ Save store.

The FBI is currently investigating the home of DeAngelo in Citrus Heights. Public records indicate he has lived in the home for at least two decades.