Visalia Ransacker suspect was a 'black sheep,' described as a loner in Exeter

Joseph DeAngelo was the only Exeter cop without a nickname.

He was “too smart” and should have gone from the Navy to the FBI, according to an officer who worked with DeAngelo during his three-year stint with Exeter Police Department, starting in 1973.

Farrel Ward, now 75, said DeAngelo was the “black sheep” of the department — he just didn’t fit in.

DeAngelo, 72, has been identified by authorities as the Visalia Ransacker, Original Night Stalker, East Side Rapist and Golden State Killer. Prosecutors say he committed a dozen homicides, multiple rapes and hundreds of burglaries. Many investigators who have worked closely on the cases to link DeAngelo to crimes across the state believe he started his life of crime in Visalia.

There’s also wide speculation that the Exeter detective investigated his own crimes, Ward said. In some cases, he may have even left the scene and returned in uniform to lend a hand.

“As far as I know, it’s the largest serial murder and rape case in California history,” said Russ Whitmeyer in 2011. Whitmeyer was a private detective who investigated the cases from 1981 until his death in 2017.

“Visalia is key. The string starts here.”

Overqualified

Ward started with Exeter police in 1972. He said it was a small “family” department of no more than seven officers. In 1973, 27-year-old DeAngelo was hired as the eighth.

Adding DeAngelo to the department gave Ward a chance to grow.

Ward became the only officer with a police dog and eventually led a team of five officers in search of the Visalia Ransacker ­­— a name synonymous with fear.

The man wore a ski mask, hovered over women and girls at night as they slept, stole food items from homes and is linked to rapes across Visalia from 1974-1976.

“I didn’t know I was searching for the man standing in the same room with me,” Ward said. “There was no indication. No one thought he would have done something like this.”

But DeAngelo wasn’t like everyone else on the force, said Ward, who still lives in Exeter.

Ward said he wanted a playful environment at work. He called the small group of officers “kids” and said DeAngelo was the adult in the room. Ward said everyone assumed DeAngelo was using Exeter as a stepping stone to the FBI.

It would have been a natural step. DeAngelo was a decorated Vietnam War veteran who came home to work in law enforcement.

“I used to joke around. It helped relieve the stress of the job. Joseph wanted no part of it. He was serious, he should have been the chief,” Ward said. “I told him he was overqualified. We all knew he wasn’t going to be here long.”

Ward called DeAngelo a “black sheep” who outsmarted police for 40 years.

“You have to be smart to do something like that. He almost outlasted police,” Ward said. “But the long arm of the law never stops. They don’t give up.”

Missed chance

Investigators believe DeAngelo left a trail of devastation from Orange County to as far north as Sacramento. His last known attack was in Irvine in 1986.

In the ensuing decades, victims’ distraught families have often asked if he could have been stopped sooner.

So has Ward. He’s racked his brain thinking back to the Visalia case. What, if anything, did they miss?

Brett McGowen has done the same.

The former Porterville detective is the son of Bill McGowen, the Visalia officer who came face-to-face with the Ransacker.

Bill McGowen was injured in December 1975 after a stakeout to capture the Ransacker.

Ward said he remembers that night vividly. The Ransacker, now alleged to be DeAngelo, fired on Bill McGowen.

Among officers, McGowen’s flashlight became a legend. It stopped the bullet, but also raised questions.

Was the shooter smart enough to fire at the flashlight, not the larger target, the officer?

The flashlight and batteries shattered and cut McGowen.

“My dad always used to say the Visalia Ransacker was in the military or a cop,” Brett McGowen said.

“Turns out he was both,” Ward said.

Brett McGowen said the case haunted his father.

Bill McGowen was on a team of detectives from multi-agencies following the Visalia Ransacker. He thought unconventionally, taking the Ransacker’s patterns into account, and asked residents near College of the Sequoias to notify him if they noticed fresh shoe prints in the morning.

The Ransacker wore a size 9.

The residents were on high alert after the death of COS journalism professor Claude Snelling in September 1975. He was shot twice protecting his daughter from being kidnapped.

Bill McGowen believed the Ransacker cased victims before attacking. He was right.

On December 11, 1975, McGowen yelled for the Ransacker to stop after staked-out officers jumped from the bushes.

Bill McGowen came inches from the Ransacker’s face before the shot. The Ransacker fled but may have stayed close.

Ward and his team of officers came from Exeter to investigate.

Ward said it’s possible DeAngelo helped with the search for Snelling’s killer and the elusive burglar but he doesn’t recall DeAngelo directly investigating Bill McGowen’s shooting.

Ward said Visalia called outside agencies to help try and solve this case. Looking back, it may have been what doomed the investigation, tipping DeAngelo off.

“How could you just go out and kill somebody and go back and go to work?” Ward said.

“I don’t understand.”

Brett McGowen also believes the killer stayed close, but after being confronted by Visalia police in December, he left Tulare County in January 1976.

That year, he is believed to have committed 10 rapes in the Sacramento area. If prosecutors are right, the man who had been an Exeter police officer soon became known as the East Side Rapist and would terrorize the state for another decade.