When the Golden State Killer Was Arrested Outside His Home, He Yelled Out ‘I Have a Roast in the Oven’

For more than 40 years, investigators searched for the man they believed was behind a terrifying wave of murders and S**** assaults that plagued California in the 1970s and 1980s.

That search ended in 2018, when authorities used genetic genealogy to identify Joseph DeAngelo as the notorious Golden State Killer. The then-72-year-old former police officer and mechanic—also known as the Visalia Ransacker, the East Bay Rapist, and the Original Night Stalker—had been living quietly in the Sacramento suburb of Citrus Heights.

A sheriff’s Fugitive Apprehension Team, nicknamed the “Body Snatchers,” was assigned to arrest DeAngelo, who was suspected of multiple murders and as many as 40 rapes. On April 24, 2018, the team surveilled his home as he unexpectedly stepped outside.

“He comes out of the house,” recalls Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho, author of The People vs. the Golden State Killer. Ho says it appeared DeAngelo was about to tend to his yard or open his garage—ordinary tasks that contrasted sharply with the crimes he was accused of committing.

As the team debated how best to approach him, their leader, Sgt. Steve Girdlestone, made a swift decision. According to Ho, Girdlestone exited his vehicle, walked up to DeAngelo, and took control of the situation without hesitation.

In his book, Ho describes how Girdlestone approached DeAngelo under the pretense of asking for directions. Before DeAngelo could respond, he was on the ground and under arrest.

Caught completely off guard, DeAngelo reportedly shouted, “I have a roast in the oven.” To investigators, it was clear he never expected to be caught and believed he had escaped justice.

Inside DeAngelo’s home, authorities found a space that was tidy and meticulously organized. Everything appeared to have its place. Among the details that stood out to investigators was his fondness for Dr. Pepper. Ho notes that during several East Area Rapist crime scenes, the attacker drank the same soft drink—and DeAngelo’s home was stocked with it.

In June 2020, DeAngelo pleaded guilty to 13 counts of first-degree murder and numerous other crimes, a decision that spared him the death penalty. Two months later, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Today, DeAngelo is housed in the Protective Housing Unit at a prison in central California. According to Ho, law enforcement officials have attempted to speak with him about potential additional crimes, but he has refused to cooperate.

“I think he’s responsible for more than what we’ve uncovered,” Ho says, pointing to unanswered questions about how many victims there may be and where other attacks could have occurred.

Ho highlights a particularly troubling three-year period in the late 1980s when DeAngelo lived in Southern California. During that time, his movements were unclear, and his methods appeared to escalate.

“He was evolving,” Ho explains. “He began killing witnesses instead of leaving them alive. He would bludgeon them to death and take the ligatures with him.”

Ho believes DeAngelo eventually stopped committing violent crimes due to age, physical decline, and the responsibilities of raising three daughters. But, he adds, the underlying behavior did not disappear.

“At 73, while in custody, that s**** depravity hadn’t ended,” Ho says. He recounts witnessing DeAngelo in his jail cell watching a young female worker delivering food and m*sturbating as he observed her.

Decades after his crimes began, the arrest of Joseph DeAngelo closed one of California’s most infamous cold cases—but it also left lingering questions about how much remains unknown.