East Area Rapist
| The Original Night Stalker | |
|---|---|
This was one of the three sketches the FBI focused on when it reopened the case June 2016
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| Other names |
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| Height | Approximately 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) (from witness statements) |
| Weight | Approximately 170 lb (77 kg) (from witness statements) |
| Killings | |
| Victims | 12+ (murder victims) 50+ (rape victims) |
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Span of killings
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February 2, 1978 – May 4, 1986 |
| Country | United States |
| State(s) | California |
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Date apprehended
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Never |
The Original Night Stalker is a media epithet for an unidentified serial killer and rapist who committed 50 rapes in Northern California during the mid-1970s and murdered twelve people in Southern California from 1979 through 1986. Other monikers include the East Area Rapist, the Diamond Knot Killer, and since 2013, he has also been referred to as the Golden State Killer.
The crimes initially centered on the then unincorporated areas of Carmichael, Citrus Heights and Rancho Cordova, all east of Sacramento, where at least fifty women were raped between June 18, 1976 and July 5, 1979. In 2001, several of the Northern California rapes were linked by DNA to murders in Southern California. All of the DNA-linked assaults occurred in Contra Costa County but the distinctive modus operandi (MO) of the rapist makes it very likely the same man was also responsible for the attacks in the Sacramento area. His last crime and the only one after 1981 took place in 1986.
The Original Night Stalker has never been apprehended. Several suspects have been cleared through DNA, alibi, or other investigative means and methods. On June 15, 2016, the FBI and local law enforcement agencies held a news conference to announce a nationwide effort and a US$50,000 reward for his capture. They plan to erect electronic billboards nationwide and other forms of exposure for the push.
California law enforcement authorities estimate fifty rapes in the California counties of Sacramento, Contra Costa, Stanislaus, San Joaquin, Alameda, Santa Clara and Yolo were committed by the Original Night Stalker. DNA evidence conclusively links him to eight murders in Goleta, Ventura, Dana Point, and Irvine, California, with two other murders in Goleta linked by modus operandi but not DNA. Some investigators also suspect the same perpetrator in three other murders, two in Rancho Cordova and one in Visalia.
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Wikipedia