California

Search for Elusive Golden State Killer Renewed With $50,000 Reward

A $50,000 reward was being offered in the elusive “Golden State Killer” case. Conan Nolan reports for the NBC4 News at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, June 15, 2016.

Authorities announced a $50,000 reward Wednesday as they renewed their search for an elusive serial killer they say committed at least 12 homicides, 45 rapes and dozens of burglaries across California in the 1970s and 1980s.

The case has grown cold for the killer known by at least four nicknames over the decades.

He was dubbed the East Area Rapist after his start in Northern California. The Original Night Stalker after a series of Southern California slayings. The Diamond Knot Killer for using the elaborate knot to bind two of his victims. And most recently the Golden State Killer.

FBI
Between 1976 and 1986, the violent and elusive individual known as the East Area Rapist and later as the Original Night Stalker and the Golden State Killer, committed 12 homicides, 45 rapes, and more than 120 residential in multiple California communities, the FBI says. He often wore ski masks like the ones shown here in evidence at the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department.
FBI
The FBI has released these three sketches in their search for the Golden State Killer/East Area Rapist they say committed at least 12 homicides, 45 rapes and dozens of burglaries across California in the 1970s and 1980s.
FBI
FBI Special Agent Marcus Knutson and Sacramento County Sheriff's Department Deputy Paige Kneeland search for evidence in the East Area Rapist case in the sheriff's department evidence room. A renewed effort to apprehend the subject has been announced, along with a $50,000 reward on Wednesday, June 15, 2016.
FBI
Burglaries and rapes began occurring in middle-class neighborhoods in the eastern district of Sacramento County - hence the name East Area Rapist - in the summer of 1976. The levee behind this fence led to area of thick brush and the American River, which the subject often used to make his escape, the FBI says.
FBI
This Sacramento neighborhood was the scene of multiple burglaries, sexual assaults and a double homicide committed by the East Area Rapist, the FBI says.
FBI
Brian Maggiore and his wife, Katie, were on an evening walk with their dog in their Rancho Cordova neighborhood on Feb. 2, 1978, when they were chased down and murdered by the East Area Rapist, the FBI says.
FBI
On Feb. 2, 1978, Brian Maggiore and his wife, Katie, were on an evening walk with their dog in their Rancho Cordova neighborhood when they were chased down and murdered by the East Area Rapist, the FBI says. Volumes of reports about the murder investigation are contained in the evidence room at the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department.
FBI
Evidence found at the site of Brian and Katie Maggiore's murder. The shoelace was tied in a double-loop, which could be used like handcuffs or restraints, like those used by the East Area Rapist, the FBI says. "This kind of threw a whole different light on this rape series," said Ray Biondi, a Sacramento County Sheriff's Department detective who investigated the murder. "We have the rape series, do we also have now a violent criminal who is killing people?
FBI
Ray Biondi, a retired Sacramento County Sheriff's Department detective who investigated the murder of Brian Maggiore and his wife, Katie, which was linked to the Bay Area Rapist. "It's mind boggling that he committed so many crimes without a slip up," the veteran detective said. Biondi still believes that the rapist can be brought to justice.
Among the evidence collected in the cold case are fingerprints lifted from the crime scene, shoe treads and DNA, the FBI says. Although there were no tests for DNA matching at the time of the crimes, investigators can now use that technology to rule out suspects and to verify the killer's identity.
FBI
The East Area Rapist took items from his crime scenes - coins and jewelry in particular, the FBI says. Shown is a sketch and details of a ring he took from one of his many victims.
FBI
Evidence at the scene of one of the East Area Rapist's attack
FBI
Sacramento County Sheriff's Department Deputy Paige Kneeland sorts through reams of evidence in the East Area Rapist case.

He's linked through DNA and other evidence to more than 175 crimes between 1976 and 1986, officials said.

Aside from the reward for his arrest and conviction, the FBI also has a new website with maps locating the murders and rapes, sketches created by three witnesses, video interviews with investigators and audio interviews with two survivors. It also made him the number one option on its major crimes tip line, 800-CALL-FBI.

The FBI is launching a nationwide social media campaign and releasing an online mini-documentary and podcast at fbi.gov/sacramento.

FBI
The FBI has released these three sketches in their search for the Golden State Killer/East Area Rapist they say committed at least 12 homicides, 45 rapes and dozens of burglaries across California in the 1970s and 1980s.

It's the latest of numerous attempts to identify the man who started in 1976 and 1977 by terrorizing suburban bedroom communities east of Sacramento and as far south as Stockton and Modesto in the Central Valley.

The masked rapist, armed with a gun, would break into homes while single women or couples were sleeping. He would tie up the man and pile dishes on his back. He would then rape the woman while threatening to kill them if the dishes tumbled.

Investigators believe the rapes, and dozens of burglaries often used to case neighborhoods, escalated in 1978 when he fatally shot U.S. Air Force Sgt. Brian Maggiore and his wife Katie as they walked their dog.

FBI
Katie Maggiore and her husband, Brian, were on an evening walk with their dog in their Rancho Cordova neighborhood on Feb. 2, 1978, when they were chased down and murdered by the East Area Rapist, the FBI says.

They believe he soon moved on to commit several rapes in the San Francisco Bay Area before heading to Southern California.

It wasn't until 2001 that new DNA testing linked him to at least six Southern California homicides between 1979 and 1986. In each case, the killer broke into a house at night and raped the female victim first.

Investigators believe he also committed another four unsolved Southern California homicides because of similarities in evidence or his methods.

The Southern California killer had been called the Original Night Stalker, to distinguish him from the Night Stalker, Richard Ramirez, who died of cancer in 2013 before he could be executed for committing 13 mutilation murders in 1984 and 1985.

The elaborate diamond knot was used to tie up a Ventura couple before they were beaten to death with a fireplace log in 1980. That killer was later also discovered to be the same man that authorities in recent years have taken to calling the Golden State Killer to reflect his crimes across California.

FBI
Click the image to see a larger map of the Golden State Killer's crime spree.

The unsolved crimes prompted lawmakers to consider changing state law in 2002 to let jailers use force to take DNA samples from inmates. Investigators wanted to take a sample from Paul "Cornfed" Schneider to see if he was the Original Night Stalker.

Schneider gained notoriety that year as the adopted son of two San Francisco attorneys convicted in a high-profile dog-mauling case who were raising Schneider's dogs while he was in custody. But there was no DNA match between Schneider and the Southern California slayings.

The crimes also helped spur a 2004 ballot initiative expanding California's law requiring felons to provide DNA samples for a state database.

If he's still alive, the killer would likely be in his 60s. He was described at the time as white, between 5 foot-8 inches and 5 foot-11 inches tall and weighing 150 to 175 pounds — a description so broad that it hasn't helped solve the crimes.

Investigators describe the Golden State Killer’s reign of terror in this video posted by the FBI.
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