The sordid tale of the "Golden State Killer" just got weirder. Today, NBC News reported from California that Joseph James DeAngelo, the 72-year-old man currently charged with the "Golden State Killer" crimes, may have gone on his decade-long rape and killing spree because of a bad break-up. The origins of this theory date all the way back to the late 1970s, when a woman who survived the serial killer told police in Davis, California that she heard her assailant weeping for a woman.
According to this eyewitness, the "Golden State Killer" cried after assaulting her and repeatedly said, "I hate you, Bonnie." It is now believed that DeAngelo may have had a pathological hatred of women thanks to some former lover named Bonnie.
"We always thought that our offender had a Bonnie that was significant in his life, either a mother, a wife, an ex-wife, a girlfriend," said former police investigator Paul Holes.
Now that police officials are confident that DeAngelo is their man, they have discovered further evidence of his connection to "Bonnie." Specifically, while looking for clues about DeAngelo's life in the 1960s, investigators came across a newspaper article detailing DeAngelo's engagement to a woman named Bonnie Colwell. It seems significant that DeAngelo and Colwell never married.
Evidence of anger
According to KCRA3 in California, Bonnie Colwell is still alive and is planning on talking to investigators in Sacramento.
Furthermore, the news outlet has confirmed that it was Bonnie, then just 24, who called off the marriage. Given that officials attached to the "Golden State Killer" case have claimed that DeAngelo is not mentally ill, it is very possible that his Crime Spree was done out of anger and revenge.
Between June 18, 1976 and May 4, 1986, DeAngelo is believed to have raped over fifty women and murdered at least twelve victims, many of whom were romantic couples.
His first known killing occurred on February 2, 1978, when he shot and killed Air Force sergeant Brian Maggiore and his wife Katie. Unlike his other crimes, DeAngelo, it seems, did not plan on killing the Maggiore couple. Rather, he shot them both after they likely saw him leaving the home of one of his rape victims.
Beginning in 1979 with the murder of Dr.
Robert Offerman and his girlfriend Dr. Debra Alexandra Manning, the man formerly known only as the "East Area Rapist" began using guns and blunt objects to kill sleeping couples inside of their homes. This new frenzy did not end until the murder of Janelle Cruz in Irvine, California on May 4, 1986.
Other possibilities
The idea that the "Golden State Killer" began his crime spree after a botched relationship is not as far-fetched as it might sound. Another serial killer, Ted Bundy, is widely believed to have started his murder spree after a break-up with a college sweetheart named Stephanie Brooks (a pseudonym). Tellingly, almost all of Bundy's later victims had long, straight, and dark hair -- characteristics that also defined Brooks.
Other possible reasons for the "Golden State Killer" and his crime spree were actually put forward by the killer himself. A poem entitled "Excitement's Crave" was sent by the killer to the Sacramento Bee on December 11, 1977. The poem named another serial killer, Son of Sam, and famous Old West outlaw Jessie James. The poem seems to indicate a desire for notoriety.
Also, on December 9, 1978, police investigators found an essay likely written by the killer not far from one of his crime scenes. The note detailed the killer's hatred for a 6th grade teacher who regularly humiliated him.
