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Accused Golden State Killer faces new murder charge

Authorities now believe the Golden State Killer and the Visalia Ransacker are the same person.

VISALIA, Calif. — The man whom investigators believe is the Golden State Killer was charged with first-degree murder Monday in what is thought to be the first death in a string of slayings that stretched over a decade across California.

Joseph DeAngelo, 72, of the Sacramento suburb of Citrus Heights is accused of killing a College of the Sequoia professor, Claude Snelling, who was shot Sept. 11, 1975, as he thwarted the kidnapping of his 16-year-old daughter.

That murder was attributed to a man originally dubbed the Visalia Ransacker, who also has been linked to more than 85 burglaries in Tulare County, California, where Visalia is the county seat.

Authorities now say that the Golden State Killer and the Visalia Ransacker are the same person.

"With this filing, we have officially linked the Visalia Ransacker to an individual known as the East Area Rapist and, tragically, the Golden State Killer," said Tim Ward, Tulare County district attorney.

Snelling’s family was contacted following DeAngelo's arrest earlier this year, Visalia Police Chief Jason Salazar said.

"Those wounds never heal, the community was never given justice," Ward said.

Detectives have said that DeAngelo's criminal behavior escalated in the Central Valley while he was an officer with Exeter Police Department, just a few miles east of Visalia.

DeAngelo was arrested in April after investigators used familial DNA to connect him to several crimes. DeAngelo is accused of killing 12 people and raping another 45 victims between 1975 to 1986.

Following DeAngelo's arrest, Visalia detectives said they hadn't closed the Snelling case and were waiting on DNA and evidence collected at DeAngelo's home to determine a link. Since DeAngelo's arrest, law enforcement agencies across the state have begun connecting DeAngelo is several cold cases.

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