DA Joyce Dudley offers words of comfort to relatives of Golden State Killer victims

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Santa Barbara County District Attorney Joyce Dudley and Ventura County District Attorney Greg Totten and their prosecuting teams were among dozens who witnessed a stunning moment Friday morning, first-hand, during the sentencing of Golden State Killer, Joseph DeAngelo.

The 74-year-old former police officer rose from his wheelchair, removed his mask and spoke to the courtroom audience.

"I've listened all your statements, each one of them. And I'm truly sorry to everyone I've hurt."

The defendant's mea culpa followed three days of emotional impact statements from rape survivors and relatives of his murder victims, including those of the six people he brutalized and killed in homes in Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties.

Four of those killed were couples from the Goleta area; the two women had been raped.

Dr. Robert Offerman and his girlfriend Alexandria Manning were found dead by gunshots in Offerman’s condo on Avenida Pequena. That was December 30, 1979. 

Three months earlier, a couple less than one mile away on Queen Ann Lane were tied up but were not killed.

Investigators have said that before 1978, crimes believed to be committed by DeAngelo were rapes and burglaries. After that, homicides were starting to take place.

In July of 1981, Greg Sanchez and Cheri Domingo were brutally murdered while housesitting for her aunt on Toltec Way, just minutes from Avenida Pequena. DNA taken in by detectives at the crime scene matched the DNA investigators in Northern California said belonged to the same suspect. 

But it was DNA from the 1980 murders of Lyman and Charlene Smith in their High Point Drive home in Ventura that led to DeAngelo's arrest in 2018 after the suspect’s relative submitted a commercial genetic test.

"The walls were splattered with blood and gray matter," said Jennifer Carole, Lyman's daughter, reading from her impact statement.

Jennifer was a teenager when her father and new step-mother were brutally murdered. During Thursday's courtroom statement she revealed that investigators considered her a suspect for a short time.

"I didn't realize it then, but our lives would change forever," Jennifer continued. "Sorry we've all said that. It sounds like this throw away statement. The problem with changing forever is you don't know what the change is going to mean. You don't know what you lost."

It took investigators and prosecution teams from five counties more than four decades to achieve justice.

"Today the devil loses and justice wins," Debbie Domingo McMullan said during her impact statement.

Debbie was 15-years-old when her mother, Cheri, was killed along with Greg, her longtime boyfriend. McMullan was away that night at a sleepover with a friend.

"I sincerely hope that Greg hurt you bad that night and brought you some well-deserved pain and fear enough for you to have least stopped for the next five years," said Brian Sanchez, as he read his statement aloud Thursday.

Brian was Greg's nephew.

"To say our family is in grief is an understatement. Calling this true justice is probably an overstatement. Injecting disinfectant into this virus (defendant) it's probably not a bad idea."

The presiding judge handed down 12 consecutive life sentences for DeAngelo's 13-year-long heinous and deadly crime spree: 13 murders and 13 kidnappings. DeAngelo also publicly admitted dozens more sexual assaults for which the statute of limitations had expired. Prosecutors called the scale of the violence “simply staggering,” encompassing 87 victims at 53 crime scenes spanning 11 California counties.

"If I had my way he would be shivering, blindfolded naked and exposed, every moment from now on," Debbie continued. "I'll settle for caged, shackled, humiliated. Oh, and nervous as hell. Because everyone around him in prison will know exactly who he is and what deplorable things he has done today."

Debbie hugged Dudley at the mic when she was done.

On Friday, Dudley was among the district attorneys who spoke before Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael Bowman. She delivered a heart-felt speech reflecting on the first sexual assault case she prosecuted 25-years-ago and the deep impact and trauma one defendant can inflict. And, the angst for survivors and relatives who have so many unanswered questions spinning around in their heads, simply "not knowing" all of the details of the crime and why DeAngelo targeted their loved one. She said it is something that both Debbie and Brian and other relatives often mention.

Dudley gently and humbly urged those impacted by this loss to hold tight to what they do know, that "you loved them and they loved you!"

"Now that this case is over, perhaps what you now need to concentrate on are the details of that love. Focus on the things that made them lovable and allow yourself to let those memories make you smile. Because knowing that you loved and were loved is truly the most powerful knowledge of all."