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Survivors And Relatives Of Golden State Killer Flip Him Off, Tell Him He ‘Can Go Straight To Hell’
Patti Cosper, daughter of rape survivor Patricia Murphy, flipped Joseph DeAngelo off as the victim impact statement portion of his sentencing began.
Victims and survivors faced the Golden State Killer in court on Tuesday, as part of a three-day victim impact statement hearing where they were granted the opportunity to speak their minds.
Patti Cosper, daughter of rape survivor Patricia Murphy, flipped Joseph James DeAngelo off at the Schaber Courthouse in Sacramento on Tuesday morning. She was one of the first people to make a statement in the days-long event which will ultimately lead to County Superior Court Judge Michael Bowman handing down a sentence to DeAngelo on Friday.
DeAngelo admitted responsibility in June for harming 87 victims at 53 separate crime scenes spanning 11 California counties in a plea deal that spares him the death penalty. DeAngelo's crimes were attributed to several shadowy figures — the Golden State Killer, the East Area Rapist, Original Night Stalker, and the Visalia Ransacker — over the past few decades as his crimes escalated from break-ins to a series of rapes to a murder spree. Now, his numerous victims — or loved ones speaking on their behalves — get their chance to speak, and they haven't been holding back.
While giving the serial killer the finger, Cosper exclaimed, “Joseph DeAngelo and his mother can go straight to hell.”
She also claimed that “he’s not feeble,” in a nod to rumors that DeAngelo has been faking poor health. On Monday, a judge denied prosecutors’ request to play jailhouse recordings during Friday’s sentencing; prosecutors say the footage portrays him moving about his cell easily, even athletically, the Sacramento Bee reports, in contrast to the feeble and confused appearance he's maintained in court for the past two years.
Murphy has long been referred to as “Jane Doe 1” after DeAngelo attacked her in 1976. In Murphy’s own statement, read aloud by her daughter, she called DeAngelo "an evil monster with no soul."
She questioned, "Did his little penis drive him to be so angry all the time?”
Sixteen of his Sacramento County rape victims confronted him Tuesday. A similar number of people planned to tell Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Michael Bowman on Wednesday and Thursday how DeAngelo’s crimes changed their lives.
Pete Schultz, who was tied up as a child while his mother was raped, called DeAngelo a “sick monster” as the killer sat in an orange jail jumpsuit staring straight ahead. DeAngelo remained stoic during Tuesday's event; his only hint at possible emotion would be an occasional blink.
Karen Veilleux, sister of 1976 rape victim Phyllis Henneman, stated, “It is inconsolable that such a creature exists in this world. May he rot in hell.”
For rape survivor Jane Carson-Sandler, certain triggers can still bring flashbacks to that night in 1976 when DeAngelo confronted her with a butcher knife as she snuggled in bed with her 3-year-old son after her husband left for work at a nearby military base.
“This has been on my mind for 44 years. That’s a long time,” Carson-Sandler said before giving her testimony.
“I hope that he’ll be listening, but we know that during the hearing when he pleaded guilty, he never lifted his head,” she added.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
