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Exclusive Photos Give A Glimpse Into Golden State Killer Suspect Joseph DeAngelo’s Life
Coworkers knew Joseph DeAngelo as a loving grandfather who adored fishing.
Richard Mangang met Joseph DeAngelo in 2007 at a Save Mart distribution center in Roseville, California. Mangang is a driver for the grocery store, and DeAngelo worked as a mechanic until his retirement in 2017.
They bonded over their love of fishing, and developed a friendship, fishing together at least once a week.
“If you fish you have one thing in common,” Mangang said. “I showed him how to fish with live bait, he showed me how to fish with lures.”
Authorities believe that DeAngelo is behind more than 50 rapes and 12 murders in California during the 1970s and 1980s — a spree of crimes attributed to names like the Golden State Killer and The East Area Rapist. DeAngelo awaits trial for the murder, and has not been charged with any of the rapes.
Mangang and other coworkers say it’s been difficult to believe that the man they worked alongside for many years, and call a devoted father and grandfather, could be tied to such crimes.
“Joe was the type of person where if you needed help, he was there for you,” Mangang told Stephanie Gosk, the host of the upcoming Oxygen special “Golden State Killer: Main Suspect.”
Bill Helms also worked with DeAngelo at the Save Mart.
“If he did this, there was two Joes,” Helms told Gosk. “There was Joseph DeAngelo and Joe DeAngelo. And the Joe that we knew in the shop, none of us think that he could have ever done anything like that.”
Paul Holes, who was an investigator on the case, monitored DeAngelo before his arrest.
“I think with those conflicting aspects of his personality, in part, I believe he has that ability to compartmentalize,” Holes told Gosk.
Holes tied DNA to DeAngelo with “genetic genealogy” — by submitting DNA from crime scenes to a genealogy website and then coming up with several family trees to find relatives to a help find a suspect. Detective work then led investigators to DeAngelo.
After DeAngelo’s arrest, his wife and children have declined media interviews. Mangang, however, told Gosk he has spoken with his daughters.
“We are all on the same page hoping it’s not him. Praying it’s not him,” Mangang said. “I mean, I don’t know all the evidence against him but you know DNA has been wrong before.”
To learn more about the two sides of Joseph DeAngelo, tune into “Golden State Killer: Main Suspect” which airs Saturday, Aug. 4 at 7pm ET/PT on Oxygen.
[Photos: Oxygen via Richard Mangang]
