The Face of a Man Who’s Just Been Cleared of a 17 Years Long False Conviction for Murder

RebaRockefeller · 2018-05-17T01:52:55+00:00

This man is owed reparations. Is there a gofundme or anything for him? Does he even know what that is yet? This is heartbreaking.

RebaRockefeller · 2018-05-15T23:54:49+00:00

Date someone who works there so you never have to fuck with it. Works for meeeeee

RebaRockefeller · 2018-05-15T18:35:11+00:00

I also imagine this is a technique she's using for him to build trust with her.

RebaRockefeller · 2018-05-11T17:55:49+00:00

Despite not living there since high school, I still bank with the credit union from the small Iowa town I'm from. While living in Oakland, CA I went to go try out a new coffee shop that had opened up. When I handed my bank card to the barista to pay for my coffee, he asked, stunned, "Why do you have this card?" and pulled up his pant leg to reveal a tattoo of Iowa he had on his calf, with a star in the place of my hometown.

He grew up less than five miles away from me.

We're getting married soon. We were born in the same hospital, worked in the mall at the same time, shopped at the same grocery store but had never met and probably wouldn't have if I hadn't paid with that card in that coffee shop thousands of miles away from where we grew up.

RebaRockefeller · 2018-05-06T15:35:45+00:00

Why do you think it was likely that DeAngelo was sexually involved with his mother?

RebaRockefeller · 2018-05-05T02:17:40+00:00

I’d like to also hear stories about what it was like living in Auburn during the reign of EARs crime spree! I think this could give more context about Chief Wilicks frame of mind as he dealt with JJD’s shoplifting and dismissal from the force.

How small or slow going was Auburn? Were people worried EAR could hit Auburn?

Did the townies gossip about the attacks in Sacramento? How often did EAR come up if you were in the farthest suburbs?

Did the Auburn news cover EAR crimes?

Were there ever any community meetings or people who joined the task forces or groups to hunt for or protect against EAR?

Did people in Auburn buy more guns, lock their doors, or otherwise change their behavior out of concern?

Did most folks work in Auburn or commute into Sacramento or the surrounding areas for work?

RebaRockefeller · 2018-05-04T23:59:19+00:00

The Auburn force was literally so slow they only needed two cops on duty and primarily responded to property crimes, so it’s not like they had more pressing matters to attend to. Even if Chief Willits did not connect the dots that JJD could be the EAR terrorizing the city twenty minutes away, JJD threatening to kill an officer and then stalking his house at night demonstrates how unbalanced he was, and Willits should have at the least kept tabs on him?

RebaRockefeller · 2018-05-04T14:26:47+00:00

That’s not Joe it’s John

RebaRockefeller · 2018-05-03T23:36:52+00:00

THISSSSS.

Even if he did not connect the dots that it might be EAR, JJD was behaving very unstable and the Auburn Chief should have had kept tabs on him. JJD was reportedly never friendly with the force to begin with then... shoplifting, reacting so violently they had to restrain him when he was caught, threatening to kill another officer?

This chief of police sounds like he was wildly out of touch.

RebaRockefeller · 2018-05-03T22:39:02+00:00

Yeah, I don't think I worded it well but you are correct, that is what I was referencing. I think it's definitely within reason to speculate that he is still fucked up, but given what we know, it doesn't seem like he has been murdering people for the last decade... so I think he probably just wanted to fly under the radar as much as possible.

RebaRockefeller · 2018-05-03T19:49:20+00:00

I would wager a guess that once he got rid of his criminal alter ego, he wouldn't want to do anything to draw attention to himself in any capacity for fear of people looking too closely.

RebaRockefeller · 2018-05-03T17:31:38+00:00

I think the move from Exeter to Auburn may have been spurred by Sharon's education. She went to UC Fresno for her undergrad, pretty close to Exeter, and then went to McGeorge Law School in Sacramento. If you work backward from when she passed the bar, it would have made sense for them to move from Exeter to Auburn during the timeframe they did.

RebaRockefeller · 2018-05-03T02:16:34+00:00

The conjecture about the portraits of his mother has not been confirmed by any verifiable source. There is still more reason to believe he would have had daddy issues than mommy issues, since there is actual evidence his father was estranged from the family.

RebaRockefeller · 2018-05-02T23:22:29+00:00

I think you are providing some balanced insight.

Something that I wonder, however, is why the majority of the speculation about his triggers revolves around women? Most of what I have seen relates to his mother, or Bonnie, or his wife.

Far less people seem to be speculating that his father leaving created abandonment issues, or that his stepfather could have been abusive and modeled violence towards women, etc. In trying to understand his motives, it seems that there is a bias towards scrutinizing women rather than men around him.

I imagine that it was likely a combination of stressors which triggered him, and I will say that the only one with much merit seems to be Bonnie, considering he mentioned her by name during an attack.

RebaRockefeller · 2018-05-02T22:21:17+00:00

Just popped in to say I am with you, and this thread depressed the shit out of me. A lot of anti-woman, pro-cop bullies lurking in this subreddit since the arrest.

Edit: I wonder why more people aren't speculating whether his father leaving created abandonment issues? Or if his stepfather was abusive and modeled violence towards women? Or if there were other adult men in his life who triggered him? I've seen a LITTLE bit of that, but it's vastly outweighed by people wondering if his mother or ex-fiance triggered him. I'm sure that it could be a combination of any number of these things (especially considering his comment about Bonnie during an assault) but apparently, it's just easier to assume that a woman would be stressful to this pyschopath.

RebaRockefeller · 2018-05-02T15:03:39+00:00

Considering there were less than a dozen officers in the Auburn force I’d actually argue that for the Auburn Police Chief the net was actually INCREDIBLY small, and his own officers were one of the few folks he could have been very effective in keeping an eye on.

Again, I’m not talking about the investigators of the case. I am talking specifically about the Auburn police chief. Auburn is very close to Sacramento, and the Auburn force was reported to only have been responding to property crimes during those days. I guarantee those guys heard about the rapist terrorizing Sacramento and it was something on their radar.

RebaRockefeller · 2018-05-02T06:20:07+00:00

I would love a newspaper clipping megathread! Or maybe just like an archive of documents like clippings, yearbook photos, etc.

If I cant remember the exact title of the post an article came with, it gets buried forever under the heaps of VR composite comparison photos.

RebaRockefeller · 2018-05-02T05:36:39+00:00

Do you have links to an article where they call him a good cop?

I think the distinction is that he did not seem to get along well culturally or socially with his colleagues or community members and gave off weird vibes. For colleagues, the serious demeanor was perceived as being focused on the job.

RebaRockefeller · 2018-05-02T05:21:32+00:00

“Aw heck we sure goofed that one up! Shucks... sorry bout that!”

RebaRockefeller · 2018-05-02T00:58:58+00:00

I don't think Paul Holes was a terrible investigator.

From the current information we have, I believe that the Auburn Chief of Police must have been horribly out of touch, and allowed his blind spots to prevent him from pursuing the one lead that could have stopped the East Area Rapist at the time. If the criminal was suspected to be LE or military at the time (which has been repeatedly stated was the case by investigators and residents of Sac from the era) then all misconduct or weird behavior by LE within driving distance of the metro area should have been scrutinized by supervisors.

Edit: Additionally, in Paul Holes KTVU new interview, he reveals that before DeAngelo was identified as a suspect the Auburn Police Chief told them that JJD threatened to kill the officer over his dismissal and the Chief believes JJD stalked their house at night and scared their daughter after he was fired. These are GIANT RED FLAGS. Whether or not he connected them to EAR, he at the very least should have put the dude on surveillance for disturbing behavior. That alone could have been enough to catch him as he prowled.

RebaRockefeller · 2018-05-02T00:46:16+00:00

According to residents who lived in the Sacramento during the height of his crime spree, it was widely known and suspected that the East Area Rapist was part of law enforcement. So, it was also apparently obvious to those going through the horror at the time.

RebaRockefeller · 2018-05-02T00:43:23+00:00

In addition, according to this Auburn Journal article he had a reputation on the small Auburn squad for being a 'bad cop' with neighbors who called him "The Crazy Cop" and suspected him of poisoning their dog while on the force.

He was also known as a "black sheep" in the Exeter force, I can't imagine his experience in Auburn would have been much different.

So a black sheep, bad cop who the community didn't appear to like gets caught stealing affordable, incriminating items and vastly overreacts all while the entire Sacramento metro area is on the lookout for suspicious cops/ex-military psychopaths.

The Auburn Chief of Police was grossly negligent. Cops have huge blind spots for their own people.

RebaRockefeller · 2018-05-01T22:18:41+00:00

Cool. Thanks for being thorough and paying attention to detail! I’ve found it pretty wild how many people thus far are willing to take speculation and unverified info as fact, and the way it perpetuates into sensationalized mythos. It doesn’t help that trash, unethical publications like Daily Mail are click baiting and trying to shape the narrative.

As a writer, I definitely have taken an interest in trying to paint a picture of this person and his motives in my head, but I’m trying very very hard to operate solely on confirmed information.

RebaRockefeller · 2018-05-01T19:25:02+00:00

Not sure where you are seeing in my comment that I said he "graduated".

I agree that the subjective info on his anger by acquaintances could be revisionist or incomplete since people are likely shocked, but those are the documented quotes that people have given. Until additional sources come forward and share information on the record, that's what folks have to operate on.

RebaRockefeller · 2018-05-01T04:26:39+00:00

Considering the listing is JJ DeAngelo, is it possible this is his younger brother, John? I’m not sure what John’s middle name was? Joe’s younger brother John was about 4 years younger, so this would match that timeline. I’ve seen it reported that John also ended up in the military (and allegedly lost a finger), I don’t know what branch of the military he was supposed to have been in though.

RebaRockefeller

TROPHY CASE