‘I'll Be Gone In The Dark’ Finale: Golden State Killer's niece calls him ‘loving, nice and dad she wished for’
The hunt for the Golden State Killer lasted over 30 years. When 72-year-old Joseph James DeAngelo was charged with eight counts of first-degree murder, based upon DNA evidence, it not only shocked the entire nation but left a huge hole in his close ones' hearts. The last episode ‘Walk into the Light’ of HBO's ‘I'll Be Gone In The Dark’ brings first-hand accounts of his nephew Wes Ryland and niece Liza Cortiz and it will give you sleepless nights.
"This is Uncle Joe," Wes Ryland holds a photograph in his hand. "This is at his house in Citrus Heights," he says and shows a string of other cheerful photographs. Recalling his mother's words at her deathbed, Ryland says, "'My mom, as she's dying, she says: 'This family is so full of secrets. Everyone has a secret.'" In a photograph, he points to the three siblings — Becky, Joe and Constance. "Constance is my mother," he says. In the documentary, Liza, however, sheds light on how Joe was loving and tells about her experiences with him.
'My brother Joe got the worst of all of us'
"She told me stories of when they would be eating peas from the kitchen floor. They would always be hungry. She said they would be locked up in a closet. Their father would lock them up and line them up to punish all of them. Guess who got the worst of the beatings? It was Uncle Joe. She said my brother Joe got the worst of all of us, said Liza.
'I saw a man in a ski mask and he was staring at me'
He then remembered a horrific incident where he might have actually seen his uncle in the form of East Area Rapist or the Original Night Stalker. "In 1975, we lived in Rancho Cordova. One night, I was sleeping, and I had to turn over. And I remember opening my eyes and I saw a man, or some man, in a ski mask and he was staring at me," Wes recalls. "I always wondered all these years, who was that talking to me through his teeth? Who said, 'don't turn around, go back to sleep?' I never discussed it with anybody."
'Someone who we knew all of our lives was like this and we had no clue'
"I discussed it with my wife later and told her, I wonder if he used our house as a safe haven. And I felt very very bad for these victims and for their families. And all these people that were murdered by him and their families. One day, when you wake up and find out you are on this side of the spectrum where your family member is the one who did all these heinous crimes. Can you imagine what we feel as well? To think that someone who we knew all of our lives was like this and we had no clue," said Wes.
'He watched her getting raped'
Wes then goes on to recite an incident that perhaps sparked off the monster he became in his later years. "My mother was... She was raped. In Germany. When she was seven years old. By two military officers or men in an airplane hanger. Guess who was watching? Uncle Joe. He watched her getting raped. The very thing that happened to my mother is the very thing that he did to other women. I don't understand that. How sickening is that? It is just sickening."
'Joe was loving and nice and the dad I always wished I had'
Liza has a different story to tell. "I still - till today - have a hard time believing he did it. I mean Joe was like an amazing person. He was loving and nice and just the dad that I always wished for. When I was 13, I had two boys break-in to my house through my bathroom window and they put my sister in a closet and put a knife to my neck and attacked me. Between that and the abuse of my dad, I tried to heal myself and that's pretty much how I ended up going to Uncle Joe."
'He didn't kill from '82 to '86'
She also reads out a letter she penned down to him. "Joe, I cannot believe what I'm hearing and seeing. You taught me to drive and shoot my gun. Some of my good memories are of you. You were a good dad. That is one thing I know to be true. I hope you did care about me because my heart is forever broken." She then goes on to say, "I was told by detectives that he didn't kill from '82 to '86. During that period, I lived with him, and then I got married in '86 and moved away."
The documentary is a hard-hitting tale of the truths from Joseph James DeAngelo's life. It is hard to believe that a normal person — who led a life like everyone else — could have committed such heinous crimes and that is what HBO's ‘I'll Be Gone In The Dark’ uncovers. As the series ends, it leaves you with a lump in your throat and Michelle McNamara's words: "I think he is a middle-class guy who has a respectable job and you would be shocked to find out this was him."
DeAngelo could not be charged with the 1970s rapes but he was charged in August 2018 with 13 related kidnapping attempts. On June 29, 2020, DeAngelo pleaded guilty to multiple counts of murder and kidnapping and admitted to numerous rapes he had not been formally charged with.
