Golden State Killer is expected to plead guilty. Is he responsible for this unsolved crime?
In a stern and grim tone, John Vaughan has some questions for Joseph James DeAngelo, the man known as the Golden State Killer, who is expected to plead guilty at the end of the month to a string of murders in California.
“Did you kill Jennifer Armour and Donna Richmond?” Vaughan relayed the question to The Bee in a phone call a day after news that DeAngelo has agreed to plead guilty to 88 criminal charges, including murder and rape.
The Sacramento Bee first reported the plea agreement.
Vaughan was a detective sergeant in charge of investigating a rash of burglaries and the killing of Claude Snelling, a College of the Sequoias journalism professor, in the 1970s by a suspect later dubbed the “Visalia Ransacker.”
Prosecutors tied the decades-old crimes on DeAngelo after he was caught in 2018, thanks to DNA tracing.
Vaughan was retired when Tulare County prosecutors named DeAngelo as a suspect two years ago, but he had worked the case for eight years. He said he never found a clue it could be DeAngelo.
But even as some relief sets in, Vaughan said he now is left to wonder whether DeAngelo was responsible for area crimes that included the deaths of teenage girls Jennifer Armour and Donna Richmond in 1974 and ‘75, respectively.
“I’d love to talk to the guy,” Vaughan said. “I would really listen to him. I have a lot of questions I’d like to ask him.”
Plea deal
In court, DeAngelo currently faces 26 counts in Sacramento Superior Court, including 13 murder counts, with one tied to Tulare County.
A new expected plea deal which would help DeAngelo avoid the death penalty requires him to admit responsibility for another 62 crimes attributed over the years to assailants variously known in California as the Visalia Ransacker, Original Nightstalker and Diamond Knot Killer, The Sacramento Bee reported.
The court hearing’s location is not yet determined, and it’s expected to be a large setting to space out the attending guests due to COVID-19.
The families of victims have been in close contact with the six district attorneys involved in the prosecution. The families will get their chance to speak before the sentencing, according to prosecutors.
Unsolved Valley crime
The death of Richmond, whose body was found in an orange grove near Exeter, was pinned on Oscar Clifton. He died in prison, and some believe Clifton was wrongfully convicted and that DeAngelo was the real killer.
Armour, 15, was found dead in the Friant-Kern Canal, east of Visalia. Her death has remained unsolved.
Armour’s brother, Robert Armour, believes DeAngelo killed his sister.
“I just really wish that part of the plea deal was for him to confess to everything he’s done,” the Visalia resident said. “I really believe my sister was his first victim.”
Armour said he feels his sister’s case has been forgotten and wants to see prosecutors take a more in-depth look. He said he hasn’t been contacted in a few years about the investigation.
Armour said he isn’t sure he will attend DeAngelo’s hearing later this month. But as families find closure with DeAngelo’s prosecution, he still hasn’t seen much peace 46 years after his sister’s death.
“Until he says, ‘Yeah, I did it,’ you really don’t get closure.”
This story was originally published June 17, 2020 at 11:33 AM.
