Tag Archives: sacramento crime

Sacramento Serial Killers — A Look at the Most Notorious and the Search for Answers

Over the past few months, I’ve shared the stories and investigative details behind some of the Sacramento region’s most notorious serial killers. This Northern California community has suffered more than its share of violence inflicted by a specific type of killer–one with a taste for the crime. According to the Radford University – Serial Killer […]

All in the Family

Murder is all around us. Sacramento’s long list of serial killers have reached out and claimed victims from all walks of life, some random, a few by means of opportunity, and others who were close at hand. It’s particularly troubling when this latter group–victims known to their assailants are family members. Sacramento has more than […]

A Killer Couple

Sacramento’s history of prolific serial killers roaming our streets is bad enough, with the likes of Puente, Kibbe (the I-5 Strangler), Solomon, Corona, DeAngelo (the alleged Golden State Killer), Chase (the Vampire of Sacramento), and Leonard (the Thrill Killer), but when they team up, it makes for an exceptionally deadly outcome. A husband and wife […]

Sacramento’s Thrill Killer — Eric Royce Leonard

Determining what drives people to kill has captured the minds and imagination of sociologists, criminal justice professionals and scholars since Cain took the jaw bone of an ass to his brother. Murder, the of taking an innocent life, is the most extreme act known to human kind. What drives someone to that irrevocable decision? Greed, […]

The Vampire of Sacramento — Richard Trenton Chase

It somehow seems appropriate to talk about a character named the Vampire of Sacramento as we approach Halloween. This vampire didn’t go from home to home looking for full-sized Snickers or KitKat bars. The Vampire of Sacramento went from door to door in search of victims… Richard Trenton Chase is an example of the failings […]

Sacramento’s Other Forgotten Killer

Sacramento has proven to be a magnet for serial killers over the years. From Juan Corona, to Dorothea Puente, and The I-5 Strangler in between, the Golden State’s capitol city attracts more than it’s share of serial killers. As we’ve seen, there have been times when the work of one killer gets overlooked because of […]

Serial Killer Profiles – the I-5 Strangler

Northern California killers have popped up in the headlines again with the announcement of new murder charges filed against Joseph Deangelo, Jr., the Golden State Killer and East Area Rapist. Sacramento District Attorney Ann-Marie Schubert also revealed this week that all of the murders attributed to DeAngelo will be prosecuted in Sacramento. The trial will […]

Arrest of the Golden State Killer/East Area Rapist Brings Sacramento Serial Killers Back in Focus

The morning of April 25, 2018 marked the end of a decades long search for one of California’s  most prolific and violent serial criminals. Joseph James DeAngelo, Jr. was arrested at his home in the Sacramento suburb of Citrus Heights. DeAngelo’s alleged crimes earned the title of the The East Area Rapist, The Original Night […]

Writing Sacramento Crime

Sacramento Crime Sacramento as a setting for crime fiction? The sleepy state capitol town doesn’t get a great deal of attention from the hardcore crime community. Crime fiction relies on–well, crime. Naturally, the first places you think of are New York, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Newark, Detoit, Baltimore–You get the idea, places where crime is […]

F Street Boarding House Murders

In the late 1980’s, the discovery of a bizarre serial murder caught the Sacramento area by storm. Nine deaths were attributed to the killer. It wasn’t the kind of murder that made people lock their doors at night fearing the return of the Night Stalker, or the East Area Rapist. This one was different and […]