Last year police hauled in a man believed to be the Golden State Killer, who was responsible for at least 13 homicides and 50 rapes in the 1970s and '80s. Now the investigator behind his capture has opened up in a tell-all interview.
Retired cold-case investigator Paul Holes said it became a career-long obsession to catch the killer. He joined the search straight out of police academy and never stopped looking, The Sacramento Bee reported.
Eventually a break in the case came through DNA that was retrieved from one of the crime scenes years ago. Investigators managed to track down their suspect, 73-year-old Joseph DeAngelo, after comparing the DNA to genetic profiles available online through various websites that cater to individuals that submit DNA samples to learn more about their family backgrounds.
The DNA samples linked DeAngelo to a slew of rapes and murders that took place across California 40 years ago and he was taken into custody. He now awaits trial on 26 charges in a Sacramento jail, Fox News noted.
Holes recalled the day they brought DeAngelo in.
"Once [DeAngelo] was placed in that interview room, he was in a posture that he did not move from for over an hour," he told Fox News. "He was absolutely motionless. He did a very slight movement and we're like, 'He's moving!' And then he would stop and freeze. I've never met anyone who's been able to be so motionless for so long."
Holes believed it was this ability that allowed DeAngelo to stalk his prey.
"This was a guy who had the physical ability to go into somebody's backyard, be in the shadows and just go absolutely motionless for hours while he's watching what's going on inside the house," he said.
Once DeAngelo was captured, Holes said he felt a void in his life.
"For me, I spent all my time in the last few years of being active pursuing the Golden State Killer," he said. "I did not realize what a part of my life that case was until DeAngelo was taken into custody . . . I just felt this void. I wasn't on the hunt like I was before."
The emptiness led him to launch a new podcast, "The Murder Squad," with investigative journalist Billy Jensen in which they look at unsolved cases of murders and missing persons.
"That's part of what makes this podcast so exciting," he told Fox News. "We're going after these cases. I'm getting into the hunt mode again. It helps fill that void. It's not the same, but it's at least something that I can grasp onto, knowing I'm still trying to help people get answers about their loved ones. It won't ever be the same, but this is why I keep going."
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