“In 1972 and 1973, reports started to crop up about a cat burglar around Rancho Cordova…..While Joe hasn’t been charged with those crimes, law enforcement suspects this is how it all started” (p.13) Jim Huddle (BIL of GSK)
November 1973, married Sharon Huddle; relocated to Citrus Heights (where he also lived before relocating to Exeter) in 1983).
May 1973 - August 1976: He was a burglary unit police officer in Exeter, having relocated from Citrus Heights (Caraccio, 2018).
August 1976 to July 1979: He served in Auburn from, when he was arrested for shoplifting a hammer and dog repellent; he was sentenced to six months probation and fired that October.[37][38] During the process of being fired from the City, DeAngelo threatened to kill the Chief of Police and allegedly stalked the Chief's house.[37]
He took post-graduate courses, police training at the College of the Sequoias, in Visalia, and completed a police internship at the Roseville Police Department (this internship may not be confirmed)
Email from Huddle to this author: " From the crimes that we do know that are part of his work, it sounds like it [Darby] could have been one of his. I wonder if they had any classes together?"
Darby Case: November 12, 1972, 03:55 am. Sacramento Sheriff's radio advised of a homicide at residence. The phone cord had apparently been severed in some manner and the coil-type cord was hanging down the wall.
Attack # 1: June 18, 1976, Rancho Cordova ".....he moved a plastic birdbath under the telephone line, stood on it, and cut at the line with a knife. If he was trying to cut the line, he was unsuccessful. The assault begins at around 4 a.m. most likely." [ 8.3 miles from Darby house ]