Suspected Golden State killer, a former police officer, arrested on ‘needle in the haystack’ DNA evidence

Authorities have arrested a former police officer who is suspected of being one of California’s most prolific serial killers and rapists — the Golden State killer.

A local and federal task force apprehended the suspect late Tuesday evening, after tying him to the crimes through “surveillance and discarded DNA,” Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones told reporters Wednesday.

In the 40 years since the Original Night Stalker began his campaign of terror in Sacramento and moved south through the Bay Area and Santa Barbara and Orange counties, he had remained unidentified. Authorities say the attacker, also dubbed the East Area rapist and the Golden State killer, is responsible for 12 killings, 45 rapes and more than 120 residential burglaries from 1976 to 1986.