'Golden State Killer' Faces Surviving Victims on First Day of Sentencing Hearings

Living victims of Joseph DeAngelo, better known as the notorious Golden State Killer, lined up inside a California courtroom on Tuesday to tell emotional impact statements.

Mixed feelings took center stage in court, with the victims recalling how badly the Golden State Killer haunted their lives for decades. Their loved ones also joined the victims in court.

DeAngelo pleaded guilty to 13 counts of rape, kidnapping, murder and other cases last June. Other than being a Golden State Killer, he was also known as the East Area Rapist.

He had terrorized people in the 1970s through the 1980s and eluded capture for four decades. He was a police officer from 1973 to 1979.

Some of his cases are past the statute of limitations and, therefore, could not be tried in court, the NBC News reported.

Victim statements are expected to continue until Thursday, as the hearings will last three days in Sacramento County.

DeAngelo will be formally sentenced to life imprisonment without parole on Friday. He dodged the death penalty when he entered a plea agreement in June that would spare him from the punishment, according to ABC News.

Emotions Flow in the Courtroom

On Tuesday, the Golden State Killer's victims had to describe how they endured hours of torture in attacks that date back to 1975.

Some of the names DeAngelo received that day were "sick monster," "devil incarnate," and "horrible man."

The victims painted him to be a man who robbed several people of their childhoods and permanently scarred countless others. Some of the victims managed to tell in court how they healed from their traumatic experiences, but some still search for answers.

According to Los Angeles Times, several said they find it in their heart to forgive DeAngelo. Others seek emotional revenge from their attacker by humiliating him.

Back in the 1970s, women were "treated more like suspects than victims" when they get raped. A woman detailed how her experience grew so much worse because of this stigma.

Another victim, Pat Murphy, raised her middle finger to the 74-year-old admitted serial killer and told him to "go straight to hell," the CBS News reported.

Kris Pedretti said she was living her life normally as a 15-year-old girl in 1976 until a serial rapist and murderer snatched her childhood.

"Wielding a knife told me would kill me if I didn't do what he demanded," said Pedretti, who was 15 at the time of her abuse. Pedretti noted that she woke up the next morning, knowing she "would never be a child again."

Pedretti said if she's the one to decide on DeAngelo's case, he would have him read the impact statements as reading material for the rest of his days.

"DeAngelo must not be allowed to ignore what he's done for as long as he breathes," she said. "Although I was truly grateful to be alive, I also felt that I had died."

Pete Schultz came to court on behalf of his mother. "We suffered for 44 years," he said, recalling how the man before him tied him up and performed horrific acts to his mother.

There were 16 victims and family members who confronted DeAngelo on Tuesday. But the man sat stone-faced through it all.

DeAngelo's plea deal includes 53 attacks on 87 victims in 11 counties. Having 11 life-without-parole sentences to be served back-to-back puts the Golden State Killer in a rare criminal class. He is now lined up next to Mafia bosses and serial murderers.

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