killing spree in visalia where it escalated from sadistic burglar to serial killer. >> in my heart i believe he's the one and my father was his first victim. >> reporter: elizabeth apartments father gave up his life to save her from being abducted from the so-called visalia ransacker. in september 1roo her bedroom in the middle of the night, threatened her and dragged her out to their carport. >> that's when i heard my dad yell and the man with the ski mask turned, shot my dad twice as he was coming to the back door. >> reporter: the killer fled, snelling died on the way to the hospital. she was 17 years old at the time. >> he's always been my hero. i would not be her'm sure of it. if it hadn't been for him. >> the crime started here in visalia. >> reporter: tulare county district attorney believes snelling was the first victim murdered by joseph deangelo, the suspected golden state killer. he we're filing first degree murder charges against mr. deangelo, along with an allegation that he used a firearm in the commission of that murder. >> reporter: during the 1907s and '80s deangelo