courtroom. believed to be the visalia ransacker has already been charged with several murders. meanwhile, tsheriff's office confirms he is on their short list in the murder of a visalia teen. 15-year-old jennifer armor was supposed to meet her friends to go to the cowhide high school aa.ball game butevn in and more than week later, her body was found here in the kern canal south of woodlake. there is very little physical evidence in the case, but for the past several years, dempsey says they've looked into the possibility that the visalia ransacker killed armor. so once deangelo was identified as the ransacker, he was added to the list of suspects. >> the visalia ransacker was very active in the area where jennifer was last seen. so that coupled with his knowledge of the city of exeter, having worked in the city of exet exeter, and her body not being found far north of exeter were certainly going to find out everything we can about him. >> but the list of suspects in armor's murder also includes oscar clifton, who is now dead, but was cried and convicted of murdering 14-year-o

kidnapping of his 16-year-old daughter in visalia. his daughter said it began when a masked gunman broke into her bedroom in the middle of the night, threatened her and dragged her out of the house. >> that's when i heard my dad yell and the man with the ski mask pushed me to the ground, turned, shot my dad twice as he was coming through the backdoor. >> now police say deangelo is also the so-called visalia ransacker, the man accused of burglarizing more than 100 homes in the area about the same time that snelling was killed. investigators say the gun used to kill snelling was stolen by the visalia ransacker. >> these crimes and the manner in which they were committed brought fear to this quiet community during the 18 month period in which the visalia ransacker terrorized this city and was at times was known to eat or prepare food in the victims' residences during his crimes. >> joseph deangelo is accused of killing at least a dozen others during the 1970s and '80s. dna evidence led to his arrest in april. >> a lot of the officers that were involved simply are not with us anymore unfortu

killer suspect being charged with first-degree murder of a visalia man. this makes the 13th murder charge against joseph james deangelo. he is the man believed fob responsible for a string of murders and rapes up and down california in the 1970s and '80s. brian johnson from our sister station in fresno has details of the latest charge. >> reporter: investigators at the visalia police department have long believed that whoever burglarized 100 homes in the mid-'70s was also responsible for shooting and killing college of the sequoias journalism professor claude smelling in september of '75. throughout the years they also theorized that this is the same person as the golden state killer. monday chief jason salazar announced joseph deangelo is the sole suspect in the burglaries and snelling murder. deangelo has already been charged with other murders and is in custody in sacramento county. >> we are confident through the information obtained from victims and witnesses through thorough examination of modus operandi in the cases through the development of physical evidence and by linking a fire

during the time as the ransacker cases were occurring. >> visalia is 15 minutes from where deangelo lived and worked. the advice sale la ransacker is accused of murdering a local professor and terrorizing his family. by now the crime sounds familiar. >> a man waking me up, wearing a ski mask. pushed me down, shot my dad twice, then took off running. i loved my father dearly. he took him away from me. >> the visalia ransacker burglarized about 100 homes. one detective thought he spotted him and told him to freeze. the suspect begged the officer not to shoot. but then pulled out his own gun and fired. th blet hit the officer's flashlight. shards rec sheaing intoiseye. >> i fell down on the impact, knocked me back. he continued to run. apparently attempted burglary. >> that was 1975. fast forward to the summer of 1979. a walnut creek teenager is looking forward to eighth grade when her innocence is taken. now she tells abc 7 news reporter leslie brinkley she's taking it back. >> nobody wants to walk around with, you know, "hi, i'm mary berwert, rape victim." >> mary was one of the youn

. >> they are caught, even if it takes year. >> investigators say they have given up hope. >> visalia believes he is the man they called the ransacker. police officer survived being shot by the ransacker. >> he would use dishes and alarm systems that would alert someone if someone came home. >> de angelo worked as a police officer in nearby exeter. >> a survivor of the east area rapist is speaking out. describing to sacramento tv station how a masked man tied her up inside her home when she was 13-years old. >> he just said this isn't a joke. this isn't a joke. i said quit joking a couple of times. and i realized this wasn't a joke. >> she was assaulted in 1977. dna received a lot of credit for leading to this arrest. i spoke with dna legal consultant about how quickly a dna match was made. >> once you have the profile of the individual from the evidence of a crime, it sits there and it is static. making the comparison depending on the type of technology they were using is relatively straightforward. >> some are crediting a true crime journalist for helping to solve this case. michell