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 committed at least 12 other murders and 50 rapes in ten california counties. dna evidence led to his arrest in april deangelo is not dectly linked to snelling's murder by dna, jason salazar said he can prove he was the ransacker. >> we have witnesses that can identify mr. deangelo as the suspect in that time. they were tied directly to the murder of snelling. >> reporter: he worked as a police officer about 12 miles away in the town of exeter. he is also suspected of 1 #00 burglaries and attempted sex assaults in visalia. >> the only crime that we can attribute to mr. deangelo that has not passed the statute of limitations is the murder of mr. snelling. >> reporter: deangelo has not

investigators believe deangelo is the man behind roughly one hundredhome burglaries in visalia - between april 19-74 and december 19-75. they also say he's the man who shot and killed college professorclaude snelling during a home invasion in 1975. snelling had discovered a man trying to kidnap his 16-year-old daughter...and was shot as he rushed over to save her. deangelo worked as a police officer in nearby exeter at the time. authorities say they have enough information from witnesses and details from the crime scenes to make the connection to the visalia ransacker case.. the 72-year-old has previously been charged with 12 killings throughout the state and is suspected of dozens of rapes in the 1970's across the bay area and california. (pam) in the east bay. an oakland police officer, responding to a call, is in the hospital tonight... after being involved in a traffic accident. and that officer remains in critical condition. kron4's haaziq madyun has the story. sot

police say the victim was shot while stopping the 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 tha