My own pet theories about EAR/ONS are mostly proven wrong
Apr 27, 2018 21:07:08 GMT
loveliftedme and brittz like this
Post by germansleuth on Apr 27, 2018 21:07:08 GMT
I've been following this case fairly obsessively for over a decade, and like everyone else, I had my own pet theories about who EAR/ONS is and what became of him. I can say today that most of what I believed was wrong:
1. I strongly believed that EAR/ONS is dead. I believed that this was why he stopped after 1986 (I knew that there were reports about him calling former victims as late as 2001, but I was not convinced that these calls were really him and not some random prankster). With hindsight, I should have known better: we know from Dennis Rader aka BTK that serial killers can stop at some point and live a fairly quiet life from then on - and the BTK case is one I was, in fact, very familiar with. However, BTK was not nearly as prolific as EAR/ONS. Rader had made two attacks in 1974 (killing a total of five victims), two in 1977, one in 1985, one in 1986 and one in 1991. There were usually gaps of several years between the murders. By contrast, EAR/ONS was a far more frequent offender: he committed some 50 rapes from 1976 to 1979, and he committed most of his Southern California murders in a one-and-a-half year span between late 1979 and mid-1981 (with only that strange gap to the Cruz murder in 1986). It seemed to me that EAR/ONS's violent impulses were far more frequent than Rader's, and that's why I did not believe he could just quit. I thought that he had either been shot during a burglary shortly after 1986 (with no one making the EAR/ONS connection), or died in an accident or from illness.
2. I strongly believed that EAR/ONS was not in a relationship. Again, with hindsight, I should have known better - Dennis Rader was married during his entire BTK spree. But, like I said, Rader's murders were very spread out in time. When you commit only seven separate crimes in a span of 17 years, it's fairly easy to make up a cover story to tell your wife about why you are away and what you are doing. EAR/ONS, by contrast, was on the prowl so often and committed rapes so frequently in 1976-79 that I thought it would be impossible for him to be in a relationship with a woman and hide his activities from her. I believed that he was a loner, that maybe he had never had a long-term relationship with a woman at all, and that this accounted in part for his hatred towards women.
3. I believed that EAR/ONS was probably in the military during his crime spree. Like quite a few others here, I believed that EAR/ONS was a military guy, and that this accounted for his physical fitness, the meticulous planning of the attacks, his moving around a lot (from one base to another), and the diamond knot. I even thought the "officer club comment" made by EAR to one of his victims might be genuine rather than a red herring. As we know now, DeAngelo was in the military as a young man, but that was quite a few years before his criminal activity.
4. I believed that EAR/ONS was not in law enforcement. This was probably an over-reaction of mine against the conspiracy theories. There were quite a few crazy people on this board and others claiming that: "The police know who this guy is, but they are protecting him because he is one of them, and that's why the case has never been solved!" These theories were so ludicrous that I dismissed them out of hand - and with them the possibility that EAR/ONS might have been a cop after all. Now we know DeAngelo was indeed a cop, and it was pretty much the ideal occupation for him to have as a cover during his EAR activities. But of course, no one among his colleagues knew about his double life or suspected him.
On the plus side, there are some things I was right about:
1. I believed EAR/ONS had never been in prison. When law enforcement searched for DNA matches among prisoners, I was pretty sure it would all come to nothing. EAR/ONS was such a meticulous planner that I thought it unlikely he had ever been imprisoned for a crime. And if he had been imprisoned for something like a burglary or an attempted rape, I thought it was likely that him being the EAR/ONS would have been discovered in the process - we would have known about it years ago.
2. I belived that, if the case would ever be solved, it would be through a familial DNA match. Actually, I envisioned pretty much the exact thing that has now happened: that one day, through sheer dumb luck, there would be a familial DNA match of some distant relative in some genealogy database. But I believed it would be discovered that EAR/ONS had been dead for years, and they'd have to exhume his body to get his DNA (if he wasn't cremated, that is).
Anyhow, it all goes to show how wrong we were about many things, and how few things we were right about. I'm just glad the case is finally solved.
1. I strongly believed that EAR/ONS is dead. I believed that this was why he stopped after 1986 (I knew that there were reports about him calling former victims as late as 2001, but I was not convinced that these calls were really him and not some random prankster). With hindsight, I should have known better: we know from Dennis Rader aka BTK that serial killers can stop at some point and live a fairly quiet life from then on - and the BTK case is one I was, in fact, very familiar with. However, BTK was not nearly as prolific as EAR/ONS. Rader had made two attacks in 1974 (killing a total of five victims), two in 1977, one in 1985, one in 1986 and one in 1991. There were usually gaps of several years between the murders. By contrast, EAR/ONS was a far more frequent offender: he committed some 50 rapes from 1976 to 1979, and he committed most of his Southern California murders in a one-and-a-half year span between late 1979 and mid-1981 (with only that strange gap to the Cruz murder in 1986). It seemed to me that EAR/ONS's violent impulses were far more frequent than Rader's, and that's why I did not believe he could just quit. I thought that he had either been shot during a burglary shortly after 1986 (with no one making the EAR/ONS connection), or died in an accident or from illness.
2. I strongly believed that EAR/ONS was not in a relationship. Again, with hindsight, I should have known better - Dennis Rader was married during his entire BTK spree. But, like I said, Rader's murders were very spread out in time. When you commit only seven separate crimes in a span of 17 years, it's fairly easy to make up a cover story to tell your wife about why you are away and what you are doing. EAR/ONS, by contrast, was on the prowl so often and committed rapes so frequently in 1976-79 that I thought it would be impossible for him to be in a relationship with a woman and hide his activities from her. I believed that he was a loner, that maybe he had never had a long-term relationship with a woman at all, and that this accounted in part for his hatred towards women.
3. I believed that EAR/ONS was probably in the military during his crime spree. Like quite a few others here, I believed that EAR/ONS was a military guy, and that this accounted for his physical fitness, the meticulous planning of the attacks, his moving around a lot (from one base to another), and the diamond knot. I even thought the "officer club comment" made by EAR to one of his victims might be genuine rather than a red herring. As we know now, DeAngelo was in the military as a young man, but that was quite a few years before his criminal activity.
4. I believed that EAR/ONS was not in law enforcement. This was probably an over-reaction of mine against the conspiracy theories. There were quite a few crazy people on this board and others claiming that: "The police know who this guy is, but they are protecting him because he is one of them, and that's why the case has never been solved!" These theories were so ludicrous that I dismissed them out of hand - and with them the possibility that EAR/ONS might have been a cop after all. Now we know DeAngelo was indeed a cop, and it was pretty much the ideal occupation for him to have as a cover during his EAR activities. But of course, no one among his colleagues knew about his double life or suspected him.
On the plus side, there are some things I was right about:
1. I believed EAR/ONS had never been in prison. When law enforcement searched for DNA matches among prisoners, I was pretty sure it would all come to nothing. EAR/ONS was such a meticulous planner that I thought it unlikely he had ever been imprisoned for a crime. And if he had been imprisoned for something like a burglary or an attempted rape, I thought it was likely that him being the EAR/ONS would have been discovered in the process - we would have known about it years ago.
2. I belived that, if the case would ever be solved, it would be through a familial DNA match. Actually, I envisioned pretty much the exact thing that has now happened: that one day, through sheer dumb luck, there would be a familial DNA match of some distant relative in some genealogy database. But I believed it would be discovered that EAR/ONS had been dead for years, and they'd have to exhume his body to get his DNA (if he wasn't cremated, that is).
Anyhow, it all goes to show how wrong we were about many things, and how few things we were right about. I'm just glad the case is finally solved.
