The statute of limitations had long ago run out for most of the East Area Rapist’s crimes, and many of his victims had long since given up hope he would be caught.
Although the statute of limitations, that is, the deadline for filing charges in a crime, has been removed for sexual assault, the new California law doesn’t apply retroactively. Joseph James DeAngelo, the defendant accused of the 1978 slayings of Rancho Cordova residents Brian and Katie Maggiore, will therefore never be charged in dozens of rapes attributed to the East Area Rapist (later dubbed the Golden State Killer after he began killing his victims and branched out into other parts of California).
But for some survivors, like Kathy Jouganatos, whose 1977 rape was 17 on the list of crimes attributed to the killer, it will be enough to see him brought to justice – even if not for the rapes.
“Yes, because I never thought they were going to catch this guy – after about 35 years I gave up,” she said.
Although the cases won’t be tried, the Sacramento District Attorney’s Office has kept the survivors in the loop, Jouganatos said. When the charges against DeAngelo were initially filed, prosecutors met with the women, providing information about the case and answering their questions.
Jouganatos had a lot of questions. After all the damage the East Area Rapist did to women and their families in the Sacramento area, she would have liked to see him held accountable for each criminal act.
Ultimately, the answers she got helped her to come to terms with the reality that even if it were possible to prosecute all the 40-year-old cases, in the end, it’s not necessary. If the perpetrator is convicted in even one murder case, it could be enough.
And should the trial conclude with a guilty verdict, she and other survivors will have the opportunity to make a victim impact statement – something she might be interested in doing.
Observing the legal process playing out has helped her emotionally as well, she said.
“For a long time, I felt really scarred over this thing,” she said. The arrest, and witnessing the first steps in the court case have helped her heal – that and meeting with other survivors, which she had not had the opportunity to do before.
She and several other survivors attended a hearing Tuesday on a motion to unseal search and arrest warrants in DeAngelo’s case. The women appeared quietly satisfied. The man accused in their attacks is behind bars, and the DNA match that put him there gives them confidence he’s the one.
Jouganatos’ attack was the East Area Rapist’s ‘standard assault’ according to the coldcase.com website. The rapist broke into her home through a sliding glass door; tied her and her fiancé up and put dishes on his back, threatening to kill her if the dishes fell, as he did in other cases.
Jouganatos believes DeAngelo is the man who attacked her.
“He’s an animal,” she said.
Jouganatos said she thinks the rape, which happened when she was 19, made her stronger. After going through that ordeal, she made up her mind to never let herself be victimized again – and to live her life as she wanted to – not fearfully or apologetically.
“I vowed not to ever allow a man to make me do something against my will again,” she said.
Mostly, she’s grateful. She’s grateful she wasn’t killed – that it wasn’t any worse.
She’s grateful for her life. She married, raised a son, traveled and had a career with the state of California. She’s retired now, doing volunteer work and supporting her son’s career aspirations.
When she heard the news, she was “rattled – but it was a good thing,” she said.
“One of the toughest things I had to do was tell my son,” she said.
He was angry and upset.
She had never told him, because she didn’t think she’d ever have to – she was sure the serial rapist and killer was dead or in prison by now.
Jouganatos is attending DeAngelo’s court hearings ‘to represent the ones who can’t be here.’
Her assault made her more compassionate to survivors of rape and domestic abuse, and she supports groups like WEAVE, that serve those survivors.
She agreed to share her story in the hopes that it might help others come to terms with being sexually assaulted.
Women should not feel ashamed or unworthy due to something done to them against their will.
“I’m not the criminal; I was the victim,” she said. “And I did everything I could do to help the authorities capture this person.”