For a long time, it seemed that the Golden State Killer would never be brought to justice.

The serial rapist and murderer—also known as the Original Night Stalker and the East Area Rapist—was active across California for more than a decade in the 1970s and ’80s, committing 13 murders and more than 50 rapes. Although his crime spree ended in 1986, law enforcement never stopped looking for him, and a breakthrough in the case came in 2017, when detectives used a novel tool called investigative genetic genealogy to uncover a suspect: Joseph James DeAngelo, a former police officer and mechanic.

In 2018, Sacramento County’s Fugitive Apprehension Team arrested DeAngelo, and Thien Ho—then a prosecutor in the Sacramento County district attorney’s office and now the DA—was chosen to lead the case against the killer. In 2020, DeAngelo agreed to plead guilty to several murder and kidnapping charges in exchange for prosecutors’ not seeking the death penalty. DeAngelo, 79, is currently serving consecutive life sentences without parole.

In The People vs. The Golden State Killer (Third State Books, November 11), Ho takes readers behind the scenes of the prosecution while recounting his own remarkable life story as a Vietnamese refugee who moved to California with his family as a child, speaking no English. He focuses heavily on the victims of the crimes and the law enforcement officers who were determined to find the man behind them—and did.

Ho refers to his book as the third in a “trilogy” of books about the case, following Michelle McNamara’s posthumously published I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer and detective Paul Holes’ Unmasked: My Life Solving America’s Cold Cases.

Ho answered questions via telephone from Los Angeles, where he was traveling for work. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

What made you decide to write a book about the case of the Golden State Killer?

The thought of writing a book never really entered my consciousness for a long time. English is my second language; I had struggled learning how to read, write, and speak in English. As I was working on the case, I kept very detailed personal notes, and near the end, I thought about writing a book. That was about five years ago. Raising a family, trying other cases, working in the community, and then running for election, I kept putting it on the back burner. Then I realized that everything worthwhile in life requires sacrifice and a lot of dedication. So I wrote the book in about seven months.

When did you first become aware of this case?

I was prosecuting my very first homicide case in Rancho Cordova, and in the process of getting ready for trial, I went out to the crime scene with the lead detective and another homicide prosecutor who grew up there. I noticed that a lot of the homes and businesses in the area had metal bars and gates on the doors and windows. I said that I thought it was strange, and they started talking about the East Area Rapist, explaining to me that he would break into homes where there were couples. He would have the woman tie up the man, and then he would separate them into different rooms. He would force the man onto all fours and place plates on his back and eat their food, drink their beer. He would sexually assault the wife and take a single earring or the wedding band. He committed all these murders, including two in Sacramento, and then he just vanished in the darkness of the night. I was fascinated by it, and I nonchalantly said, “If you guys ever find him, I’m going to ask for that case.”

What was it about the Golden State Killer that captured the public’s attention in a way that few other serial killers have?

I think the sheer scope of his crimes captured people’s attention. He hit 11 different jurisdictions up and down the state of California. His crimes were the stuff of nightmares and boogeymen. It wasn’t just about how he committed his crimes, but how he seemed to enjoy the sadism. And then the planning—he would break into homes ahead of time and leave something in the couch cushion and come back days later to see if it was still there. And then he just disappeared. I think people always love a mystery, and he disappeared for 40 years; generations of officers looked for him. Nobody could find him until we did, and I think it fascinated people to finally see the monster behind the mask.

How did you decide to integrate elements of your own life story into this book?

I wanted to make sure that I put part of my story in there, because when you think of a prosecutor, have you ever seen one portrayed by an Asian American on TV or in the movies? No. And there are not many Asian American authors in the true-crime genre either. I want there to be other prosecutors who are Asian. I want there to be other true-crime authors who are Asian. The more perspectives that we have in our society, the better off we are. That’s why I wanted to tell the story of a refugee who comes to this country with literally nothing but the clothes on his back, had to learn English as a second language, and rose to become a prosecutor in one of the most seminal serial killer cases in this country’s history.

How did you cope with the emotional strain that this case presented?

As prosecutors, we see people at the darkest and worst moments of their lives. Either they are facing criminal charges of life in prison, or they were the victim of a crime and had the very fabric of their lives ripped apart. We see the darkest recesses of humanity, and a lot of times it’s very difficult to separate the job from our personal lives. I struggle with it. I have problems sleeping. I do the best I can to separate it, but I’ve not been very successful in doing so because it’s not like a light switch you can just turn on and off. It stays on all the time. You get used to it after a while, but in some ways, you don’t realize how much it affects you until you take a step back.

The last part of the book, before the epilogue, contains some of the victims’ impact statements. Why was it important to you to include those?

A lot of true-crime books really focus on the killer and the crimes. I wanted to move the focus to the three generations of law enforcement that never gave up the search for DeAngelo. I wanted to focus on the victims and the survivors who found triumph in their tragedy, power in their pain, and advocacy in their adversity. DeAngelo took their voices, but they found their voices by the end of the case, and his voice was removed and made insignificant. That’s also why a portion of the book’s proceeds will go to fund Phyllis’s Garden [a nonprofit for survivors of sexual assault started by two women who were attacked by DeAngelo].

Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.