Decades ago, a series of rapes and murders plagued California. The perpetrator, however, remained hidden for years, until this past Wednesday.

Joseph James DeAngelo, the former police officer and Golden State Killer, now 72, was charged for six counts of murder. He was arrested on the grounds that his DNA had matched with two murders associated with the Golden State Killer in 1980.

The Golden State Killer was found in Sacramento, a half hour drive from where the crimes began, ending a trial that had lasted almost forty years.