The People vs. the Golden State Killer

The People vs. the Golden State Killer

By Thien Ho
eBook $14.95 Hardcover $29.95

$14.95

Publication Date: 10th November 2025

In 2018, Michelle McNamara’s #1 New York Times bestseller I’ll Be Gone in the Dark chronicled her years-long obsession with finding the Golden State Killer, a serial killer and rapist who committed... Read More
In 2018, Michelle McNamara’s #1 New York Times bestseller I’ll Be Gone in the Dark chronicled her years-long obsession with finding the Golden State Killer, a serial killer and rapist who committed... Read More
Description
In 2018, Michelle McNamara’s #1 New York Times bestseller I’ll Be Gone in the Dark chronicled her years-long obsession with finding the Golden State Killer, a serial killer and rapist who committed at least thirteen murders, fifty-one rapes, and 120 burglaries across California in the 1970s and 1980s. Tragically, McNamara, who died in 2016—her husband, Patton Oswalt, and two writers completed and published her book posthumously—didn’t live to see Joseph DeAngelo, a.k.a. the Golden State Killer, brought to justice. 


Thien Ho, the District Attorney of Sacramento, was the lead prosecutor of DeAngelo, “one of the most notorious serial predators in American history.” (Fresh Air/NPR). His book, The People vs. the Golden State Killer, is the first official account of how the Golden State Killer was apprehended and put behind bars for life. Ho led an elite team of law enforcement from six California prosecutor's offices in the hunt for DeAngelo. They used a newly developed tool known as Investigative Genetic Genealogy, pioneered by Paul Holes (Unmasked, Celadon, 2022), to connect DeAngelo to multiple cold cases stretching back nearly a half century. 

The People vs. the Golden State Killer also recounts Ho’s fascinating personal journey—escaping communist Vietnam on a fishing boat as a child, working his way up from an internship to an elite homicide division and eventually to Sacramento District Attorney. Ho also tells the authorized accounts of three of DeAngelo’s rape survivors, Kris, Gaye, and Phylis, who recount with Ho’s help the arc of their lives from the crime, to the effects on their lives in the subsequent years, to the discovery of DeAngelo and his capture.

Details
  • Price: $14.95
  • Publisher: Third State Books
  • Imprint: Third State Books
  • Publication Date: 10th November 2025
  • ISBN: 9798890130372
  • Format: eBook
  • BISACs:
    LAW / Criminal Law / General
    LAW / General
    BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / General
    TRUE CRIME / Murder / Serial Killers
    TRUE CRIME / General
    SOCIAL SCIENCE / Ethnic Studies / Asian American Studies
Author Bio
Thien Ho was elected District Attorney of Sacramento County in 2022, and officially took office in January 2023. Prior to the election, Thien served in executive management as the Sacramento County Assistant Chief Deputy D.A. over the Justice and Community Relations Bureau, which handles post-conviction litigation, training, community prosecution and media outreach. Over Thien’s 25-year career as an attorney, he successfully prosecuted sexual assault, gang and homicide cases. He was the supervisor of the Gang and Hate Crime Unit and has personally charged and prosecuted hate crimes. Most notably, he successfully prosecuted the East Area Rapist/Golden State Killer, who committed 13 murders and over 50 sexual assaults in 11 different jurisdictions throughout California. The case has also been featured on CNN, HBO, 20/20 and countless news outlets across the world. Thien has previously taught for the California District Attorneys Association (CDAA) on “Voir Dire in Sexual Assault and Homicide Cases,” and was an adjunct professor for trial advocacy at McGeorge School of Law. He helped to build a nationally ranked trial advocacy program at McGeorge, winning multiple regional and national mock trial competitions. In 2017, he was presented with both the National Asian Pacific Islander Prosecutors Association and Sacramento District Attorney’s Office Prosecutor of the Year Award.
In 2018, Michelle McNamara’s #1 New York Times bestseller I’ll Be Gone in the Dark chronicled her years-long obsession with finding the Golden State Killer, a serial killer and rapist who committed at least thirteen murders, fifty-one rapes, and 120 burglaries across California in the 1970s and 1980s. Tragically, McNamara, who died in 2016—her husband, Patton Oswalt, and two writers completed and published her book posthumously—didn’t live to see Joseph DeAngelo, a.k.a. the Golden State Killer, brought to justice. 


Thien Ho, the District Attorney of Sacramento, was the lead prosecutor of DeAngelo, “one of the most notorious serial predators in American history.” (Fresh Air/NPR). His book, The People vs. the Golden State Killer, is the first official account of how the Golden State Killer was apprehended and put behind bars for life. Ho led an elite team of law enforcement from six California prosecutor's offices in the hunt for DeAngelo. They used a newly developed tool known as Investigative Genetic Genealogy, pioneered by Paul Holes (Unmasked, Celadon, 2022), to connect DeAngelo to multiple cold cases stretching back nearly a half century. 

The People vs. the Golden State Killer also recounts Ho’s fascinating personal journey—escaping communist Vietnam on a fishing boat as a child, working his way up from an internship to an elite homicide division and eventually to Sacramento District Attorney. Ho also tells the authorized accounts of three of DeAngelo’s rape survivors, Kris, Gaye, and Phylis, who recount with Ho’s help the arc of their lives from the crime, to the effects on their lives in the subsequent years, to the discovery of DeAngelo and his capture.

  • Price: $14.95
  • Publisher: Third State Books
  • Imprint: Third State Books
  • Publication Date: 10th November 2025
  • ISBN: 9798890130372
  • Format: eBook
  • BISACs:
    LAW / Criminal Law / General
    LAW / General
    BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / General
    TRUE CRIME / Murder / Serial Killers
    TRUE CRIME / General
    SOCIAL SCIENCE / Ethnic Studies / Asian American Studies
Thien Ho was elected District Attorney of Sacramento County in 2022, and officially took office in January 2023. Prior to the election, Thien served in executive management as the Sacramento County Assistant Chief Deputy D.A. over the Justice and Community Relations Bureau, which handles post-conviction litigation, training, community prosecution and media outreach. Over Thien’s 25-year career as an attorney, he successfully prosecuted sexual assault, gang and homicide cases. He was the supervisor of the Gang and Hate Crime Unit and has personally charged and prosecuted hate crimes. Most notably, he successfully prosecuted the East Area Rapist/Golden State Killer, who committed 13 murders and over 50 sexual assaults in 11 different jurisdictions throughout California. The case has also been featured on CNN, HBO, 20/20 and countless news outlets across the world. Thien has previously taught for the California District Attorneys Association (CDAA) on “Voir Dire in Sexual Assault and Homicide Cases,” and was an adjunct professor for trial advocacy at McGeorge School of Law. He helped to build a nationally ranked trial advocacy program at McGeorge, winning multiple regional and national mock trial competitions. In 2017, he was presented with both the National Asian Pacific Islander Prosecutors Association and Sacramento District Attorney’s Office Prosecutor of the Year Award.

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