Brian and Katie Maggiore were killed in Rancho Cordova on February 2, 1978. They were walking their dog, a golden retriever, in their neighborhood in the early evening. Both were young — Brian was twenty-one, a U.S. Air Force sergeant stationed at Mather Air Force Base; Katie was twenty, working at a department store. They had been married for a short time. Both were shot. Their deaths were investigated by the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department and eventually attributed to the East Area Rapist based on geographic and operational characteristics, a connection confirmed through DeAngelo’s admission in the guilty plea. Their deaths remain particularly affecting in the context of the case because they were young people doing something ordinary — taking an evening walk with their dog — who encountered someone whose proximity led to their deaths.
The Southern California murder victims were killed in pairs across several years:
Robert Offerman and Debra Manning were killed in their Goleta condominium in December 1979. Offerman was a physician; Manning was a psychologist. They were approximately thirty-five and twenty-eight years old, respectively. Their deaths were the first attributed murders in the Southern California phase of the crimes.
Charlene and Lyman Smith were killed in their Ventura home in March 1980. Lyman Smith was an attorney; Charlene was his wife. Their son David Smith was in the house and was not harmed. Lyman Smith’s daughter from a prior relationship, Jennifer Carole, lost her father in this attack and has been a public presence in the case in subsequent years, appearing in documentary reporting and giving statements at the 2020 proceedings.