DNA Clears Accused East Area Rapist Suspect Of 1975 Murder

TULARE, Calif. (AP) - Authorities have cleared a man accused of being California's Golden State Killer (East Area Rapist) of involvement in the 1975 murder of a 14-year-old girl in the Central Valley.

The Tulare County district attorney's office on Tuesday released a review that said DNA testing concluded that Joseph DeAngelo didn't kill Donna Jo Richmond.

The girl vanished while biking to her home near Exeter. Her body was later found in an orange orchard. She had been strangled and stabbed.

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A convicted sex offender, Oscar Clifton, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison, where he died in 2013.

However, Clifton and his supporters maintained his innocence.

DeAngelo is charged with killing 13 people around the state in the 1970s and 1980s. His arrest last year prompted prosecutors to review the Clinton conviction.

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press.