Suspected Golden State Killer's first love Bonnie is revealed | Daily Mail Online
EXCLUSIVE- Ex-fiancee who broke suspected Golden State Killer's heart, and 'sparked his rape and murder' spree, is a travel blogger who went on to marry successful accountant and is now in hiding
- Bonnie Ueltzen broke suspected Golden State Killer Joe DeAngelo’s heart
- Ueltzen was engaged to DeAngelo in the early 1970s but she broke it off
- During one attack, the killer said to victim: ‘I hate you. I hate you, Bonnie'
- DeAngelo is believed to be responsible for at least 12 murders and more than 50 rapes in California between 1975 and 1986
- DeAngelo was nabbed after police matched DNA from items he discarded with samples found at his many crime scenes
Published: 14:47 EDT, 28 April 2018 | Updated: 07:12 EDT, 29 April 2018
The woman who broke suspected Golden State Killer Joe DeAngelo’s heart and may have spurred him on his decade-long murder and rape spree is a blogger who spent years documenting her Italian travels online, DailyMail.com can reveal.
And instead of settling down with a suspected mass murderer, she married a successful accountant who went on to be a partner in a multi-million-dollar firm.
But while Bonnie Ueltzen went into great detail for all to read on her blog OldBroadAbroad.com now she has gone to ground and is hiding out.
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The killer's heartbreaker: Bonnie Ueltzen (pictured) broke Golden State Killer Joe DeAngelo’s heart
Moved on: Ueltzen married a successful accountant who went on to be a partner in a multi-million-dollar firm
DeAngelo did not enter a plea during his arraignment on Friday, was denied bail and is being held in a psychiatric ward of the county jail
Golden State Killer suspect Joseph DeAngelo charged with murder
Ueltzen — then Bonnie Jean Colwell — was engaged to DeAngelo in the early 1970s but she broke it off and both went on to marry other people.
But she clearly preyed on his mind. During at least one of his series of attacks, the killer lay down next to his victim after raping her and sobbed: ‘I hate you. I hate you. I hate you, Bonnie.’
DeAngelo, 72, an ex-cop who went on to work in a grocery warehouse for nearly three decades, was arraigned in court in Sacramento, California, on Friday. He was brought into court in a wheelchair.
He is believed to be responsible for at least 12 murders and more than 50 rapes in California between 1975 and 1986.
Now divorced and recently retired, he was quietly living in a single-story home in the Sacramento suburb of Citrus Heights until Tuesday’s arrest.
Police have now finished combing through the beige-colored house, removing boxes of evidence, guns, cars a motorcycle and a boat, among other items.
Years before DeAngelo is suspected of starting his reign of terror, he met Bonnie Colwell when they were both students at Sierra College in Rocklin, California, 20 miles from Sacramento.
Ueltzen (pictured left) was engaged to DeAngelo in the early 1970s but she broke it off
The couple announced their engagement in a notice in the Bonnie’s hometown newspaper, the Auburn Journal. Ueltzen is seen in a recent picture
Ueltzen clearly preyed on his mind. During at least one of his series of attacks, the killer lay down next to his victim after raping her and sobbed: ‘I hate you. I hate you. I hate you, Bonnie'
Bonnie Ueltzen is pictured when she was Bonnie Colwell and engaged to the suspected killer
The couple announced their engagement in a notice in the Bonnie’s hometown newspaper, the Auburn Journal that said ‘No definite date has been set for the wedding.’
It went on to describe the suspect of one of the largest crime sprees in California history as working for Sierra Crane and Hoist Co, adding: ‘He is affiliated with the Vet’s Club, AGS, President’s Honor Roll and the International Diving Association, N.A.U.I.’
‘We always thought there was a Bonnie significant in his life, it could be a mother, a wife, a girlfriend, a childhood crush,' Paul Holes, an investigator who has been looking into the case for years, told The Mercury News.
'Most certainly if he's making the statement, "I hate you, Bonnie," while he's attacking another female, he is what we call an anger retaliatory rapist. Instead of directing his anger at what's making him angry, he's directing it sideways on to someone else to be able to satisfy that anger,' Holes said.
'I do believe that's what happened here. I don't know what made him that way, but you've got to think Bonnie dumped him, he's not happy about that, he still had feeling for her, who knows? But something along those lines must have happened.'
DailyMail.com could not contact Ueltzen, 67, who is said to be in hiding. She was not at her $400,000, three-bedroom condo in the Campus Commons area of Sacramento that she bought in 2016. Messages left for her went unanswered.
DeAngelo is seen here at his arraignment in Sacramento County Superior Court on Friday
After breaking off her engagement to DeAngelo, she traded up by marrying Michael Ueltzer, now a partner in EisnerAmper, which describes itself as ‘among the nation’s largest full-service advisory and accounting firms.’
He is considered one of the top forensic accountants in the country. According to EisnerAmper’s website he has given evidence in more than 100 court cases ranging from ‘multibillion dollar Ponzi schemes, financial statement frauds, embezzlement, and complex civil litigation, including breach of contract, anti-trust claims, and organizational disputes.’
They divorced in 2013 after more than 40 years together.
Ueltzen lived in Spello, an ancient town near Assisi, Italy, for many years and blogged about her time there on OldBroadAbroad.
In one post from 2010 she spoke of her difficulty buying a house in Spello because she needed documents proving her maiden name.
‘My passport and every form of ID that I carry are in my married name. How would I ever prove that I was Bonnie Jean Colwell? It had been nearly 38 years since I had used that name,’ she wrote.
In 2013 after she separated, Bonnie Ueltzen decided to return to the Sacramento area, and moved into a condo, almost certainly not knowing she was living less than a half-hour drive from her former fiancee.
She also could not have known that within a few years of ending her engagement, DeAngelo would allegedly start on his murder and rape spree.
Police have now finished combing through the beige-colored house, removing boxes of evidence, guns, cars a motorcycle and a boat, among other items. Sheriff deputy Kim Mojica is seen on Thursday carrying boxes of evidence taken from DeAngelo's home in Citrus Heights, California
Joseph James DeAngelo is believed to be responsible for at least 12 murders and more than 50 rapes in California between 1975 and 1986 (victims are seen above)
Neighbor says her kids trick-or-treated at DeAngelo's house
DeAngelo is seen in his mugshot
Author Michelle McNamara — actor Patton Oswalt’s wife who died in 2016 — gave the serial criminal the nickname The Golden State Killer for her book on the case, I’ll Be Gone In The Dark. He was also known as the Original Night Stalker and the East Area Rapist.
Since DeAngelo’s arrest, police believe he could also be a criminal known as the Visalia Ransacker — who carried out a string of burglaries and one murder in Visalia, California, starting in March 1974.
At the time DeAngelo was a police officer in nearby Exeter.
But in 1976 he moved 250 miles north to the police department in Auburn — Bonnie Ueltzen’s hometown — and on June 18 that year the Golden State Killer’s crime spree began mainly in the Citrus Heights and Rancho Cordova areas east of Sacramento.
DeAngelo married divorce attorney Sharon Huddle and before they divorced they had three daughters, Misha, now 36, Sascha, 31, and Tessa, 28. Misha was living with him at the time of his arrest.
DeAngelo was fired from the Auburn Police Department in 1979 for shoplifting. He allegedly stole a can of dog repellant and a hammer from a Sacramento drug store.
In 1978 his attacks moved to Contra Costa County and then from 1979 to 1986 they went further south to Ventura, Santa Barbara and Orange Counties. His last known attack was in May 1986 while DeAngelo’s wife was pregnant with their second child.
But now the long-running case could be coming to an end. DeAngelo’s arrest shocked everyone, including his family. ‘We are as sorry as everyone else, we had no idea,’ his nephew Jeff Riley told DailyMail.com.
DeAngelo Jr was arrested on Tuesday night. He is seen left in an undated photo when he was in the Navy, and on the right during his sophomore year at Folsom High School
DeAngelo is seen sitting in a wheelchair, wearing an orange prison uniform in court on Friday
