Sharon Huddle, the ex-wife of 1970s and 80s criminal Joseph James DeAngelo, lives a life plagued by fear after learning the truth of her ex-husband's egregious deeds. Their marriage began only two years before he committed his first crime, followed by a string of lies and the loss of many lives.
Sharon Marie Huddle received harsh treatment from the media and the public because of her relation to Joseph James DeAngelo. In 2018, DeAngelo was arrested for numerous counts of murder and sexual assault between 1975 and 1986 – she only found out 40 years into their legal union.
1986 marked the last of the reported criminal acts, coinciding with the birth of the former couple's second child. When legal authorities made the connection, they couldn't determine why the crimes ended so abruptly, as they struggled to trace the crimes back to the culprit.
As much as DeAngelo's actions garnered a considerable amount of justified anger, his ex-wife also suffered its consequences. Huddle was accused of being an insider, with the media implying that she was complacent about being married to a serial killer.
Her relationship with DeAngelo had been tumultuous, as he struggled with anger issues, and they eventually separated in the early 1990s. When Huddle learned of his crimes, she said she lost her "ability to trust." DeAngelo had consistently lied about his whereabouts whenever she worked a night shift, as she explained:
"I have lost my ability to trust people. I trusted the defendant when he told me he had to work, or was going pheasant hunting, or going to visit his parents hundreds of miles away. [...] Now, without the ability to trust, my relationships with other people are severely impacted."
Joseph James DeAngelo is photographed as he speaks at his sentencing hearing held in Sacramento, California, on August 21, 2020. | Source: Getty Images
Following her ex-husband's arrest, their daughters wiped their social media accounts off the Internet. In her victim impact statement, she expressed her heartbreak about the people whose lives ended at DeAngelo's hands. She also detailed how the discovery led to her PTSD.
Inside Sharon Marie Huddle and Joseph James Deangelo's Family
Huddle was born in the mid-1950s to Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Huddle. She grew up in Citrus Heights and attended San Juan High School. After graduating, she enrolled at American River College. Huddle then studied law at the McGeorge School of Law at the University of the Pacific.
She attained a license to practice familial, divorce, and real estate law in California and was admitted by the state in 1982. Currently running her own law firm, she works as an attorney in Roseville. One of her daughters also worked in the firm; however, she led a different career path.
At 20 years old, Huddle married the then-27-year-old DeAngelo in a ceremony held at the Auburn Congregational Church in the Fall of 1973. The couple welcomed three daughters, the first being born in September 1981, the second in November 1986, and the third in May 1989.
They separated in 1991 but remained legally married until 2018. Before DeAngelo tied the knot with Huddle, he had been engaged to marry another woman in 1970. The woman's name was Bonnie Jean Colwell, but the former lovers never went through with the wedding because Colwell broke off the engagement.
It's been reported that their relationship turned sour after DeAngelo became manipulative and abusive. Colwell stood alongside one of his victims, Jane Carson-Sandler, when she confronted him in court in August 2020. Although Colwell was a victim of his abuse, she wasn't listed as one of his crimes.
Jane Carson-Sandler confronts Joseph James DeAngelo during the second day of victim impact statements at the Gordon D. Schaber Sacramento County Courthouse on August 19, 2020, in Sacramento, California. | Source: Getty Images
Sharon Marie Huddle Broke Her Silence Two Years after Her Ex Was Apprehended
When DeAngelo's murder and sexual assault cases were reported between the 1970s and 80s, media outlets dubbed the perpetrator the "Golden State Killer," the "Original Night Stalker," and the "Visalia Ransacker" among other nicknames.
DeAngelo was identified as the culprit of well over 100 counts of sexual assault following a break in the decades-old case with new DNA evidence in 2018. After he pleaded guilty, Huddle detailed the effect of the discovery in a victim impact statement on herself and her family, which was submitted to the Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael Bowman.
Joseph James DeAngelo (right) is photographed as he speaks with public defender Joseph Cress at the end of the second day of victim impact statements at the Gordon D. Schaber Sacramento County Courthouse on Wednesday, August 19, 2020, in Sacramento, California. | Source: Getty Images
Huddle lamented the weight of the knowledge that her ex-husband had "attacked and severely damaged" numerous people's lives. She had developed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, a condition that plagued her everyday life with fear where even shopping terrified her, as she explained:
"I live everyday with post-traumatic distress where any unexpected noise, or movement of any person or object, can be perceived by my mind as a threat to me. Simple everyday experiences such as a car moving from one lane into another lane behind your car can bring fear to me."
Joseph James DeAngelo is brought to the courtroom in a wheelchair for the first day of victim impact statements at the Gordon D. Schaber Sacramento County Courthouse on August 18, 2020, in Sacramento. | Source: Getty Images
Joseph DeAngelo's Case
Before law enforcement could arrest DeAngelo in 2018, they had struggled to trace the crimes back to the perpetrator. They began two years after he married and became a police officer in Exeter, California. De Angelo and Huddle made the city their home and raised their family.
Outlets maintained that they seemed to be an ordinary and reserved young family. DeAngelo, especially, would carry himself in a way that wouldn't arouse suspicion, and his brother-in-law thought he was a "good father" to his daughters. His last crime coincided with his second child's birth in May 1986.
Public defender Joseph Cress and Joseph James DeAngelo are pictured at Sacramento State on Monday, June 29, 2020. | Source: Getty Images
DeAngelo seemed to have regularly spoken with his brother-in-law, as he once asked what he thought of the then-unidentified serial killer. However, one of his former neighbors, Grant Gorman, had a different memory of DeAngelo.
Describing him as a man with "anger pouring out of him," Gorman recalled being scared of playing with the convicted killer's daughters. He said DeAngelo would "pace around in circles" in his backyard while yelling at nothing.
Much like infamous serial killer Ted Bundy's wife, Carole Anne Boone, Huddle, her brother, and her family remained largely unaware until a few years ago. The investigation continued for decades while DeAngelo's marriage deteriorated as he spiraled deeper into his heinous acts.
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