The Sacramento County Sheriffs Department is asking for the publics help on the 40th anniversary of the murders of Brian and Katie Maggiore, which occurred in Rancho Cordova, February 2, 1978. Just after 9:00 p.m. on that date, Brian, and Katie took their dog for a walk in the neighborhood near their LaVerta Court apartment in Rancho Cordova. While on their walk, they encountered the suspect and came to be in the backyard of a residence in the 10100 block of La Gloria Drive. A violent encounter with the suspect ensued and they fled through a blown down fence into the rear yard of a residence in the 10100 block of La Alegria Drive, the street immediately to the north. There, they were each shot and subsequently died of their wounds at a nearby hospital.
The investigation led investigators to believe the suspect in the case was an offender known as the East Area Rapist, who was active in Sacramento between 1976 and 1978. After this double murder, the East Area Rapist didnt strike the jurisdiction of the Sacramento Sheriffs Department again. He continued terrorizing residents in the east and south Bay Area of California, before committing several murders in Southern California. The DNA from evidence located during both series was linked in 2001. Anyone with information about this case is urged to email the Sacramento County Sheriffs Department at
earinfo@sacsheriff.com.