SACRAMENTO, CALIF. — The authorities confirmed on Wednesday that they had made an arrest in the unsolved case of a serial killer and rapist who terrorized communities in California in the 1970s and 1980s.

Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, was arrested on a warrant from the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department and booked early Wednesday on two counts of murder, according to Sacramento County jail records. A person familiar with the matter confirmed that Mr. DeAngelo had been arrested in connection with the case.

The Golden State Killer, also known as the East Area Rapist and the Original Night Stalker, is thought to have killed 12 people, raped 45 people and burglarized more than 120 homes in multiple communities between 1976 and 1986. He raped and killed women home alone, women at home with their children, and husbands and wives from Sacramento to Orange County, the authorities said.

Shelly Orio, a spokeswoman for the Sacramento County District Attorney’s office, said only that there had been a “major development” when asked to confirm local news media reports that there had been an arrest in the case.

The Sacramento district attorney, Anne Marie Schubert, and Sheriff Scott Jones will announce the development in the case at 12 p.m. local time in Sacramento, Ms. Schubert’s office said.

In June 2016, the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced in a news conference that it would offer a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the “prolific serial rapist and murderer.”

The F.B.I. said then that if the suspect was still alive, he would be between 60 and 75 years old. Investigators described him as a white male, close to six feet tall, with blond or light brown hair and an athletic build. They said he might have an interest or training in military or law enforcement techniques and the use of firearms.

An exhaustive investigation into the identity of the serial killer was documented in a book called “I’ll Be Gone in the Dark,” written by Michelle McNamara, who died in April 2016. The book was completed after her death by a journalist and researcher recruited by her husband, the comedian Patton Oswalt, and published in February.

Source: New York Times