Joseph DeAngelo’s six-year career as a cop came swiftly to an end after being busted for shoplifting a can of dog repellant and a hammer from a Pay N’ Save store in a Sacramento suburb in 1979.

Authorities are now wondering if the items he snatched were intended as tools for the sinister rash of crimes he’s suspected of carrying out.

DeAngelo, 72, was accused Wednesday of being the Golden State Killer who terrorized suburban neighborhoods in a spate of brutal rapes and slayings in the 1970s and ’80s before leaving a cold trail that baffled investigators for decades.

Read more at AP News.