SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The Latest on a serial killing and rape case in California (all times local):

1 a.m.

Comedian Patton Oswalt says it's "great news" that police arrested a suspect in the brutal murders and rapes that his late wife had spent years investigating.

Oswalt appeared on "Late Night with Seth Myers" early Thursday and said news of the arrest felt like "a beginning of this whole other chapter."

His late wife, Michelle McNamara, was a journalist who coined the name Golden State Killer and wrote a book on the 12 killings and 50 rapes. She died in her sleep in April 2016.

On Tuesday, authorities arrested 72-year-old Joseph James DeAngelo on suspicion of the murders.

Police didn't give McNamara credit, but said her book kept interest up and tips coming in.

Oswalt says he's relieved because "now it feels like this thing that she wanted so badly is done."

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AP writer Michelle A. Monroe contributed to this report.

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12:01 a.m.

The suspected Golden State Killer became less prolific but deadlier after losing his job as a police officer.

Prosecutors say Joseph DeAngelo carried out his most violent crimes in the months after he was fired for shoplifting in 1979.

DeAngelo was charged Wednesday with eight counts of murder for killings in the late '70s and early '80s. He is suspected of killing 12 people and raping about 50 and could face more charges.

Authorities say DeAngelo is the man once dubbed the East Area Rapist for some four dozen sexual assaults in the suburbs east of Sacramento.

After losing his job on the police force, the suspect committed fewer crimes, but 10 were slayings and all were in Southern California.

Because the crimes spanned 10 counties the culprit was later dubbed the Golden State Killer.