Serial killer convicted of Bay Area murders in 1970s dead at 79

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- A notorious Bay Area serial rapist and killer, who avoided capture for decades, has died in prison.[br /][br /]John Arthur Getreu was convicted of the murders of three people -- a high school sophomore in Germany who was raped, and strangled two young women with connections to Stanford.[br /][Ads /][br /][b]RELATED: [url HREF="https://abc7news.com/leslie-perlov-cold-case-murder-solved-in-santa-clara-county-sheriffs-office-john-getreu/4733232/" TARGET="" REL=""]Santa Clara County sheriff's detectives arrest suspect in 1973 cold case murder of Leslie Perlov[/url][/b][br /][br /]Getreu served only six years for the murder of a high school girl at an U.S army base in Germany.[br /][br /]He was released in 1969 and came to California where he continued to kill.[br /][br /]For more than 40 years, he escaped justice until police linked him to the murders at Stanford using DNA evidence.[br /][br /]He was arrested in [url HREF="https://abc7news.com/leslie-perlov-cold-case-murder-solved-in-santa-clara-county-sheriffs-office-john-getreu/4733232/" TARGET="" REL=""]November 2018 at his home in Hayward[/url] for the 1973 murder Leslie Perlov, a Stanford graduate.[br /][br /]Getreu was [url HREF="https://abc7news.com/john-arthur-getreu-bay-area-cold-case-murder-janet-taylor-leslie-perlov/5303531/" TARGET="" REL=""]convicted a year later in 2019 for the 1974 murder of Janet Taylor[/url], the daughter of the Stanford athletic director and Hall of Fame football coach Chuck Taylor.[br /][Ads /][br /][b]RELATED: [url HREF="https://abc7news.com/leslie-perlov-cold-case-murder-solved-in-santa-clara-county-sheriffs-office-john-getreu/4735937/" TARGET="" REL=""]'I am so in shock': Hayward neighbors say cold case suspect mostly quiet[/url][/b][br /][media ID="4736156" /][br /][br /]ABC7's Dan Ashley spoke with [url HREF="https://abc7news.com/john-arthur-getreu-stanford-murders-2020-tonight-arlis-perry/11027369/" TARGET="" REL=""]investigative journalist Grace Kahng[/url] on Monday who has covered the case extensively over the years.[br /][br /][b]Dan Ashley[/b]: "Grace, in all of your years reporting this story, you have long been convinced that Getreu was responsible for other killings as well. But we may never know with his death."[br /][br /][b]Grace Kahng[/b]: "And that is incredibly vexing. But hopefully, with the advances in DNA and we have a dozen other cases that we believe he is responsible for, working hand in glove with the serial killer's son, who is a very moral guy. Hopefully, we will find an answer and we close some of these cases. And we're very, very close."[br /][br /][b]RELATED: [url HREF="https://abc7news.com/john-arthur-getreu-bay-area-cold-case-murder-janet-taylor-leslie-perlov/5303531/" TARGET="" REL=""]Hayward man arrested for 1974 cold case murder already in custody for other homicide[/url][/b][br /][media ID="5305500" /][br /][Ads /][br /]Convicted killer John Arthur Getreu died Sept. 22 at the state prison in Stockton at the age of 79.[br /][br /]You can learn more about "The Stanford Murders" in [url HREF="https://www.stanfordmurders.com/" TARGET="_blank" REL="nofollow"]Grace Kahng's documentary here[/url].[br /][br /][url HREF="https://abc7news.com/abc-news-live-local-watch/11513295/" TARGET="" REL=""][media ID="11518842" /][/url][br /][i]If you're on the ABC7 News app, [url HREF="https://abc7news.com/abc-news-live-local-watch/11513295/" TARGET="" REL=""]click here to watch live[/url][/i][br /][br /][newsletter ID="headlines" /]