I'll be gone in the dark : one woman's obsessive search for the Golden State Killer

McNamara, Michelle, 1970-2016, author.

First edition.

Book

New York, NY : Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2018]

©2018

xvi, 328 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (chiefly color), maps, portraits, facsimiles ; 24 cm

For more than ten years, a mysterious and violent predator committed fifty sexual assaults in Northern California before moving south, where he perpetrated ten sadistic murders. Then he disappeared, eluding capture by multiple police forces and some of the best detectives in the area. Three decades later, true crime journalist Michelle McNamara was determined to find the violent psychopath she called "the Golden State Killer." Michelle pored over police reports, interviewed victims, and embedded herself in the online communities that were as obsessed with the case as she was. At the time of the crimes, the Golden State Killer was between the ages of eighteen and thirty, Caucasian, and athletic, capable of vaulting tall fences. He always wore a mask. After choosing a victim -- he favored suburban couples -- he often entered their home when no one was there, studying family pictures, mastering the layout. He attacked while they slept, using a flashlight to awaken and blind them. Though they could not recognize him, his victims recalled his voice: a guttural whisper through clenched teeth, abrupt and threatening.

McNamara, Michelle, 1970-2016.

Serial rape investigation -- California -- Case studies.

Serial murders -- California -- Case studies.

Cold cases (Criminal investigation) -- California -- Case studies.

Case studies.

True crime stories.

Haynes, Paul, contributor.

Flynn, Gillian, 1971- writer of introduction.

Oswalt, Patton, 1969- writer of afterword.

I will be gone in the dark

Time line map -- Cast of characters -- Introduction, by Gillian Flynn -- Prologue -- Part One: Irvine, 1981 ; Dana Point, 1980 ; Hollywood, 2009 ; Oak Park ; Sacramento, 1976-1977 ; Visalia ; Orange County, 1996 ; Irvine, 1986 ; Ventura, 1980 ; Goleta, 1979 ; Goleta, 1981 ; Orange County, 2000 ; Contra Costa, 1997 -- Part Two: Sacramento, 2012 ; East Sacramento, 2012 ; The Cuff-links coda ; Los Angeles, 2012 ; Contra Costa, 2013 ; Fred Ray ; The one ; Los Angeles, 2014 ; Sacramento, 2014 ; Sacramento, 1978 -- Part Three, by Paul Haynes and Billy Jensen -- Afterword, by Patton Oswalt -- Epilogue: Letter to an old man.

9780062319784