I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsession search for the Golden State killer is a true life crime book by Michelle McNamara about the Golden state killer. The book is one of the best non-fiction books. This book has 352 pages. The book was released posthumously on February 27, 2019 (almost two years after McNamara’s death). Crime writer Paul Haynes, investigative journalist Billy Jensen, and McNamara widower Patton Oswalt helped finish the book after Namara’s death. The book reached the top of The New York Times best seller list for non-fiction. It was on the list for fifteen weeks. In 2018, HBO announced that they had purchased the rights for I’ll Be Gone in the Dark and now developing it into a documentary series.
McNamara became interested in the Golden State killer case and wrote an article for Los Angeles magazine about the serial killer in 2013. McNamara herself gave the moniker ‘’Golden State Killer’’ to refer to the serial killer/rapist who had previously been referred to by various names e.g. Original Night Stalker, East Area Rapist and the Diamond Knot killer.
The Golden state killer whom McNamara wrote about is a serial killer, rapist and burglar who committed at least 13 crimes, more than 50 rapes, and over 120 burglaries in California, USA from 1974 to 1986. He is believed to be responsible for three crime sprees throughout California, each of which spawned a different nickname in the press before it became evident that they were committed by the same person. A reward amount of US &50,000 was offered for his captor.
In the Sacramento Area, the killer was known as the East Area Rapist, and was linked by mode of operation to additional attacks in Contra Costa County, Stockton and Modesto. He was later known for his southern California crimes as the Original Night Stalker. He is suspected to have begun as a burglar (the Visalia Rausicker) before moving to the Sacramento area. This was based on a similar mode of operation and circumstantial evidence. In 2001, DNA testing indicated that the East Area Rapist and the Original Night Stalker was the same person and he was known as the EAR/ONS.
I’ll Be Gone in the Dark revealed much other information about the Golden State killer in the book.