I'll Be Gone in the Dark : one woman's obsessive search for the Golden State Killer

McNamara, Michelle 1970-2016 (author.). Haynes, Paul, (contributor.). Flynn, Gillian, 1971- (writer of introduction.). Oswalt, Patton, 1969- (writer of afterword.).

Summary: 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.

Record details

ISBN: 9780062319784
ISBN: 0062319787
ISBN: 9780062319791
Physical Description: xvi, 330 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (chiefly color), maps, portraits, facsimiles ; 24 cm
print
Edition: First edition.
Publisher: New York, NY : Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2018]
Copyright: ©2018

Content descriptions

General Note:

"Framed by an introduction by Gillian Flynn and an afterword by her husband, Patton Oswalt, the book was completed by Michelle's lead researcher and a close colleague [Paul Haynes]."--Amazon.com.

Formatted Contents Note:

Time line map -- Cast of characters -- Introduction, by Gillian Flynn -- Prologue -- Part 1: 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 2: 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 3, by Paul Haynes and Billy Jensen -- Afterword, by Patton Oswalt -- Epilogue: Letter to an old man.