40 pages • 1 hour read
Michelle McNamaraI'll Be Gone in the Dark
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2018A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Key Figures
Michelle McNamara
McNamara is a true crime writer and the author of I’ll Be Gone in the Dark. McNamara appears as a character throughout I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, with memoir-style sections describing her life and pursuit of the Golden State Killer. McNamara was raised in Oak Park, a suburb of Chicago, as the youngest in a family of six. Growing up, McNamara has a combative relationship with her mother and often rebels against her, leading the two to fight frequently. At a young age, a neighbor’s unsolved murder sparks McNamara’s interest in unsolved crimes. The murder haunts McNamara, particularly the unknown identity of the killer, leading her to develop a deep interest in serial killers.
Over time, McNamara becomes an amateur sleuth, using the internet to investigate unsolved murders. She writes about her investigations in a blog, True Crime Diary, where she gains a large following for her true crime writing. McNamara first learns about the GSK in a book, Sudden Terror, written by a former detective. Her obsession with the case leads her to an online forum where members share possible evidence and debate theories as to who the GSK might be. McNamara grows obsessed with tracking down the GSK, spending her evenings combing evidence for possible leads. McNamara contacts various detectives who worked on the case, developing close working relationships with criminalist Paul Holes and detective Larry Pool. She frequently sends them possible leads. In 2016, McNamara passes away in her sleep, leaving behind an unfinished book, as well as a mass of evidence and notes about the GSK’s identity.
The Golden State Killer
The Golden State Killer is McNamara’s nickname for a serial killer who committed crimes in California from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s. At the time of the book’s publication, the GSK was still at large. However, in April 2018, following the book’s publication, police arrested and charged Joseph James DeAngelo with the GSK’s crimes.
The GSK first begins committing well-thought-out crimes in the Sacramento area, in 1976. Over the course of two years, the GSK rapes more than 30 women in the Sacramento area. The GSK ties up his victims with ligatures and often steals items of sentimental value from his victims. In 1978, the GSK disappears from the Sacramento area and commits a series of rapes in Modesto and Davis. He later resurfaces in San Francisco’s East Bay Area, particularly targeting Contra Costa county. Then, in the fall of 1979, the GSK begins to target couples in Southern California—in Santa Barbara and Orange Counties. While these crimes display a similar modus operandi to his prior rapes, the GSK is now a murderer. From 1979 to 1986, he kills 10 people.
For years, the police were unable to draw connections among the GSK’s various crimes—until new developments in DNA testing helped them prove that one individual committed all the murders. Further DNA testing allowed police to link the murders to the rapes in Northern California. This break in the case created a buzz of media attention. However, investigators could not find a match for the DNA profile of the criminal. The GSK remained at-large for decades before his capture in 2018, after the book’s publication.
Patton Oswalt
Oswalt is McNamara’s husband—and a famous Hollywood comedian who has appeared in numerous movies and television shows. McNamara portrays Oswalt as incredibly supportive of her obsession for investigating serial killers. As a birthday present, Oswalt gifts McNamara a series of watercolors depicting her fighting against well-known criminals, including the GSK. Oswalt writes the Afterword for I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, describing his admiration of McNamara’s empathy and commitment to obtaining justice for the victims of serial killers.
Larry Pool
Pool is a detective in the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. He works in the Countywide Law Enforcement Unsolved Element (CLUE), a division dedicated to investigating unsolved crimes using DNA testing. Pool investigates the Harrington, Witthuhn, and Cruz murders. Through his investigations, he is able to link these crimes to the murders in Ventura and Santa Barbara. McNamara befriends Pool in the course of her investigation, and often sends Pool possible leads for him to investigate.
Paul Holes
Holes is a criminalist working in the Contra Costa County Sherriff’s Department. During his spare time on the job, Holes begins looking through the department’s unsolved case files, where he first learns of the East Area Rapist (EAR). In 1997, Holes uses DNA analysis on the rape kits to discover the DNA profile of the EAR. As Holes continues to investigate, he learns of a possible connection between the EAR and a series of murders committed in Southern California in the 1980s. In 2001, Holes works with the Orange County criminalist Mary Hong to conclusively prove through DNA evidence that a single individual committed both the rapes in Northern California and the murders in Southern California. McNamara interviews Holes, who takes McNamara on a tour of the GSK’s crime sites in the East Bay Area. At the time of McNamara’s death, Holes and McNamara were working together to use geo-profiling to determine the GSK’s identity.
