I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer

Looks good. Serial killers and true crime non fiction has been a gulty pleasure of mine for years.

Wow, I had no idea the fat dead frau of Patton Oswalt's actually did something.

Classy, R2, real classy.

[quote] Classy, [R2], real classy.

Almost as classy as Oswalt remarrying before his wife's body was cold.

Apparently Michelle had a #1 suspect that she was looking into while writing the book. I'll be curious to see if he shows up in it, though if so it probably means her suspect is deceased.

Sorry, R4, you calling her a dead fat frau has nothing to do with how soon he remarried. Nice try.

Didn't the cops hate Michelle and they laughed at her theories?

[quote] Sorry, [R4], you calling her a dead fat frau has nothing to do with how soon he remarried. Nice try.

I'm sorry, was there some untruth in that statement? Or are you also a fat frau?

It's crazy that investigators know so much about this guy but have no idea who he is.

Wait, the author is dead?

r9 what they know and what they can prove in order for charges and/or convictions are two different things.

They have his DNA so all they need is a match.

r12 it's getting the sample without having it thrown out on a 4th Amendment or other violation that's the issue. There's also the question of how good the sample is. DNA differs in quality of information.

"Orange County officials requested to use familial searches to identify the "Original Night Stalker" soon after the method began to be used in California in 2008, but it has not yielded any results so far."

r14 if the profiles and those weird posts on the DL thread are right, that won't work. That's usually only effective for people who have relatives in the system already.

I've noticed that Patton has been seeming very nervous lately...

Yes, r10. The book was substantially but not completely finished when she died. Her lead researcher/assistant finished it. She had disussed what was going into the final version with other friends and colleagues, too.

The book is not available until next year! Way to get the excitement going then "splat".

It's almost October and the release date is February. Not that long.

I can't wait to read this. I grew up in Sacramento at the time the East Area Rapist was active. The descriptions of the attacks were chilling. I was a kid at the time and my family had just moved to East Sacramento so I thought it was happening right in my neighborhood when, in fact, the attacks were about three miles away. Very scary times. I was away from CA for 20 years and didn't know that he had escalated to murder down south.

[quote]Didn't the cops hate Michelle and they laughed at her theories?

I don't believe so. I've read pretty extensively about her and her research. It struck me that the detectives, all of whom were retired, were gratified that someone had picked up on the case and took interest in it.

I was shocked when she died, even more so when the COD was revealed to be a combo of Adderal, Xanax and Fentanyl. Supposedly, there was also an undiagnosed heart condition. I'm not shocked he remarried so quickly. He sounded like one of those people who can't not be married.

[quote]Apparently Michelle had a #1 suspect that she was looking into while writing the book. I'll be curious to see if he shows up in it, though if so it probably means her suspect is deceased.

Doubtful there will be a name. Oswalt refers to him as a "still uncaught creep."

I wonder if the prescription drug use stemmed from her investigation of the case. She described episodes of fear including one panic when Oswalt came home unexpected while she was asleep, startling her. She was waiting crouched in the bedroom holding a lamp to defend herself

Wow, it sounds like all the murder stuff got to her, [R21]! Sad story...

Can you EAR ONS (or whatever the correct acronym is) experts here on DL just spell out who you think is the killer?

On another thread about this, you were all "alluding" to someone and referencing various clues, but I haven't followed all the true crime message boards and DL threads so didn't know what everyone was talking about.

Something about a wealthy rancher (or ranch owner's) son in CA being the suspect that no one can name/catch??

He hasn't remarried R20, he is engaged. I do find it strange when someone loses a spouse and gets involved with someone pretty quick, especially when it is a long marriage.

Some people (especially *men* who have to be married) just can't be alone.

Thanks, R24. I took it on faith when someone upthread had said he remarried..

Exactly what R25 said. He described himself as not only being shell-shocked by her death, but totally unprepared to deal with with day to day living. He flatly admitted not having those skills, especially when it came to raising a daughter. He relied on friends and family to tell him what to do, shepherd him through.

R23, the name I heard on Reddit was someone with the initials DMP, and people aren't using the name anymore because a few months ago they decided he was probably cleared. I guess the real DMP was arrested on a drugs charge last year and somehow that ruled him out.

You might try searching for the phrase "DMP cleared" if you're interested in more.

Thanks, [R27]! It's insane to me that law enforcement has not been able to pin anyone down for these crimes; I only heard about this killer from the DL and am from SoCal.

It's so odd to me that I've never heard of this criminal before this, yet am/have been aware (through the media) of other famous crime stories from CA, like: the Manson family, the Hillside Strangler(s), and the Night Stalker.

It almost seems like this EAR ONS thing has been underreported on and not kept in the press enough...

^R23

I think one reason you didn't hear about him in So Cal is that he struck in different counties and jurisdictions and LE agencies communication with each other back then wasn't very good. The Sacramento detective investigating the EAR immediately made the connection to N Cal rapes (there were others several other communities), He also had expected him to escalate into killing. He contacted the various agencies but he wasn't believed. It wasn't until DNA linked the murders five years after the fact and then later to the rapes that it all came together.

Another reason is the clunky, forgettable naming. EAR, Original Night Stalker (because he began his career before the rapes prowling and BEing into homes, taking trophies but not harming anyone) EAR/ONS, and finally the Golden State Killer when McNamara began writing about him for LA Magazine.

R8, it is possible to criticise an offensive term that doesn't apply to oneself. I'm not black or a Jew; am I therefore supposed to be happy for people to be called nig@gers or ki@kes? I am happy for you and R2 to be called crass idiots though.

R30 and Golden State Killer will prove inaccurate if he's tied to crimes in other states so it'll be time to change it once again. I prefer Baby Dick Killer. So much of what was did was to create power and fear. A nickname like that might shame him out of hiding if his legacy of terror is threatened.

I hate this fucking rebranding. He will always be the East Area Rapist/Original Night Stalker

Gonna kill you. Gonna kill you bitch.

His name is Steve. Son of ranch owner/development projects. He looks like Kirk Cameron of Titanic movie. The one clue Michelle put together was his ranch knots to tie up and the stealing of pennies used in horse watering troughs. The good folks of DL put this together and Michelle attempted credit off of sleuthing DLer's backs. She claimed credit with police department in San Francisco but they were already alerted by other sleuthers. She actually committed suicide when caught out. She killed herself. With a kid in tow, no less.

R23, if I post it I'll be banned. But whatever

Steve is a former race car driver and can be found on Wiki.

Is there any video footage of him that can we compared with the audio recordings, R37?

If it is that guy, then I'm not surprised. I always had a feeling it was either someone with money/influence or connected with LE. There were so many opportunities to catch him, yet he's still at large so many decades later.

Last name starts with a B. Steve B. Do your homework.

Compare the original depictions and he looks like Cameron Titanic dude. Easy.

Total sociopath evading property taxes. Final clue.

Thanks for the clues. Still nothing coming up on a Google search though.

EAR had a tiny penis. This is probably where his violent tendencies emerge from. Mommy issues are also a factor.

]quote]The one clue Michelle put together was his ranch knots to tie up and the stealing of pennies used in horse watering troughs. The good folks of DL put this together and Michelle attempted credit off of sleuthing DLer's backs.

Actually, no. McNamara's blog readers put it together and she credits them. No search of any words yields a DL involvement in the "discovery." Sorry.

This book will probably be shit. Id get the Larry Crompton one instead.

Start @ 1:00 min mark

[quote]The good folks of DL put this together and Michelle attempted credit off of sleuthing DLer's backs. She claimed credit with police department in San Francisco but they were already alerted by other sleuthers. She actually committed suicide when caught out. She killed herself.

Of all the crazies we get on DL, the lady who claims that Michelle McNamara committed suicide because she was "called out" on DL is the worst, I think.

I was reading the DL threads on EAR/ONS at the time and R44 is right, no one here solved anything. People kept trying to tell this crazy woman that McNamara credited her blog commenters with the discovery of several details but she wouldn't hear it. Her hissy fits almost ruined the threads.

R30, my partner was freaked out a few years ago when he discovered EAR/ONS had been near where he lived. He was in San Jose as a kid, on a street that ran straight into the 680. Kids often had their bikes stolen and there were peeping toms regularly seen, and no one thought much about it. Now it's presumed a few of those attacks were EAR/ONS.

I don’t know about the killer but I found the identity of r6 / r8.

My brother had an appointment with Dr. Offerman. They called us that morning and canceled the appointment and said he’d been killed.

Who is Dr. Offerman?

Did profilers ever figure out why he (the killer) targeted men too?

Dr.Offerman and his girlfriend,Alexandria Manning,were victims of the Golden State Killer.

Thanks, [R52]. I know I should read that whole article (and part of me *really* wants to), but this case sounds beyond creepy and I'm from California, so it's even creepier to me...

Michelle Mcnamara was an amateur and just hoped to get "famous" by writing about EAR/ONS and rebranding him GSK. I feel bad that she was never able to escape her drug addictions, and was unfortunately married to your typical Hollywood narcissist-but she was also a huge narcissist as well.

How do you think she got those drugs? Sure some were legally prescribed via doctor shopping as this is what addicts do, but there's no way she was actually prescribed fentanyl, and she or her addict husband probably bought this online or got it from a drug dealer, and she was stupid enough to think she could fuck with a dangerous opiate like fent and take benzos and would be fine when that's how a lot of people have died. I know people who have been addicted to opiates for decades who will not touch or use fent at all, as it's that easy to overdose on even for people like them who are addicts who have a high tolerance to opiates.

Michelle McNamarra and her husband are fame whores, narcissists, and drug addicts. But people like this are way too common in and around Los Angeles, but it's been this way for decades.

Just look at how quickly her former husband remarried after she overdosed. Their "marriage" was your typical Hollywood one and probably one of convenience for both. They only stayed together because they were co-dependent addicts, and because had they gotten divorced they would have stabbed each other in the back in a messy divorce.

I do think it was rather stupid of the authorities to now in 2018 decades later release the information about how the EAR/ONS apparently left his glasses case at one of the homes he raped/killed someone at in the 1970s, and how a man suspected to be him had a shoulder injury and showed up at a hospital, but then ran away. Most people's memories are not that good and the records from that eye doctor, and hospital may not even be around at all.

"... the Golden State Killer was between the ages of eighteen and thirty, Caucasian, and athletic—capable of vaulting tall fences"

Well, we know it wasn't Patton then!

Oswalt's new wife is sketchy. She has been on the fringe of celebrity but had aged out of the sexy girl thing and now she is going to award shows and premieres and is back in the spotlight because of her connection with Patton Oswalt. You can't tell me she is attracted to that little troll.

R57 I'm guessing she's into him for his "fame" or whatever is left of it and it's your typical Hollywood marriage like Patton had with Michelle.

I’ve never heard of Michelle’s special interest until reading this thread. I wonder why she was so driven by this.

Was she in law enforcement? What was her background?

R2, you were not r1. So there’s no reason for your gratuitous shittiness.

R59, haven’t you ever heard about something truly terrible happening and felt the urge to do something about it, because no one else was getting it resolved?

R54 is a truly bad person. A concentrated nugget of trumpkin hatred.

R61, yes. I understand what you’re getting at. I still wonder who killed those two little girls, Abbey and Libby, and I wonder where Brendt Christensen stashed the body of the college student who he killed, YingYing Zhang.

R62, yes. I came to the same conclusion as you.

That's nice R62, I voted for Jill Stein and I'm neither a conservative or Democrat-both parties are the same and have been for decades.

R62 So we are somehow forbidden from ever daring to criticize or question a C-D list actor and addict's wife? Their marriage was not a strong one and these people are in the public eye and, are professional narcissists and it's therefore fine to question and criticize anything and everything about them. Especially when they're both co-dependant addicts, fame whores, and Michelle McNamara is NOT a hero or any sort of true crime expert, or an expert on EAR/ONS she just wanted media attention and wanted to rebrand EAR/ONS as the golden state killer as though this is somehow original, when people have been looking for him/them for decades before she ever heard about any of this.

Oswalt's new wife is sketchy. She has been on the fringe of celebrity but had aged out of the sexy girl thing and now she is going to award shows and premieres and is back in the spotlight because of her connection with Patton Oswalt. You can't tell me she is attracted to that little troll. I would not be surprised if she was his side piece/mistress and he was banging her while he was still married to Michelle.

So much for Patton claiming to be "devastated and unable to recover," and acting as though Michelle was the love of his life. Meanwhile they were both using opiates, and benzos, instead of manning up and having them both change their lives, get sober, and realize that they can't use drugs. Anyone who uses fentanyl is an idiot, and combining it with a benzo means you have a death wish.

All of the PR BS about how she was having anxiety, and unable to sleep was just pushing under the rug the fact that they are both addicts and unfortunately drugs killed Michelle and Patton could care less. Hopefully their daughter does not become a horrible person like her parents are, at all.

R47 Michelle give other people credit? Riiiiiiiight. A LOT of people who are supposedly "experts" in their own minds about EAR/ONS including one that self-published a book and Michelle Mcnamara, just basically plagarize the Larry Crompton book someone else mentioned, and just write all the stuff you can easily read about EAR/ONS online.

I read a ARC of Mcnamara's book, it's nothing special even though her ex husband is milking the shit out of it.

R35 don't you mean James Cameron? Kirk Cameron is a fundie and was on the sitcom growing pains in the 80s.

R65 it’s mostly nervy po-faced Queens obsesssed with exonerating celebrity men their faults around here, so you might feel more comfortable talking about this over on a different forum.

I would recommend O&A (Opie & Anthony) subreddit, aka the most fucked-up place on the shallow Web. They have a long-running Bit going over there that Patton somehow killed his wife, indirectly or otherwise. It’s all in fun, though, just a little good old-fashioned Black Yuma to put hairs on the chest.

I agree with them R68.

All jokes aside, Patton Oswalt is to blame for his wife's death.. (self.opieandanthony)

submitted 1 year ago by SlimWiggins

Yesterday the 'cause of death' for Patton's wife was released and it states that she died as a result of "prescribed medications and an undiagnosed heart condition". The "undiagnosed heart condition" was basically just clogged arteries, which every overweight, middle-aged adult has. So, it's obvious that was put in the 'cause of death' just so Patton's daughter doesn't have to know her mother died of a drug overdose.

At the time of her death, Patton's wife was taking 3 prescribed medications: Adderall, Xanax, and Fentanyl. The key word there is "prescribed" - which means Patton was fully aware that his wife was taking all 3 of these medications.

Who the fuck would allow their spouse to take those 3 medications? An adult with any intelligence is aware that taking any 2 of those meds together is risky. Taking those 3 meds together could kill an extremely healthy 25 year old athlete.. Did Patton really expect his overweight, middle-aged wife to be able to handle that combination of drugs?

Patton thinks he's smart enough to comment on politics, but yet he wasn't smart enough to know combining an opiate, with a benzo, and mixing it with an amphetamine wasn't going to kill his wife? He's seriously retarded or either he wanted his wife to die.

I read Michelle's book thanks to a friend that works in publishing, and it is not that well written and she does not know anything about EAR/ONS.

Can’t wait to read this when it’s released next Tuesday.

R71 just get it from the library, or wait a little bit, it will decrease in price and be very cheap eventually. If you are really interested in EAR/ONS do your own research, you can find out a lot via the internet and you will know more about what's known about EAR/ONS and the suspects of who police believe he/they are, than McNamara and internet wannabe true crime sleuths do.

R71 same here. Looking forward to reading this.

Pre-ordered it.

I know we discussed Michelle when she passed, but was she addict or was it an unfortunate accident?

I just got the book Case Files of the East Area Rapist on Amazon for a couple of bucks. So far so good. Gives details of each individual case.

R74 an addict, it is pretty obvious and her husband is one as well.

You don't start out taking fentanyl and both opiates and benzos on their own in moderate or even large doses are dangerous, and both are extremely physically addictive.

Combining opiates and benzos is extremely dangerous, and A LOT of people have overdosed from this combination. They may combine these deadly drugs a few times, or many times, and get a false sense of security and think that they will be fine despite how others have died from this combination, but then they do it again and they die.

I like Golden State Killer, it has a good ring to it.

Are there any books similar to this ? I'm looking for something where the author has some personal attachment to the story. Like A Strange Piece of Paradise by Terri Jentz or In Cold Blood by Truman Capote .

There’s a good possibility the this particular serial killer is dead by now, yes? If not, he will be within the next 10 to 20 years. I hope that if he’s still alive, that he finds a way of communicating to someone in law enforcement, who he is, what he did, and specifics that would only be known by him, and the investigators. It would be awesome to get a deathbed confession out of this guy. Or something in a safe deposit box with a detailed letter, or recording with his confession.

I wonder if a serial killer who hasn’t been caught ever considered doing something like that. I know I would. I’d want people to know that it was me all along. I most probably wouldn’t do it if I had children and grandchildren, but otherwise, I would.

I read the Larry Crompton book which is basically about all of this guy's crimes before he starting murdering people.

It was shocking to me how many rapes and attacks that this guy perpetrated.

No doubt that he had a military connection. He had a small dick- which all of the women noted!

What I did not realize until reading the book is that this guy STALKED many of these women beforehand. He really scoped out their homes, etc..

And that recording of him calling a woman he attacked years after?? Jesus Christ. Scary stuff.

Yeah, R80. Investigators believe he stalked them diligently. He most likely began as a peeping Tom, in his teens, and it quickly escalated from there.

Most of these men and women who become either killers, or serial killers, begin show very definitive signs as children. They all either engage in at least one, or several of the classic behaviors as small children, indicating psychopathy.

I was reading about a 13 year old who shot his mother 23 times with a rifle, and after she lay dead, considered raping her corpse. His name was Noah Crooks. Anyhow, when he was a small kid, he burned down his grandmother’s house. At that time, fire investigators claimed that it was an unfortunate accident, and everyone was lucky to have gotten out and to be alive. They never thought that the kid had a problem, because he came from a very loving home, with no history of abuse, etc.

After spending three years with the kid in therapy, after he had killed his mom, and was locked up in juvenile detention, psychiatrists working with the kid, had determined that the fire was no accident, and the kid had started the fire deliberately.

By the time he turned 17, he was eligible for parole, with time served, and one year of probation. However, the judge presiding over the case denied the request, based on the reports that came in from the psychiatric team employed by the state of Iowa. They had argued that Noah was a classic, true psychopath, in every sense of the word, & that if released, would pose a real danger to society.

He was sentenced to serve up to 50 years.

This stuff is really serious. Yesterday, I witnessed a young mother who was what I consider to be over the top careless with her child. I think a lot of people just brush stuff off, but if one sees anything like their child hurting animals, or starting fires, or physically harming other children, they need to snap out of it, & realize that they might have a problem. They say that children can be helped, if antisocial behavior is caught early enough.

r78 check out Ann Rule's The Stranger Beside Me, about her friendship with Ted Bundy before anyone knew he was a serial killer.

"A Rip in Heaven"-In 1991 Jeanine Cummins's brother Tom and their two cousins were attacked on the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge in St. Louis. The girls were raped and all three teens were thrown off the bridge. Tom was the only survivor.

[quote]I do find it strange when someone loses a spouse and gets involved with someone pretty quick, especially when it is a long marriage.

Some people consider it romantic, and say that the surviving spouse must have had a very beautiful and loving marriage (because otherwise they wouldn't want to be re-married again).

I believe it's more a matter of the survivor being both a neurotic mess who can't be alone and someone who, like R25 says, has no adult life skills so they need a new partner to run the household for them.

Like Patton himself admits, he had no clue how to be a "single" parent at all, and would even run out of clean socks for both himself and his daughter. How fucking stupid do you have to be to not understand that laundry needs to be done? Why not hire a fucking maid if you're that retarded?

R75 that book is nothing but a total copy/plagiarism of a book by Larry Crompton and you can find all of the information in it on the internet.

that's crazy R81. He should be in prison for the rest of his life.

R83 thanks for the book recommendation.

So does Patton get the profits for this book? He is doing the publicity rounds for it (was on Colbert tonight). Kind of sick that he will pay for his new wife with the money.

I am surprised Patton has time to do much, he seems to always be on Twitter acting like a SJW

I love the frau in this thread comparing 'frau' to the n-word.

Michelle's book is not that well researched or written.

If you are familiar with the east area rapist/original night stalker, there's nothing new that you do not already know in the book.

Michelle also went on and on and on about herself more than about EAR/ONS.

Survivors and relatives of victims of EAR/ONS REALLY do not like Michelle or the other victims' family members who make gofundme pages for people to give them a free vacation to travel to true crime conventions, or because life is soooooo difficult decades later after the murders/rapes.

[quote]check out Ann Rule's The Stranger Beside Me, about her friendship with Ted Bundy before anyone knew he was a serial killer.

It’s a good read but Rule made up a lot of nonsense in order to sell the story. She’s the one who started the whole myth about Bundy only killing “brunettes with long hair parted in the middle” or that his killings started due to his being dumped by “Stephanie Brooks”- both of which are totally untrue.

The best Bundy book is The Only Living Witness.

R90 I wasn't impressed either. Does her troll husband get the proceeds?

R91 I've heard what you said about the stranger beside me and Ann Rule before. I have a copy of the only living witness, but have yet to read it as I am reading other true crime books instead, like a book about the Michigan co-ed murders, and a book about HH Holmes instead-it's by Harold Schechter, and Erik Larson basically copied/plagarised most of it.

I don't think she was far off (Ann Rule) about Stephanie's leaving him and his killing women who looked like her. At any rate, those books or books on Dahmer are interesting to read because there's a resolution and we can then study the pathology that led up to them becoming killers. This books sounds dumb and unsatisfying since there's no resolution so there's nothing we can learn from him. I hate unsolved mysteries for the same reason.

[quote]I don't think she was far off (Ann Rule) about Stephanie's leaving him and his killing women who looked like her.

I’m skeptical of her narrative. I’m sure Brooks dumping him was a crisis moment of sorts but Bundy is suspected of murders and assaults that took place before he and Stephanie were dating- Lonnie Trumbull and her roommate for one. And Bundy’s victims ranged from 12-29, adolescent girls to professional women, blondes, brunettes, and redheads. Some petite, some tall. Dahmer, as a counterpoint, had a much more specific victim type than Bundy.

The bad reviews on the McNamara book is disappointing. This case is absolutely solvable but at this point I think the perp is deceased.

Oswalt really didn't remarry in haste, although the data shows people who are happily married tend to remarry quickly when their spouse dies. He's 47, he'd been married a long time when his wife died - if he weren't happily married it would have made more sense to enjoy being single.

His current wife was a friend of friends, and they first made contact by talking on Facebook in February (11 months after his wife died). Then they went out in April, and a couple of months later were engaged. She's 46-47, he's 47 or so. That's fine that it happened quickly. He wasn't dating her a month after his wife died.

Apparently Michelle was stressed and overworked and not sleeping. Patton suggested she sleep it off and gave her a Xanax that was prescribed to him. Obviously it didn't react well with the other meds she was on. He let her sleep and sleep and he was the one who found her dead in the bed the next day when she never got up. No one says so, but he kinda killed her! Oops!

Pleas r97, a cow like that couldn't just be felled by one xanax, I'm sure the metric fuck ton of fentanyl had more to do with it.

R98 I wonder how she got the fent? From a drug dealer? From some shady doctor or some pain clinic? Or was she addicted to heroin and had heroin laced with fent?

R95 who do you believe the east area rapist is? I also believe that they are dead and have been for awhile. They were into breaking into people's homes and robbing, raping, murdering people and probably were shot by a home owner or police.

I hate this drug addicted bitch. For a start it's EAR/ONS. Stop trying to get a legacy.

Second she added nothing that wasn't already known.

Visalia Ransacker = East Area Rapist = Original Night Stalker

R100 He isn't dead. He's managed to curtail his urges and probably has a family somewhere, probably even Cali.

R101 maybe he's in Flyover land? Or the Pacific Northwest?

I find it weird that Patton Oswalt and his deceased wife have such deranged and hateful stalkery types polluting the discussions about them.

R102 No, I'm betting he lives close by to one of the attack sites and visits often reliving his past 'glories'

I just wish the inept cops would release the two bits of MO that have been deliberately left out.

R103 FFS She was a selfish junkie addicted to fent. She was a fucking mess.

Who wants to stalk a fat nobody cashing in on his dead wifes book? Yeah no one.

Maybe it gets to people that they've seemingly hijacked the case trying to insert themselves into the narrative without achieving anything and have made it about themselves instead of you know the case.

True R104 they are not releasing the information on purpose. Do you believe the police know who he is?

I feel bad for Patton's daughter since she had two drug addicted narcissists as parents.

Yeah I know that R106 but keeping that a secret now is just stupid. Nothing's going to be achieved by withholding it now. However it might help jog some memories of even more deviant behaviour. If some junkie like McNamara has unprecedented access, then we all deserve to.

I think they undoubtedly came into contact with him at some point in the investigation. I wouldn't be surprised if they let him go because he passed that stupid secretor test.

Seriously that guy who was semi naked looking for his cat miles away from where he lived with photography equipment in his car when camera equipment had been stolen in past attacks. I feel they let possible suspects go too easily.

I still believe it's a very solvable case.

R108 yeah it was odd how they gave McNamara access to all of the case files, evidence, etc. She's not a journalist, in law enforcement, or a forensics technician/scientist.

R103 Agreed.

Yeah, R109, but she was married to a celebrity. That's the difference.

[quote]I just wish the inept cops would release the two bits of MO that have been deliberately left out.

Details please?

Patton Oswalt a celebrity. Oh my sides!

R112 Cops know two details about the case they have withheld. The most speculated acts are he takes pictures of his victims during or after the rapes or he urinates or defecates somewhere in the houses.

Thanks r113.

(99) Since you are so adamant about finding out how she got fentanyl several times on this thread now, why don't you just google "fentanyl analogs for sale?" Back when Patton's wife died, most if these were still considered "research chemicals" and could be purchased on RC websites in the US (funny how hallucinogens are only allowed to be bought in the EU online though). Some of these analogs to this day may still be unscheduled, therefore purchasable with just a click of a button, yet many many times stronger than the original (Fentanyl) formula!

This wacky bitch got fentanyl, I bet anyone in Hollywood can.

Why can’t all these high paid famous psychics just state his name. They supposedly are so accurate- shit, then solve the case.

Where the fuck are the Patton stans coming from?

What I found interesting in the Crompton book was what I mentioned above - that this guy really stalked these women- knew their names, etc- BEFORE the internet era. I totally believe in his military connection as well.

But the craziest shit to me was that during each of these rapes he would be always in another room at some point talking to himself like a maniac and CRYING.

This dude seriously had schizophrenic tendencies, and was fucking deranged.

[quote]But the craziest shit to me was that during each of these rapes he would be always in another room at some point talking to himself like a maniac and CRYING. This dude seriously had schizophrenic tendencies, and was fucking deranged.

Was he? Or was it an act? Someone like Richard Chase, who hit the same area around the same time- now he was deranged. This guy seemed too calculating, like he was putting on a performance.

I think the two missing bits of info are that he left copies of the Tyne Daly Gypsy album at all the crime scenes, and that the footprints were really size 13D pumps.

R104 and R113 do you post on reddit?

I know all about those research chems R115. In my city people are selling them as heroin or mixed in with heroin. It's fucked up to say this but when some heroin/opiate addicts hear about people overdosing on a certain bag or "brand" of dope they want it since they know it's strong, and they do not care if it has fent in it. My ex boss would take the hallucinogenic RCs and when I asked him why he did not just eat mushrooms, take acid, or smoke herb instead, he said how all of the research chemicals are more safe than drinking alcohol in moderation. When I used drugs as a teenager and young adult in my 20s I stopped taking acid when research chemicals first started being sold as LSD in the very early 2000s, and I would just eat mushrooms or smoke herb instead.

Lots of deranged trolls on this thread, I see.

R95 is dead wrong: McNamara's book has received excellent reviews--it got a starred review in Publisher's Weekly, an A minus in Entertainment Weekly, 4/5 stars in The Independent, a 4.6 on Amazon, and other raves and very strong reviews in the New York Times, Slate, NPR.com, New York Magazine, Esquire, the LA Review of Books, USA Today, People, and other outlets. Some of the best writers in the crime and horror genres, like Stephen King, Gillian Flynn, and Megan Abbott, have also said very positive things about it. I haven't seen a single bad review.

In addition, the book made its debut at #1 on the New York Times nonfiction best-seller list.

None of that is surprising, because McNamara was a very talented writer. She had been a professional TV writer and her blog, True Crime Diary, was sharp and beautifully written--a fascinating read. I haven't read her book yet (am waiting for the paperback) but I read her blog for years.

The best thing of all about the book is that it's focused so much more attention on this case, which dramatically increases its chances of being solved and the son of a bitch being finally brought to justice. So you haters can suck it.

"you haters can suck it"? Wow, I guess we've been put in our place.

R123=McNamara fanboy/fangirl that's not living in reality. The book sucks, and there's absolutely nothing in the book that has not been discussed or written before about EAR/ONS, and no she's not a talented writer.

R125 Gets it. And, the ego on her to rename EAR/ONS the Golden State Killer (which could be applied to any number of serial killers like Randy Kraft).

What's up with the weirdos calling McNamara a bitch? By all accounts she was a nice woman

[quote]R95] is dead wrong: McNamara's book has received excellent reviews--it got a starred review in Publisher's Weekly, an A minus in Entertainment Weekly, 4/5 stars in The Independent, a 4.6 on Amazon, and other raves and very strong reviews in the New York Times, Slate, NPR.com, New York Magazine, Esquire, the LA Review of Books, USA Today, People, and other outlets.

I’m r95, and you are... McNanara’s publicist? Sad. I talked with Michelle several times via her blog and email over the years; she was always an engaging and kind person. I had no beef with her. When I mentioned bad reviews I was referring both to this thread and some posts on the reddit true crime subs that are admittedly much more exacting and “inside baseball” about this book and her research than People fucking magazine.

So please Patton, kindly fuck off.

R128 LOL. I'm beginning to think the rabid defender is Patton too.

I lost interest when I read that he had a micro penis.

[quote]Oswalt's new wife is sketchy. She has been on the fringe of celebrity but had aged out of the sexy girl thing and now she is going to award shows and premieres and is back in the spotlight because of her connection with Patton Oswalt. You can't tell me she is attracted to that little troll.

Sketchy? Really? How do you know this? Patton's second wife was an actress, her name is Meredith Salenger, she was in several films, then she left Hollywood for Harvard, where she earned a degree in psychology, she also has a law degree from Pepperdine. She currently works as a mediator for the Agency for Dispute Resolution in Beverly Hills.

One of her long time best friends is the Roots drummer Questlove. Very random but Patton talked about it when he was on Fallon's show.

R128, I'm just someone with an interest in true crime who has read and appreciated McNamara's work. I also follow Reddit subs on crime and this case. On the Reddit threads the book has some detractors but most people liked it and a number said they loved it (see the thread below).

There are certainly some people (though not you, R128) who have an irrational hatred of McNamara, but the true crime subs tend to attract a lot of loons. And some of it is pure jealousy and misogyny. Another woman who wrote a book about the case, Kat Winters, contributes to the those threads with a lot of useful and detailed information, and is never less than gracious and polite. And yet she still gets an awful lot of shit thrown her way. It's not hard to figure out why.

R132 Most true crime communities are majority female even on Reddit, fanboy/girl. If people dislike McNamara, maybe, it's because she and Patton made the case about her. They don't even acknowledge the work of people like retired EARS investigator, Larry Crompton (whose book she got most of her 'new' info from).

EAR not EARS

It was a poorly written book. I'll be fair and assume the manuscript wasn't edited by a professional, but there were no new insights. According to Crompton, he actually caught law enforcement throwing out case files. I'm not sure their supposed endorsement of McNamara means much.

LMAO R132, Kat Winters, is yet another hack writer. Her "book" was nothing but a total copy and plagiarism of the Larry Crompton book, and it offered nothing new about EAR/ONS that had not been published or discussed before, and that anyone can easily find via a simple google search.

There are people who want to make money off of EAR/ONS and Kat Winters, is one of them. The other family members of victims and survivors of EAR/ONS, really do not like Michelle Cruz and Debbie Domingo who they feel are just professional victims and these women actually had the gall to ask for people to donate money so they can go to a true crime convention yet again, and get another free vacation. The other family members and survivors of EAR/ONS also really did not like McNamara either, as they feel as though EAR/ONS has been getting enough attention through the decades like he craves or craved, and that the BS of "We need to find the killer! Give us money so we can go to crimecon it will cost $6,000-$8,000 to send two adults from the west coast to Nashville! Oh, and it's been such a difficult year we will take any money you will give us! Please buy one of our EAR/ONS T-Shirts as well!"

If you go on the pro-boards you will see how some fools on there treat the victims' families as though they are akin to celebrities, and of course Michelle Cruz and Debbie Domingo love this attention and fame, or being thought of as celebrities.

What R133 said is correct, Michelle wanted to rebrand EAR/ONS as the stupid "Golden state killer" which is pointless as there are other serial killers from California like Randy Kraft and others from California. Most people have already known about EAR/ONS for decades, and it's not some secret that EAR/ONS is unidentified and may be alive, or dead, and her book went on way too much about her and Patton, and nothing new about EAR/ONS was included in the book despite how she was given access to all of the casefiles, evidence, etc.

r137 is correct, there's only one Golden State Killer, and it's me!

That book by Larry Crompton is terrible.

I’m reading IBGITD now and it’s a better read although not as great as some would say.

[quote]pointless as there are other serial killers from California

Better than having two Night Stalkers. Really, whoever is in charge of naming serial killers should have done a better job, instead of going with a name that was already spoken for.

Will EAR/ONS ever be identified and arrested?

I agree that (sadly) the naming or “branding” of a serial killer is important for keeping the case in the press and in the public eye—which is imperative if they want the media and public’s assistance in tracking down the killer.

For years I would randomly hear a headline or thread about “EAR/ONS”—which just sounds so odd in and of itself and (on the surface at least) indicates nothing about the horrific crimes he in particular committed.

Even when the name’s meaning was described to me, the description was so long and belabored that I was still a bit confused and also left thinking/wondering about “the original night stalker”—rather than just thinking about *this* suspect.

The name was just so odd (especially the EAR part) that it was a distraction from the actual case.

Names or “branding” are important when seeking the press and public’s involvement in solving a crime—whether that’s fair or not.

I guarantee you that if “The Zodiac” had not been given that “intriguing” name right at the beginning and had instead been called something generic like RBAK (Random Bay Area Killer) we would not still be talking about, investigating, or keeping the case alive in the public consciousness all the way in 2018....

*At least “Golden State Killer” is memorable/catchy & not associated with “the first” anything....

Can you imagine if there was a serial killer called the BIG COCK STALKER or LONG DONG CHARLIE.

I would solve that CRIME!!!

Ironic that that the East Area Rapist/Original Night Stalker was hung like a mosquito.

Maybe we should take this killer back from the universe and rename him "Pencil Dick Rapist" or the Pencil Dick Killer- Perhaps then, and only then, people will care and help us catch this loony bird!

I think he is dead. Here’s why: he couldn’t help himself. Look at how prolific this guy was. No way a guy like that stops. It is possible that he stopped, however, it is also unlikely. This guy appeared to be the type to go for broke. Almost like he enjoyed the thrill of the danger and simultaneously became too arrogant to objectively reassess his circumstances, and reason with himself in a clear and unbiased way.

This man was a loner. His victims were his “relationships”. His courtship phase before the break ins and rapes/murders.

He was smart to go from county to county. That in itself, helped prolong his activity.

Has anyone ever considered that vigilante justice took hold, and someone quietly took him out? Or perhaps he was determined to stay in control, and committed suicide.

R145, Possibly.But didn't that scary as fuck call of him calling a former victim occur MANY years after the murders/rapes?

If so, he DID stop for a long period of time.

My facts may be wrong on that call though.

[quote]For years I would randomly hear a headline or thread about “EAR/ONS”—which just sounds so odd in and of itself and (on the surface at least) indicates nothing about the horrific crimes he in particular committed.

I've been catching up on the My Favorite Murder podcast, and while Georgia and Karen are not the most discriminating of critics, and Karen was also friends with Michelle through Patton, they're not objective, but Karen made the very good point that EAR/ONS sounds so awkward.

I'm enjoying the book, although I have to go in fits and starts because I find the segments where she talks about her life achingly sad.

I have to agree that Crompton's book was terrible. It was well written, but not what I thought it would be-

The actual murders were a short blip-

His book was all about the rapes that this guy committed before he started killing.

It is page after page after page of rapes and break-ins.

Its very boring. Yet shocked me how prolific this guy was!!! And there were some details I had never heard before.- Some witness who may have seen him at a military base/function, the stalking aspect, the small dick, and the fact that this guy cried and talked to himself during half of these rapes.

The last call GSK made was in 2001. He isn't dead.

He’s fine.

He sends his love.

Listening to the various messages he left, including the “I’m gonna kill you” one, is really scary,

When I was a kid, 11 or 12, I got a torn meniscus in my knee and had surgery. I had a follow up appointment and the office called that morning and had to cancel the appointment because the doctor had died.

That was shocking enough, but the next day found out he was actually murdered with his girlfriend. That was the first actual killing, I think.

If he stopped and is still living, why did he stop? He was still young enough to continue. I’m not saying he should have kept going, but why did he stop?

Is LE positive that he placed that phone call?

I don't understand be how the fact that he was alive 17 years ago means he must be alive now.

R154, I don’t understand how they are positive that the call came from him in 2001, and also agree with your point.

[quote] His book was all about the rapes that this guy committed before he started killing.

Don't know anything about this and never read this book but maybe there was more discussion about the rapes because they had survivors who could supply more information to write about than dead people. Just a thought.

And also because the rape part was in his very name, EAR = East Area Rapist.

I hope they catch the killer of Abigail Williams and Liberty German before he strikes again.

I’ve not thought of those two girls in a while, r158.

It’s been well over a year, or has it not? I cannot believe that nothing has come from that investigation, either. But many crimes go unsolved, unfortunately.

R144 Can you solve the mystery of who this serial killer is?

R148 did you ever read the book "Son: a psychopath and his victims" by Jack Olsen about a serial rapist?

The serial rapist in that book did some of the same things EAR/ONS did like crying or pretending to be sad during the rapes/sexual assaults, and even telling the women afterwards, "I'm sorry. Did you like that?"

How do we know the EAR was hung like a mosquito? Did one of the rape victims report that?

Can you imagine Patton naked? Ugh. That imagine should be considered sexual assault.

R162, Nearly ALL of the rape victims reported SMALL COCKAGE!!!

Wake up, bitch!

I agree with r140. I always got him confused with Richard Ramirez. I have seen some forums where people referred to him as The Baby Dick Killer, which I think is actually better. I mean how do you rape a virgin three times and not manage to break her hymen?

Let’s call him The Tinymeat Killer - TTK.

It’s reminiscent of BTK, which gives it a nice traditional serial killer sound.

Image not imagine.

These guys can and do stop. Look at BTK or Gary Ridgeway- they hit their 40s and 50s and the testosterone drops, the libido drops, they find themselves married with families- and for a multitude of reasons they simply... stop killing.

In BTK’s case, wasn’t he thinking about resuming when he was caught? Getting one or two more kills in for old time’s sake?

R169 BTK started communicating with law enforcement and ask them if they could trace a floppy disc back to his computer.

He said that he was planning to kill again, and even had a date picked out, Oct 4.

R165, did that really happen?

If you go on reddit or the pro-boards and say how EAR/ONS has tiny meat prepare to get flamed by people who are insistent that he did not, when at least one victim said he apparently was small or tiny even when he had an erection.

I am sure there are other sites that have this info, I have read it a number of places. Here is the link r172. Victim #10

Perpetrator Description

Victim said assailant wore a dark red mask, and a dark jacket. He was regular build, about 6 foot. Assailant spoke with clenched teeth in an angry whisper. From the footprint left on the collapsed fence, assailant wore tennis shoes, size 9, zigzag pattern on sole. The penis of assailant was small. In fact, despite being raped three times, victim was still technically a virgin.

Victim #23 claimed he used a dildo....

"Description

As before, the assailant had spoken in a low, clenched and threatening whisper, but when excited he had spoken in a higher-pitched voice. He carried an automatic pistol. Small flashlight. He also wore gloves. The mask was brown. Victim described assailant penis as small and said there was an obvious difference between it and the rubber penis that he used. She also said he had a bad odor but not BO exactly. Said it was just a dirty smell. "

If you read all of the victim statements pretty much every single one of them said he had a small penis. Some said it was about the size of a roll of quarters. Even more interesting, most of them said he lubed up before hand.

[quote]—What a guy

I shouldn't laugh...

So his tiny pecker drove him to rape and murder? How tiny was it?

I have a cousin with a very tiny pecker. I love him dearly. We grew up together, and he is more like a brother to me than my own brother. But unfortunately, he wasn’t hung, and his siblings made fun of him relentlessly. I never did.

Anyhow, he is now in federal law enforcement, and spends most of his working hours with a gun in his holster. He even showed up to a family party packing.

Poor guy. Tells you a lot about small peckers.

I love him though. He’s always looked out for me, and I believe appreciates me for never hitting below the belt as kids (no pun intended).

I think they were both addicts narrative is likely. Wasn't just an adderall x xanax x fetnyl snafu... they found cocaine and more ! how could he not know?

officials called to the death scene found TFMPP, or Legal X, a recreational drug often sold as an alternative to MDMA, or ecstasy. The pill was embossed with a lightning bolt, and was hidden inside a small plastic bag tucked away inside a larger bag.

- cocaine - levamisole, a dewormer for livestock often mixed with the hard drug, inside a small brown vial, also covered in a plastic bag.

Officials also found - painkillers oxycodone and hydrocodone - Dextroamphetamine, a dangerous stimulant that can lead to psychosis and heart failure.

R176 I would need drugs to fuck Patton. Can you imagine it naked?

[r179] yuck

Patton is the reason this book is successful as he is promoting it hard

R178 I'm not surprised they are both addicted to drugs. I feel bad for their daughter.

Leave it to DL to turn a thread about a serial killer into a thread about the killer's cock size! 😂😂😂😂

I think the whole world should agree on "Baby Dick Killer".

Since there's a good chance the killer is alive and able to read his own press, that may be the only punishment he ever receives for his crimes.

I honestly don't put much stock into his cock being tiny. Not only do you get reports of average size (with one poor Asian lady saying it was bigger than her husband) but the guy had erection issues in a lot of cases. Also a lot of these women weren't very sexually experienced and most women have no clue about cock size. It was a harrowing time for these ladies and their partners and being in a state of shock probably weren't thinking too clearly or about the cock size of the rapist.

I think the small cock has been fabricated/overblown to an extent to try and humiliate the EAR/ONS. Say two women said he was small and it got overblown. You have so many variations of his cock size it's a pretty moot point. What a did find interesting was that he used a dildo on one victim. Why was she singled out? It did happen after his Hospital visit so maybe he was too injured

You mean the killer was in the hospital but wasn’t caught/arrested, [R185]? How did that happen? (And how did we find out?)

Any DLers reading this new book? Interested to hear any fresh perspectives on it from DLers....

R187 I am reading it since my library has it, and I enjoy reading true crime/serial killer books. The book is being overhyped by her husband, and it's not that well written or researched. McNamara writes way too much about herself and you do not learn anything new about EAR/ONS that's not been discussed or learned before.

You can learn more about EAR/ONS from watching documentaries on youtube, or reading the sites people linked above like the quester site.

R188 It needed a professional (and emotionally detached) editor.

Patton gives me the creeps.

R190 he's doing an AMA (ask me anything) on reddit here on Monday March 26th at 12PM EST.

I plan on asking why he believes his wife was some expert on EAR/ONS when she was just some wannabe true crime writer?

R191 He'll probably play victim. I intend to ask too. :) We'll probably get shamed for being 'mean'.

The book was really poorly written.

EAR/ONS =R185

I've been watching the show on HLN. Let's just say that the jury is still out.

I listened to the book on Audible this week - it's entertaining enough. But it's not the most well-documented review of EAR/ON - The Golden State Killer case out there.

The review of the crimes is not particularly thorough or chronologically complete - but it certainly hits the highlights. And it focuses on some the leads Michelle pursued, a few with the help of Patton's money.

But Michelle was obsessed with solving the case, and it gives you some insight into her journey. I sort of ended up feeling that Michelle struggled with finding her own identity in life. She may have felt overshadowed by Patton's career (as many celebrity spouses do) and this case was a way for her carve out her own sense of identity.

Oh my god r191 r192, please do!

I read it the week it came out. If you've already read everything about EAR/ONS, it might not impress you. I had moderate knowledge of the case and thought the book was great. Her writing is very evocative, and one part is so scary that I had to put the book down for a while.

Patton Oswalt AMA on reddit.

So far Patton is just answering stupid questions people have, and he knows jack shit about his wife's "research".

R199 What a shock... mostly ass kissing questions. /s

This is the same sub that gave that Maura Murray loon, James Renner free advertisement until they turned on him.

RE the AMA- Why is Michelle being treated as some kind of martyr?

Should of asked how he could possibly turn a blind eye to his wife being so drugged up. Did he really feel safe leaving his seven year old child alone with her? The stuff found in her system wasn’t an accident, it was a tragedy waiting to happen. No single doctor would prescribe that regimen unless they were trying to get their license revoked.

I posted on Reddit that I thought Dr Now's office looked like it was in a cheap strip mall and got blasted and a lot of downvotes. Fuck those Reddit people. I knew they would kiss Patton's ass.

r131 thanks for joining us Meredith

R204 That sub has gone to shit.

Law enforcement really fucked up. I never thought this guy was some kind of criminal mastermind.

I started a new thread about a possible arrest here:

Yay!!👏👏👏 Thank you, [R208]! Going over there right now!

If all this is true (about an arrest, etc.) it is not only stunning, but will make this one of the most fascinating true crime cases ever.

This asshole has been eluding detection for decades and was particularly sadistic—not your typical “run of the mill” psycho. He made his victims suffer as much as possible—violently and painfully.

And he had a wife and kids we’re hearing now?!? This is insane...

It will also be a criminal profiler’s dream now to study and talk with this guy one on one and the (only) upside to that is that it may help them be able to solve crimes like this quicker and more efficiently in the future.

So excited about this (hopeful) break in the case!!

Well? Is it who the toad's wife thought it was? I know she cribbed the info from WS but did she get it right?

I don't think so r210, if she was the one who thought his initials were SMK or whatever it says earlier, and that he was a wealthy rancher's son.

R210 nope, EAR/ONS was not the person who McNamara claimed he was in her poorly written and researched book. It's pretty laughable how McNamara and Paul Holes claimed how the knots the east area rapist/original night stalker used meant nothing, and how there was no way he could have been in the military, or former cop, etc. since his hair was too long in the mid 1970s, and yet he wound up having served in the navy and being a former cop.