The exploits and capture of one of the worst criminals to roam the backyards and alleyways of three Golden State cities recently reentered the public consciousness thanks to the HBO docuseries I’ll Be Gone In The Dark, which followed the work of true crime writer and late wife of Patton Oswalt, Michelle McNamara as she tried to get to the bottom of the one-time cold case.
The Visalia Ransacker, the East Area Rapist, and the Original Night Stalker cases are some of the most the shocking and gruesome crime sprees to be carried out in the state of California, but each of these three monikers doesn’t describe a cadre of fiendish criminals, they’re all the work of one man — the Golden State Killer, real-name Joseph James DeAngelo.