SteamboatMcGee t1_jacgf1d wrote on February 28, 2023 at 1:09 PM

That book isn't a book about the Golden State Killer, it's a book about Michelle McNamara writing about the GSK, who she was fascinated by and through whom she was on track to realize her lifelong dream of becoming a book author.

Ultimately, she did not succeed in either identifying the GSK (apparently his name was not in any of her notes, much less the actual manuscript) or in finishing her book, and the friends and family who pushed for it to be completed after her death succeeded in what amounts to a vanity project, imo.

It is interesting from the perspective of real crime solving, especially from the civilian angle. A lot of us feel like we could solve these cases if only given the right access, and she did succeed in getting a lot of access.

lucyjayne t1_jad3gky wrote on February 28, 2023 at 3:59 PM

I haven't read it, but listened to a lot of podcasts talking about the book. They all stated that Michelle pretty much solved the case, which I just took at face value because I had no interest in reading it. So, that's not true apparently! Well, now I know and feel silly for believing them.

Myshkin1981 t1_jad84ae wrote on February 28, 2023 at 4:30 PM

I don’t want to speak Ill of the dead, but Michelle McNamara wasn’t any closer to solving this case than any of the thousands of other internet sleuths that have been obsessing over EAR/ONS for decades. Her one and only contributing was coining the term “Golden State Killer”. Her writing helped to renew interest in this old case, her untimely death amplified that interest, and the Golden State Killer was caught right about the time her book was being readied for publication. For these reasons a lot of people ended up thinking she had actually solved the case

SteamboatMcGee t1_jaerbkr wrote on February 28, 2023 at 10:22 PM

Yeah I found the dialogue around the book really misleading once I'd read it. She had a lot of theories, but none of them fit the guy who was ultimately caught. And the investigations were languishing but clearly active, that's how she got so much info after all, by talking to investigators who were still trying to figure it out.

You could definitely attribute the popularity of the GSK (and that name) to her, but not any of the actual solving. He was caught through DNA, like so many are.

I will mention though, that the GSK was actually found by a civilian genealogist personally uploading a DNA sample (from one of the rapes) to a civilian genealogy website as if she were a normal person, and then using the suggested family connections to figure out who he was. This was all in violation of the genealogy websites usage agreements (other databases had also been searched legally, but this one was not aware and had not agreed to disclose customer info in this way).

It's entirely possible that if this had gone to court it would have been thrown out, and there are some really questionable privacy issues at play, so I have wondered and heard others wondering if Michelle McNamara and her book were useful distractions away from how this guy was actually caught.