The Golden State Killer

Yesterday it was announced that a suspect was arrested in the long cold Golden State Killer/East Side Rapist case. While I'm no true crime expert (no, I don't listen to My Favorite Murder), I have always had a thing for fake crime. Criminal Minds still stands as one of my favorite all time shows and I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought about become a forensic scientist before I realized I hated studying science.

There's a few things that stick out to my about the coverage that I think everybody should know.

1: Michelle McNamara is a badass and I am so sad for her that she didn't get to see this day. But I am also so happy that Patton Oswalt and the people who helped him finish her book were together to hear the news, and I'm even more jazzed about the importance of literature. Her book, while she didn't actually know the killer, undoubtedly kept public interest in the case high and had a part in the killer's catching. I can't wait to read I'll Be Gone In The Dark after graduation and highly suggest you do, too. (bonus points for content that refers to her as Michelle McNamara instead of Patton Oswalt's wife)

2: I cannot believe (or, rather, I can believe but don't want to) there is not more headlines stating that one of the most notorious serial killers in history was an EX-COP. If the GSK was a black man who had once gotten a speeding ticket that sure would be in the headlines. I also want to point to this line in a NYT article: "Mr. DeAngelo, whom the authorities suspect of committing a total of 12 murders, was arrested by investigators using some of the same tactics employed by the suspect to stalk his victims — the police surveilled his movements, studied his routines and pounced when he left his house."

I think it's brilliant writing.

3: It is CRAZY that the way they captured this man was through an ancestry site. They took partial DNA, searched for partial matched, and then used a profile (age, location, etc.) to search through those partial matches' family members which actually led to the killer and actually was legal! This is something that would create super interesting discussions about ethics.

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