To catch a killer

Those of you who have been reading my diary for a while will know that I’m obsessed with serial killers, mass murderers, spree killers and religious cults.  I’m not sure why they fascinate me so much, but they do and always have.

So, I got a surprise yesterday when I discovered that the police confirmed that they had caught the Golden State Killer (also known as the East Area Rapist and the Original Night Stalker as well as, it turns out, the Visalia Ransacker.)   The case was in the spotlight recently due to the release of the book I’ll Be Gone In The Dark by the late Michelle McNamara which her husband, Patton Oswalt was publicising.(I was desperate to get my hand on it before, even more now.)

I’ll be perfectly honest, I really thought that it was a case that would never be solved, or only done so when the killer was dead.  The fact he has been caught is amazing.  The widely believed rumour (the police have not confirmed this) is that his daughter found some of his trophies and submitted to a DNA test.

And it turns out he was a police officer, sacked in 1978 for shoplifting a hammer and dog repellent, which was thought to be intended to be used in his next crime.

While we now know who, there is so much still unanswered.  Why did he escalate from voyeurism and burglary to rape and then murder?  Why were there breaks in his crimes?  (That one is likely to be due to marriage and then becoming a father.)  Why did he stop in 1986?  Why did the phone some of his victims?  Was he ever called to the scene of one of his crimes?

Sadly, he won’t be tried for all of his crimes due to the statute of limitations.  But he’s not leaving prison in anything other than a box.

Will