Michelle McNamara’s Golden State Killer book ‘I’ll Be Gone in the Dark’ heads to HBO

HBO is developing a documentary series based on Michelle McNamara’s “I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer,” Deadline reports.

The news comes just weeks after the network announced it had acquired the rights to the book, and eight days after police arrested a suspect, former police officer Joseph James DeAngelo Jr., in connection with the string of rapes and killings that terrified Californians in the 1970s and 1980s.

McNamara, a true crime writer, had been working on her book about the Golden State Killer before she died in 2016 at age 46. The book was finished by writers Billy Jensen and Paul Haynes, along with McNamara’s widower, actor and comedian Patton Oswalt.

A copy of the book, “I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer” by Michelle McNamara.

(Jeff Chiu / Associated Press )

The Golden State Killer, also known as the East Area Rapist and the Original Night Stalker, is understood to have killed a dozen people and raped more than 50 women starting in 1976 and ending in 1986. DeAngelo was arrested and charged with eight of the killings after authorities said they linked him to the slayings through a genealogy DNA website. He is being held without bail.

After DeAngelo’s arrest, Oswalt credited his late wife’s investigation for the breakthrough in the cold case, tweeting: “I think you got him, Michelle.”

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Writer Michelle McNamara became obsessed with the case and spent years researching it. She wrote an article for Los Angeles magazine and was turning it into a book when she died in 2016. Her widower, comedian and actor Patton Oswalt, helped complete

Oswalt had discussed the Golden State Killer case two days before DeAngelo’s arrest at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books with Times book editor Carolyn Kellogg, saying: “Part of me hopes that even if he’s never caught, that Michelle did something towards robbing him of some peace of mind.”

The HBO series based on McNamara’s book will be directed by Liz Garbus, who has previously directed the documentaries “Ghosts of Abu Ghraib” and “Love, Marilyn.” Oswalt will serve as executive producer of the series.