HBO has ordered a docuseries based on the late Michelle McNamara’s best-selling book “I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer,” the network announced Tuesday.
The series order comes a week after police arrested Joseph James DeAngelo. A former police officer, DeAngelo was identified through DNA evidence as the notorious serial killer and was charged with a number of the crimes.
The series will be directed by Liz Garbus.
“I’ll Be Gone in the Dark” is a comprehensive exploration of the case of an elusive, violent predator by McNamara, the late wife of comedian Patton Oswalt. McNamara worked with investigators on the case, but died before the book was published. It was finished by co-writer Billy Jensen, researcher Paul Haynes and Oswalt.
The book was also a haunting personal memoir and self-examination of McNamara’s obsessive quest for justice on behalf of the victims and survivors of the crimes.
It was McNamara who dubbed DeAngelo “The Golden State Killer,” who terrorized California in the late ’70s and early ’80s, committing 50 home-invasion sexual assaults and ten murders.
He then disappeared for more than three decades, eluding multiple police forces and some of the best detectives in the area.
“I’ll Be Gone in the Dark” was published earlier this year, and debuted at No. 1 on the New York Times combined print and e-book bestseller list.