Patton Oswalt was supposed to talk about his role on NBC’s “A.P. Bio” on “Late Night with Seth Meyers” Wednesday, but given the news that earlier in the day police had arrested Joseph James DeAngelo, the suspect in the Golden State Killer case, much of the discussion focused on his late wife Michelle McNamara’s book about the case.
“The bracelets are on. It feels like this thing that she wanted so badly is now done,” said Oswalt.
“I’ll Be Gone in the Dark” is a true-crime book written by McNamara, but she died before the book was published. It was finished by co-writer Billy Jensen, researcher Paul Haynes and Oswalt.
Oswalt read the chilling final lines from the epilogue of the book, titled “Letter to an Old Man,” which McNamara had addressed to the Golden State Killer himself:
“One day soon you’ll hear a car pull up to your curb, an engine cut out. You’ll hear footsteps coming up your front walk like they did for Edward Wayne Edwards, 29 years after he killed Timothy Hack and Kelly Drew in Sullivan, Wisconsin. Like they did for Kenneth Hicks 30 years after he killed Lori Billingsley in Aloha, Oregon. Doorbell rings, no side gates are left open, you’re long past leaping over a fence. Take one of your hyper-gulping breaths, clench your teeth, inch timidly towards the insistent bell. This is how it ends for you. You’ll be silent forever and I’ll be gone in the dark, you threatened a victim once. Open the door, show us your face and walk into the light.”
Oswalt then added, “And that’s what he did today.”
Police arrested DeAngelo, 72, early Wednesday morning on two counts of murder, according to the Sacramento Bee and Fox40 Sacramento. The Golden State Killer was linked by DNA and method to 12 murders, 45 sexual assaults and more than 120 burglaries from Sacramento to Orange County between 1976 and 1986.
“Because he’s been caught, now they can start linking him to all these other cases. There’s all this new evidence,” added Oswalt.
Watch the video above for more.