Origins & Early Life

Michelle Eileen McNamara (April 14, 1970 – April 21, 2016) was an American true crime author. She was the author of the true crime book I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer, and helped coin the moniker "Golden State Killer" of the serial killer who was identified after her death as Joseph James DeAngelo. The book was released posthumously in February 2018 and later adapted into the 2020 HBO documentary series I'll Be Gone in the Dark. McNamara was born on April 14, 1970, in Oak Park, Illinois, the youngest child of stay-at-home mother Rita (née Rigney) and trial lawyer Thomas W.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

McNamara. She had four older sisters and one older brother. Her parents were Irish Americans, and she was raised Catholic. In 1988, she graduated from Oak Park and River Forest High School, where she was editor-in-chief of The Trapeze, the student newspaper, during her senior year. In 1992, she graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a BA in English.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

She earned an MFA in creative writing from the University of Minnesota. In August 1992 she traveled to Northern Ireland, where she would work for one year. As recounted in the documentary...

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