Spitzer Takes Credit for Arrest of Golden State Killer; No Props to Crime Writer Michelle McNamara

It’s often said the most dangerous place in America is between Todd Spitzer and a microphone or TV camera. The Orange County Third District Supervisor and candidate for District Attorney never misses a chance to take credit for a major law and order story, as he did in the Christopher Dorner manhunt in 2013 where Spitzer sought cameras simply because OC offered a reward for Dorner’s capture and arrest.

With the arrest of suspect called the Golden State Killer, Spitzer issued this press release last night:

Spitzer Thanks Police and Crime Victim for Nabbing Golden State Killer; Arrest is 14 Years After Spitzer Co-Chaired Prop 69 for DNA Collection

Orange County, CA – It’s been 14 years since crime victim Bruce Harrington and Supervisor Todd Spitzer successfully pushed through a ballot measure requiring the collection of DNA from convicted felons and rape suspects.  

Prop. 69 passed in 2004, and today Golden State Killer suspect Joseph DeAngelo is behind bars charged with 12 murders and 45 rapes because of DNA collection. Harrington is the brother of Dana Point resident Keith Harrington, who was murdered along with his wife Patty in 1980.

“Thousands – if not millions – of hours went into solving this case and it’s thanks to the voters of California and our incredible team of law enforcement officials statewide,” Spitzer said Thursday. “Detectives and crime lab technicians should be celebrating. It was their brilliance that pieced this together over the years.” 

Spitzer also thanked his friend Harrington, who initiated the DNA collection initiative and approached Spitzer, asking him to co-chair the ballot measure. At the time Spitzer was a member of the state Assembly.  

“For 38 years, Bruce has lived with the horror that his family was slaughtered while Mr. DeAngelo led a charmed existence in Northern California,” Spitzer said. “Bruce used his pain for good and worked to ensure that future serial criminals would not be able to enjoy the freedom of roaming our streets. Although I wish I could have met Bruce under different circumstances, it was an honor to work with him.” 

Spitzer, a former prosecutor, has championed victims’ rights throughout his career in public service. He is the author of many laws that give law enforcement the tools to arrest and convict criminals. His best known initiative is Marsy’s Law in 2008, which amended the state Constitution with an additional 17 crime victim rights during the judicial process. 

Spitzer might as well have thanked the people who run “23 and Me” which provides a DNA analysis of an individual’s background and genetic makeup and was instrumental in tracking down the suspect’s identity. In fact, law enforcement might want to consider offering the company a major grant to start adding DNA from crime scenes to their database to solve more stone cold cases. Spitzer’s move to store and log crime scene DNA was 14 years ago.

What sparked renewed interest in the Golden State Killer is the NY Times bestseller “I’ll Be Gone in the Dark,” by crime writer Michelle McNamara, who passed away in 2016 before finishing the book.  She kept meticulous notes and had an outline that allowed her husband – actor Patton Oswalt – with help from McNamara’s crime writing friends, to finish what McNamara had started.

Oswalt himself is a brilliant writer, but this is very different from his normal body of work; he refused to let his wife’s book die and saw it through to publication with the help  of journalist Billy Jensen and researcher Paul Haynes.  The book debuted at No. 1 on the New York Times best-seller list.  The hard work and investigation was all McNamara’s.

Law enforcement is not acknowledging the book’s role in the capture of the suspect, but as Oswalt points out, every time they use “Golden State Killer,” that’s a phrase McNamara used extensively. And her epilogue, “A Letter to an Old Man” about how the Golden State Killer would be captured will send a shiver down your spine when you read what she wrote in 2016 and then read account’s of the suspect’s arrest.  McNamara correctly asserted technology would be a key in the suspect’s capture and it was.

From Deadline.com:

When he first heard of the news, he posted a video on Instagram saying, “One of the more surreal days of my life.” He added, “Looks like they got him.”

The celebration of the news continued in a flurry of tweets as he praised his late wife saying, “I hope you got him, Michelle. I hope THEY got him.” In another tweet, he said, “She would be beyond excited about this. I think this is the definition of bittersweet.”

While watching the press conference where they detailed the arrest, Oswalt noted that cops “will never and have never credit a writer or journalist for helping them solve a case.” He said, “But every time they said #GoldenStateKiller they credited the work of #MichelleMcNamara and #IllBeGoneInTheDark.”

He added, “If they’ve really caught the #GoldenStateKiller I hope I get to visit him. Not to gloat or gawk — to ask him the questions that @TrueCrimeDiary wanted answered in her “Letter To An Old Man” at the end of #IllBeGoneInTheDark.”

Deadline recently broke the news that HBO Documentary Films acquired the rights to McNamara’s true-crime book to develop as a docuseries. Oswalt will serve as executive producer.

I really wish someone will send Spitzer a copy of this amazing book so he can read it when he’s done patting himself on the back.  The case was stone cold until the book came out and renewed interest in the Golden State Killer.  This book and 23 and Me had more to do with the capture of the suspect than Spitzer’s 14 year old legislation.

Meanwhile, if you see Spitzer and a microphone or TV camera, step out of harm’s way.