‘I'll Be Gone In The Dark’: Golden State Killer's victim recalls being raped thrice and her ordeal is haunting
Terrorizing California in the 1970s and 1980s, the Golden State Killer is responsible for 50 home-invasion rapes and 12 murders. He was known as East Area Rapist and the Original Night Stalker and decades later, it was established that it were the same person. ‘I'll Be Gone In The Dark’ gives voice to the survivors and their families, documenting an era when sex crimes were often dismissed or hidden in shame, thanks to crime-writer Michelle
A timely inquiry into our macabre preoccupation with true crime and a cautionary tale of the dangerous lure of addiction, the series is a riveting meditation on obsession and loss, chronicling the unrelenting path of a mysterious killer and the fierce determination of one woman to bring the case to light.
Perhaps, one of the most hard-hitting scenes in the documentary is when Kris Pedretti, #10 survivor is introduced. She recounts the events of the ill-fated night and sorrowfully ponders over how it happened. Pedretti pictures herself playing the piano and remembers she heard a sound. Through blurred frames, the story is retold and it hits hard in the chest. They are just words but it builds a palpitation that you simply cannot control.
"He took me outside and cut my clothes off and then brought me inside, raped me, brought me back outside. He did it three times..." she recalls and pauses while talking about it. Her face has a glum expression and there's a lump in her throat. "During that time, there wasn't a feeling, I was pretty numb," she continues. "He had moved the couch very close to the fireplace. Because I was blindfolded, I thought I would catch fire. That was scary because I thought I would die."
What comes next will leave you dumbfounded for days. "I stopped playing the piano because I always felt someone was behind me," she says. "It was just a few hours but it changed everything." The incident shows how brutally the Golden State Killer affected his victims and how desperately each one wanted him to be caught. It's an irony then that the serial killer and rapist was never known as widely as Son of Sam or perhaps the Zodiac Killer.
Not just this sequence, fans are in a state of total shock and panic after watching the first episode. "The survivor stories are haunting. It was tough to read in the book, too, but hearing it is even worse. This seems to hit harder than the TV special did. It feels even more personal in showcasing what the victims went through. Probably @lizgarbus
’s hand! #IllBeGoneInTheDark."
"I’m so happy they caught this douche aka The Golden State Killer it took decades but that animal is finally behind bars JFC what these people went through is horrific and I knew the cases but it’s still HORRIFIC #IllBeGoneInTheDark."
‘I'll Be Gone In The Dark’ premiered on June 28 at 10 pm ET on HBO.