‘I'll Be Gone In The Dark’ Episode 3 Preview: When the East Area Rapist called his victim to say ‘gonna kill you’
"Gonna kill you..." The shrill tone of Golden State Killer's voice will give you sleepless nights as the third episode of HBO's ‘I'll Be Gone In The Dark’ begins. Titled ‘Rat in a Maze’, the series leans into the year 1979, when law enforcement is thrilled as the East Area Rapist (EAR) attacks abruptly stop in Northern California, but in reality, EAR had moved south to commit a number of gruesome murders in the Santa Barbara area, known as the Original Night Stalker series.
A new promo released before the premiere shows a recorded call believed to be that of the East Area Rapist. The tape recorder then ends as the East Area Rapist says: "B***h!" "He was a lunatic. Unseen, so doubly feared," author Michelle McNamara narrates as the first episode begins. "I turned to the retired detectives. I lamented that I felt I was grasping at straws." The screen then shows an email written to McNamara that reads: "Michelle, There is no end to the possibilities. My advice: Grasp a straw and work it to dust."
The tape recording shown in the series is from January 2, 1978, when the first known rape victim received a wrong-number call asking for Ray. As police suspected that it may be the same caller who made a threat to call her later that evening, it was also recorded and identified by the victim as the voice of her assailant. As per an old 2013 Los Angeles report by McNamara, the caller said, "Gonna kill you... gonna kill you... gonna kill you... b***h... b***h... b***h... b***h... f**kin' w****."
That was not the first hang-up call. Before that, the EAR had made multiple calls to the Sacramento police saying: "I'm the East Side Rapist," and "You're never gonna catch me". On one phone call, he said, "I am going to hit tonight. Watt Avenue." Not just that, another victim received a call in 1977 when he said: "Merry Christmas, it's me again!"
The official summary of the episode reads: "The hunt for the perpetrator stalls due to lack of cooperation between jurisdictions and concerns of tarnishing the area's pristine image, leaving the community unaware of the predator in their midst. David Witthuhn, the husband of murder victim Manuela Witthuhn, is questioned as the sole person of interest, but his name isn't cleared until 20 years later when DNA evidence links his wife's murder not only to others in the Santa Barbara area but also to EAR assaults in Sacramento."
It also goes on to delve deeper into McNamara's investigations. The synopsis further reads: "Michelle's article chronicling her investigation of the case, 'In the Footsteps of a Killer', causes a splash when it's published in 2013. After signing a major book deal, she works around the clock to find the killer and struggles with another aspect of the book - writing about herself."
The biggest question that the episode presents is: How did people finally begin to understand that the East Area Rapist (EAR) was the same as Original Night Stalker (ONS)? In 1979, the East Area Rapist appeared to have stopped and several TV channels wondered if he was on a vacation. A few months down the line, he moved to southern California and began killing his victims, first striking in Goleta, Santa Barbara County in October. As three couples were brutally murdered after the woman was told to tie her male counterpart, the detectives soon noticed a pattern and realized it mirrored the East Area Rapist's style, and soon EAR/ONS became his new name.
As the episode airs, it will shed light on how the Golden State Killer — who was later identified as Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. — operated and plotted the chilling rapes and murders in those times. Directed by Myles Kane and Josh Koury, the episode is all set to premiere on Sunday, July 12 at 10 pm ET on HBO.