'I'll Be Gone In The Dark' Episode 3: How DNA evidence from East Area Rapist's murders puzzled investigators
It was the fall of 1979. The East Area Rapist did not attack for over three months and reporters had begun to wonder if he was on a vacation. Was he planning another murder or rape? Was he simply hiding behind the bushes to strike unexpectedly?
Titled 'Rat in a Maze', the third episode of ‘I'll Be Gone In The Dark’ dives right into how the deadly serial killer and rapist moved to southern California, particularly prying on the Goleta community outside of Santa Barbara County in October. This answers one of the biggest mysteries: how did the East Area Rapist become the Original Night Stalker?
The docuseries begins with a chilling tape recording where the East Area Rapist calls one of the victims and says: "Gonna kill you... gonna kill you... gonna kill you... b***h... b***h... b***h... b***h... f**kin' w****."
"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 case of the Golden State Killer seemed solvable to Michelle McNamara. That’s what pulled her into it in 2010. "The man who we seek was a compulsive prowler and seeker... We suffer from the same affliction," she said.
It was October 1, 1979 — the night that changed the neighborhood when a couple awoke to a blinding flashlight and a masked man who spoke with clenched teeth. Alarmed by hearing him say "I'll kill 'em", the man and woman tried to escape and the woman's screams alerted an FBI official after which the intruder fled on a bicycle. The docuseries then sheds light on five brutal murders where the rapist told the women to tie up their partners, then blindfolded and raped her. After that, he shot the couples and left them in an unrecognizable state.
#1: Robert Offerman and Debra Manning on December 30, 1979
Robert, 44 and Debra, 35, were found shot dead at their house on Avenida Pequena in Goleta. Neighbors had heard gunshots and Offerman's legs were still binded tightly. A large dog's paw prints were found at the crime scene and the perpetrator fled the scene on a bicycle, which was later found abandoned on a street north of the scene.
#2: Charlene and Lyman Smith on March 13, 1980
A horrific double-murder was reported of Charlene, 33, and Lyman Smith, 43. Charlene was found raped and a log from a woodpile was used to bludgeon the victims to death. Their wrists and ankles had been bound with a drapery cord in a bizarre Chinese knot (also known as a diamond knot). The connection was extremely similar to the Sacramento East Area Rapist attacks and that case led to another name for him, the Diamond Knot Killer.
#3: Keith and Patrice Harrington on August 19, 1980
A medical student Keith, 24, and a nurse Patrice Briscoe Harrington, 27, were found bludgeoned to death and Patrice was brutally raped. Their wrists and ankles were bound too but no murder weapon was found at the crime scene. Keith's brother Bruce reportedly spent nearly $2M to collect DNA samples to find the killer.
#4: Manuela Witthuhn on February 6, 1981
The 28-year-old was raped and murdered in her Irvine home. There were marks of her being tied before she was bludgeoned to death. The cops questions her husband Drew and considered him a suspect even though he was hospitalized at the time and she was alone at the time of the attack.
#5: Cheri Domingo and Gregory Sanchez on July 27, 1981
The Original Night Stalker entered the house through a small bathroom window. Quite surprisingly, Sanchez had not been tied but shot in the cheek before he was bludgeoned to death with a garden tool. Sanchez's head was covered with clothes pulled from the closet and Domingo was raped and bludgeoned to death. Her wrists and ankles showed marks of being tied.
The Golden State Killer was obsessed with the waterways. He followed the creek. There was one thing common in all cases. The DNA evidence showed it was the same offender. But, that was not all. The DNA matched East Area Rapist cases #40, #43, #47 and the connection was established in 2001. Detective Paul Holes said they didn't have a name. And that was the goal. To find a face for the DNA evidence.
However, Joseph James DeAngelo Jr was linked to the case, not before April 24, 2018, and much after McNamara's death in 2016. Recounting the horror stories and unleashing the terror, the episode is all set to premiere on Sunday, July 12, at 10 pm ET on HBO.