Evil has a name: The Untold Story of the Golden State Killer Investigation
The Golden State Serial Killer
Join me on the hunt for the Golden State Serial Killer with the book, Evil has a name: The Untold Story of the Golden State Killer Investigation we get a deep dive into the entire case, the victims, the survivors, and the family left behind. When finishing this book, you know Evil has a name, and in the case, he had many aliases, but his real name is Joseph James DeAngelo. Let us look into the book and the case for that matter
Authors:
Paul Holes
Paul Holes is the detective who began the hunt for the East Area Rapist and found The Golden State Serial Killer. Mr. Holes spent most of his life hunting for an unknown phantom. Mr. Holes is now a retired cold case investigator and author.
Jim Clemente
Jim Clemente is one of two co-authors to the book Evil has a name. Mr. Clemente is a retired FBI profiler. He is an author. And besides, he has a lot of knowledge about making podcasts
Peter McDonnell
Peter McDonnell is the second co-author to the book Evil has a name: The Untold Story of the Golden State Killer Investigation
Before we begin
Before you join me on the hunt for The Golden State Serial killer. I need to give those who are not very familiar with the case a few pieces of information. If you know the situation in and out, please feel free to skip this writing.
Joseph James DeAngelo, who is the alleged Golden State Serial Killer, received a lot of nicknames during his spree of burglary, rape, and murder. While he still was an unknown predator, he was infamous as:
The Visalia Ransacker
The East Area Rapist
The Golden State Killer
The Golden State Serial Killer
The Original Night Stalker
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Review:
Evil has a name: The Untold Story of the Golden State Killer Investigation is an Audible original this means the only way you can access the book is by listening. Therefore a lot of people probably will not choose this book because of the price and that is very understandable.
*As mentioned above, I will make a post with tips and tricks for readers to get affordable books, even this audible book. This post will be up as soon as possible, so please stay tuned.
The book Evil has a name: The Untold Story of the Golden State Killer Investigation dives deep into the rapes and murders as well as we get a good look into the investigation.
I´m amazed how this Audible book has turned out. Because it somehow didn´t feel like listening to a book, it had a vibe of being a podcast. I liked this new and fresh way of telling about a case as serious as this. Some of you might not like that at all, so I find it worth to mention.
The authors have decided using their voices and the voices of surviving victims and family members of murdered victims. Approaching the book in this manner makes it very authentic, and it gives a new vibe on spreading the word of the crimes committed by the Golden State Killer.
The beginning of the hunt on the Golden State Serial Killer
The book begins with Paul Holes telling how he is standing in front of the house of Joseph DeAngelo but decided not to ring the doorbell. Then a fight against time begins a battle that took 42 years before Holes finally were able to unmask the identity of The Golden State Killer.
The victim’s families and those who survived speaks
Next, we hear some surviving victims and victims of families speak. While listening, we get an idea of who those people were, and we recognize them as people, not just names.
In some cases, the victim’s names get mentioned, but they don´t speak in the audio.
I will try to cover as many victims as well as surviving victims without spoiling the reading experience for you but still give you an idea to what you can expect from this book
Margaret Wardlow
Margaret was the 27th victim, and she was the youngest victim. She was only 13-years-old when the Golden State Killer attacked and raped her. Margaret tells about her life before the attack. And lets us know she had lived a carefree, safe life until the invasion. Her mother thought they were safe from the predator as she thought her daughter would be too young and herself to old to become prey for DeAngelo. Margaret even reveals an act from the predator that might suggest he felt terrible about raping a child. Margaret Wardlow was the youngest victim of the Golden State Killer
Keith and Patrice Harrington
In the case of Keith and Patrice Harrington, the killer changed his M.O.
Manuela Witthuhn
Manuela Witthuhn was the 7th victim of Joseph DeAngelo. In her case, he changed his M.O. Once again. Manuela´s case was the second time for him to change his M.O during his spree of evil.
Cheri Domingo and Greg Sanchez
In the case of Cheri Domingo and Greg Sanchez, we hear Cheri´s daughter tell about what happened. At the time her mother, Cheri, and her mother’s boyfriend Greg were killed, Debbie was only 15 years old.
Cheri´s daughter is named Debbie, and she tells the emotional story of how come she wasn´t at home at the time her mom and Greg became attacked. Besides, she reveals how she received the information about the murders. But it wasn´t after 20 years Debbie figured out what had happened to her mom and Greg.
Debbie lets us know how the murders negatively affected her life for a long time. When Debbie tells about her mother, Greg, and her childhood, we get a good idea of who Cheri and Greg were.
After the murders of Cheri Domingo and Greg Sanchez, The Golden State Serial Killer seems to go on a cooling-off period as he won´t attack until five years later.
Janelle Lisa Cruz
Janelle is the last known victim of the Golden State Killer. Janelle´s sister Michelle Cruz speaks about how the life of the girls was at the time and how close a relationship they had
Michelle gives a good description of how Janelle was as a person. She describes Janelle as very beautiful and that she was protecting her from their abusive stepfather.
Debbie speaks about how she received information about Janelle´s murder, tough the telephone. Debbie Cruz tells how her entire identity changed when she lost her sister and how she can´t remember anything off what happened from when she received the message about her sister got murdered.
Jane Carson-Sandler
Jane Carson-Sandler was one of the victims who survived the attack of the Golden State Killer. She describes the attack and how she felt at the time. But her biggest concern was her 3-year-old son. She was afraid the perpetrator would kill the little boy because she didn´t know what he had done to him. Her son was the only thing that was on her mind during the attack even while she got raped, she reveals. Also though Jane became a victim of Joseph DeAngelo, she tells she was glad being victim number five because DeAngelo became much more violent after her attack.
Jane speaks about some creepy rumors that had been circulating at the time where people said The Golden State Killer was cutting off the nipples of his victims, but she knew that wasn´t true
Beth Snelling
In the book, the authors describe the attack of surviving victim Beth Snelling.
Michelle McNamara
Paul Holes became connected with Michelle McNamara while on the hunt for the killer. Mrs. McNamara had a massive passion for the case, and she placed a lot of time and effort into helping to solve the case. She had begun writing a book before she passed away way to early. You can read my review of her book here. Holes speaks about when he got the devastating news that his friend Michelle McNamara had passed away.
Barbara Rae Venter
It was only a matter of time to get the Golden State Serial Killer identified when Barbara Rae Venter got on the case.
Barbara is a Geologist and was able to figure out a lot about DeAngelo. Just as an example, she could tell he would be bald and have blue eyes.
Paul Holes
Well, as the book begins with Paul Holes standing at the property of Joseph DeAngelo, so it ends at the same place. During the entire book, Mr. Holes shares his knowledge and what he learned from the case with us. You will get to know Paul Holes not just as an investigator but the man behind the search for the EAR, aka The East Area Rapist, The Golden State Serial Killer, The Golden State Killer, The Visalia Ransacker and the original night stalker. Mr. Holes unmasked the perpetrator behind all the aliases as 72-year-old Joseph DeAngelo. If you would like to read a conversation with Paul Holes about the Golden State Killer, you find it here
The Golden State Killer
It took 42 years to put Joseph DeAngelo behind bars. He was a police officer, but a different kind of police officer as some describe him in this book.
We learn how he picked his victims and how he attacked them. We get to know how, after 24 years, he makes a phone call to one of his victims. Even though he called more of his surviving victims to torment them
And we get to know that people involved with the case laughed when they saw Joseph DeAngelo getting into court in a wheelchair because he wasn´t a weak older man even with his 72 years. Shortly before DeAngelo´s arrest, he had been seen jumping up on his motorcycle. Mr. DeAngel gets described as a 72-year-old moving like a 50-year-old thereby; he must be very fit for his age.
Joseph DeAngelo has three children all girls and all of his daughters are doctors
Summary
When I look at the book Evil has a name: The Untold Story of The Golden State Killer Investigation, I got into a journey even a hunt for the man with the many aliases. Also though knowing the identity of this predator, I couldn´t help getting dragged into the hunt for him
I found the information about DNA tests and samples very informative. The data are of value when we think about other unsolved cases like the Delphi murders.
The pieces of information are small, but it is small details like this that make a book very interesting, at least from my point of view. I find the work of Geologist Barbara Rae Venter fascinating, mainly because we don´t hear about this kind of work that often.
While listening, you will learn that the authors visit some of the places where these awful crimes happened so long ago. You will feel you are there because you hear the car door slam, and then they speak about the case. Recodings like this make the listening experience very authentic.
I cover some of the involved people more than others because of the information given in the book and the notes I made while listening
There is so much more I could say about this book, but I leave you here. I guess you think if there wasn´t any downside to the book. And I have to say there were a few dry spots here and there but looking at the book as a whole those dry spots seem more like site notes.
Behind the Scenes with Paul Holes and Jim Clemente
If you would like watching a short video from behind the scenes with Paul Holes and Jim Clemente, you find the video here
The Delphi Murders and Paul Holes
As a true crime enthusiast, I can´t help mentioning that Paul Holes had a conversation with the investigating officers about the awful murders of Liberty German 14 years and Abigail Williams 13 years. Some say everybody knows about this case, while others say only people in the real crime community do. Therefore I would like to make some noise about the case as it is a case that is hunting my mind. But I have to keep it brief as this is a book review site. But I will leave a link for you where you can read about what Paul Holes had to say about The Delphi Murder case at CrimeCon 2019
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