'Golden State Killer' book to be made into HBO documentary series

[May 02, 2018]   LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A best-selling true-crime book that explores a series of California rapes and murders attributed to the "Golden State Killer" will be made into a television documentary series, HBO said on Tuesday, a week after a former police officer was charged with crimes related to the decades-old spree.

Michelle McNamara's "I'll Be Gone in the Dark" is part investigation into the dozens of crimes that terrorized segments of California in the 1970s and 1980s, and part memoir about her quest for justice.

Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, of Sacramento was charged last week with eight murders in the case.

The book, published posthumously in February, two years after McNamara's death at age 46, is credited with putting renewed attention on the case.

The author was married to actor Patton Oswalt, who, along with two others, completed the book following McNamara's death in 2016.

Filmmaker Liz Garbus, whose documentary on singer Nina Simone, "What Happened, Miss Simone?," won an Emmy and was nominated for an Oscar, will direct the series, HBO said.

The Time Warner Inc-owned cable channel said production on the series had started but did not give a broadcast date.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

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