Almost a year after it first premiered on HBO, true crime documentary I’ll Be Gone in the Dark will return with a special episode directed by Elizabeth Wolff, adding a new addendum to the story of author Michelle McNamara and her hunt for the elusive rapist and serial killer known as the Golden State Killer. The special new episode will debut on Monday, June 21, available via HBO and HBO Max. The synopsis is as follows:
In the summer of 2020, former police officer Joseph James DeAngelo, also known as the Golden State Killer, was sentenced to life in prison for the 50 home-invasion rapes and 13 murders he committed during his reign of terror in the 1970s and ‘80s in California. Many of the survivors and victim’s family members featured in the series reconvened for an emotional public sentencing hearing in August 2020, where they were given the opportunity to speak about their long-held pain and anger through victim impact statements, facing their attacker directly for the first time and bringing a sense of justice and resolution to the case.
In addition to providing more closure on the Golden State Killer case, the new episode likewise returns to the story of author McNamara, who tragically passed away in 2016, a few years before the publishing of her book I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, which was released only months before the eventual arrest of the killer. The new episode returns to the roots of McNamara’s fascination with unsolved murders, examining the effect that the 1984 rape and murder of Kathy Lombardo in McNamara’s hometown of Oak Park, Illinois ultimately set her down the road to becoming an investigator herself. As she investigated the Golden State Killer, McNamara also couldn’t help but additionally investigate the long-cold, unsolved case of Lombardo as well. As the HBO synopsis states:
This episode brings shocking new revelations to light in the Lombardo case and features the late McNamara’s own research into the rape and murder, which led to her return to Oak Park in 2013 to investigate it on the ground, quickly finding inconsistencies in the police work. Featuring the late McNamara’s own archival research and voice recordings, and interviews with residents of present-day Oak Park, this episode highlights the trauma that persists when a crime goes unsolved, with McNamara’s work standing as a stark reminder of the importance of citizen sleuths who remain dogged in their search for the truth.
I’ll Be Gone in the Dark already had a powerful conclusion, but we’re hoping this will prove to be an equally moving epilogue.