We may only be two episodes in to HBO’s newest true crime documentary, I’ll Be Gone In The Dark, but already the series has proved to be just as captivating and chilling as promised. Judging from this exclusive teaser obtained by Refinery29 for the series' next chapter, it looks as though the twisted story is only getting more compelling.
The six-part series, directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Liz Garbus (What Happened, Miss Simone?, Lost Girls), follows Michelle McNamara, the late blogger/crime writer-turned citizen detective whose sleuthing led to the eventual capture of the Golden State Killer. But unlike other true crime documentaries that tend to focus mainly on the perpetrator, I'll Be Gone In The Dark (named after a phrase the serial murderer famously told a survivor) instead aims to shed light on McNamara's life and legacy, as well as those of the survivors who were left to contend with the trauma of this unsolved case for years.
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So far in the series, McNamara, who has a penchant for cold cases, learns about and later becomes obsessed with the “East Area Rapist” (EAR) who was behind 50 rapes and 12 murders in California between the mid-1970s and ‘80s, and gives him the nickname of "Golden State Killer." We then learn about how the case was handled in the ‘70s by local and citizen detectives, and how it was heavily affected by a culture that discouraged rape victims from speaking out. We also learn about an incident in McNamara's early life that she believes may explain her fascination with unsolved mysteries.
In this exclusive opening clip from the third episode, we hear a taped recording the Golden State Killer, a.k.a Joseph James DeAngelo's laboured breaths and ragged voice whispering "Gonna Kill You....bitch" on a playback machine. McNamara complains in an email to the retired detectives from the original case conducted in the '70s that she feels as if she's "grasping at straws." Their response? "Grasp a straw and work it to dust."
Watch the exclusive I'll Be Gone In The Dark clip below.
I’ll Be Gone In The Dark airs on Sky Atlantic