Case Files of the East Area Rapist / Golden State Killer

by Kat Winters, Keith Komos

He’s the most prolific, enigmatic, and dangerous offender the State of California has ever known... yet he remains unidentified and unpunished to this day. With over one hundred burglaries, fifty rapes, and possibly a dozen murders, the “East Area Rapist” / “Golden State Killer” / "Original Night Stalker" was truly one of history’s most vile and heinous criminals. He seemed to appear out of nowhere in the mid-1970s near Sacramento, California, where he began a series of rapes and murders that left police baffled and communities on-edge. He couldn’t be tracked, he couldn’t be found, and he couldn’t be stopped. Over a ten-year period, towns like Modesto, Davis, Concord, San Ramon, San Jose, Danville, Fremont, Walnut Creek, Goleta, Ventura, Dana Point, Irvine, and the neighborhoods of Sacramento were all violated by this monster. He left behind thousands of clues spread throughout over a dozen jurisdictions but still somehow outmaneuvered efforts to capture him at every turn. This book culls together information from every source possible to present a comprehensive rundown of each and every attack. Evidence is explained, myths are debunked, and viable leads are presented. Other cases which might be related like the Visalia Ransacker, the Ripon Court shooting, the Maggiore murders, and the Eva Davidson Taylor murder are explored. Never before has such a detailed and thorough chronological volume been published about this case. Going over the nuances and evidence with such granularity is a worthwhile exercise. This case is solvable, and the offender is probably still alive. The clues to his identity are in here. Because, as they say… The Devil is in the details.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction

618 pages, Paperback

Published September 19, 2017

Reviews

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Indispensable reading to understanding all known details of the VR EAR ONS Golden State Killer. I poured over the detail as a companion to I’ll Be Gone In The Dark. He’s in jail now but I’m still scared to death contemplating the magnitude of what one person committed. He’s likely the Cordova Cat and combined with now being linked as the Visalia Ransacker, 12+ murders, 50+ rapes and hundreds of home invasions, it is mind boggling. Bravo Kat Winters on an amazing reference text. Her website is also worth checking out: http://www.coldcase-earons.com/

[BRNTerri · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read the previous books on this criminal, who's also know as the EAR/ONS, and because of how well the crimes are detailed, this one's my favorite of the lot.

Such incredible detail was given to each and every rape, including a lot of pre- and post-attack information that was previously unknown publicly. The author couldn't have done a better job.

At times the book had an amateurish quality to it because there was such a large amount of typos and terminology like saying something was 'totally weird', something's 'sketchy', a male victim being 'a big muscular dude', the criminal 'got off' on psychologically torturing this victims, and something being 'creepy', just to give a few examples. There was overuse of words and phrases like 'though' and 'keep your eyes peeled' and I feel things were in quotation marks and too many things were in parenthesis that shouldn't have been. This self-published book definitely needs to be cleaned up by a professional editor. I didn't like the author giving her own speculation or spending time pointlessly analyzing certain phrases the EARONS would use, like 'gimme a good drop'.

Near the end of the book is a helpful section called EAR/GSK Communications. All contact the EARONS made with either victims', police, and others is listed chronologically. There's also a section after that that's dedicated to the break-ins of the Vasalia Ransaker, a man who some believe may be the EARONS, and that too is in chronological order. Another helpful section is last in the book and it's frequently asked questions about the case, including information about paint chips found at a few crime scenes and why the FBI hasn't taken advantage of technology that can render a lifelike image of the EARONS.

A tidbit I learned was that in the early 1990's, years after his last known crime, there were some EAR-like burglaries in Irvine that are being looked into.

Being interested in this case since early 2001 and liking a lot of detail to be given for any crime, I appreciate the hard work and time that went into writing this. It couldn't have been fun.

Other books on the East Area Rapist/Original Night Stalker:

Sudden Terror by Larry Crompton
Hunting a Psychopath by Richard Shelby
Hot Prowl by Jack Gray
Frozen in Fear (written by an EAR victim) by Jane Carson-Sandler
Murder on His Mind Serial Killer by Anne Penn
I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara

[Mike Crooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just finished Case Files of the East Area Rapist/Golden State Killer and was sorry to see it end. Obviously I don't wish that the crimes had continued so I could read about more of them; I mean that this book was very informative and easy to read.
I watched the series on HBO (I'll be Gone in the Dark) and was fascinated that I had never heard of these crimes before. I did a little research after the series and ordered three books on the subject. First was Michelle McNamara's book which I really enjoyed but was left wanting. Reading the parts written by McNamara were fascinating and interesting but tragically she passed away before finishing and the parts that were written after her death were not of the same quality. Those parts while factually were in keeping with the subject, they were dry and void of the humanity that McNamara wrote with.
The second book was Larry Crompton's Sudden Terror which was also enjoyable and informative and written from the prospective of an actual detective that was deeply involved in the case and I learned quite a bit more about all aspects of the crimes/case. Facts were plentiful and you learned a lot from a detectives point of view but there were a few issues here and there with grammatical errors that were annoying. It was especially good at detailing the difficulties of co-operating with other jurisdictions or the lack there of. Again I was left wanting more information and glad that I still had another book on the subject.
This book, Case Files of the East Area Rapist/Golden State Killer, was THE BEST OF THE THREE! Kat Winters and Keith Komos did an amazing job of recounting each individual crime with just the facts. They prefaced each crime with unusual occurrences in the area/ neighborhood before the crime. They detailed the facts of the actual crime while being very respectful of the victims and their families and/or survivors. They described each crime scene with details of police finds and after giving all of the facts, then they discussed possible interesting theories and occurrences. When unsure of details they admitted it and when confronted with conflicting information they admitted that as well. The result is you get "just the facts ma'am" to paraphrase a really old tv show...you get the details of the investigations, and then you get some well reasoned questions and possible explanations. To me these authors answered more of my questions and concerns than the previous books.
When I started watching the HBO special I had heard that there had, FINALLY, been a DNA match and that the case would soon be solved. As I read each book I was left with lots of unanswered questions and hoped that with the apprehension of the perpetrator that those questions would be answered. The bottom line is that yes the case is solved but that even after learning a little about who did these awful crimes, and the sentence he so justly deserves, I still have many, many unanswered questions.

[Ella · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kat Winters’ Case Files of the East Area Rapist / Golden State Killer is the definitive encyclopaedia of this deeply frustrating case. Not only has the EAR failed to bleed into the social consciousness of America, he has never been identified. It is absolutely astonishing how America’s most prolific serial rapist and killer (with even more under his belt if he also was behind the Visalia Ransacker incidents) seems to get such little attention, when cases like the Zodiac killer are still referenced in popular culture today. I would honestly have been surprised if the meme had instead been “Ted Cruz is the EAR/ONS” but it doesn’t flow as well.

Anyway, the book.

I have spent many, many hours wondering how someone got away with all of this. And “this” was on a far vaster scale than I could have imagined. I am nowhere near California. I have never been there. My parents were children in the 1970s. Yet somehow I seem to feel a frustration regarding the EAR/ONS that I only experience with recent cases I am geographically close to – it’s personalised a lot more then. You’re able to see it. But this is 1970s and 1980s California. With this book, I was able to see it. Know what it was like. The terror he held over the neighbourhood. The EAR/ONS got away with over fifty rapes that were written here in graphic detail, yet without gruesome sensationalism. Presenting cases like this in an objective format is important. The circumstances are grim enough on their own. Because of this, the book reads very much like an encyclopaedia, and can be exhausting to read graphic depiction of rape after graphic depiction of rape.

It will be a good day when time catches up to EAR/ONS and we can call him by the name he has tried so hard to erase.

[Gordie LaChance · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a comprehensive review of the crimes of one sick puppy. Each known crime is described in details gleamed from police reports, news articles, etc. An analysis section follows each description. Things can get a bit repetitive as this guy's crimes were often very similar and 'scripted'.

This is such an interesting and horrifying case. This book and the author's book about an earlier portion of this guy's crime spree in Visalia are super detailed. If you enjoy one, you'd enjoy the other.

As with the other book, this one is full of typos and small errors that could/should have been caught by a decent proofreading. I am not sure if these books were rushed or if money was an issue--if the later is the case, I can bet that there were tons of potential free proofreaders available on the web-board about the case that the author was a moderator of. These issues are annoying but I don't think any of them affect the conveyance of important case info.

The prose is effective and efficient for a non-fiction title, with a few occasional awkward phrases--some of which likely would have been fixed if proofread better.

Recommended for true crime buffs.

[River · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not a novel or a "facts only" book

This book is not enjoyable to read. I've read a lot of True Crime books. You get a sense of the author in most of these types of books. This one was written as if it's just the facts but the author does give his/her opinions throughout. It's very distracting and poorly written. I reread it after the case was solved and can easily see the bias of the author. And the fact is that the author was absolutely wrong in their opinions about the case. Now it appears that the author wrote another book in the same style as this one. How can we trust anything they say when they were so far off about this case?

You can easily get the information from this book for free online. Save your time and money on this one. Read the Wiki or read books written by actual crime writers.

I always feel bad when I give negative reviews and will usually skip reviews altogether if I didn't enjoy the book. I'm hoping I can help other readers out by giving honest reviews when the book earns a 1 star.

[Steve Wynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was seriously engrossing. Really covered a lot of ground and made sure to mark what was fact, what was contested, and made no ones about setting things straight about popular misconceptions about the case. The only real concern or complaint I had would be a possible slight error in timeline. Throughout much of the book, it states that the FBI connected the EAR to the ONS/GSK via DNA in 2011, where I believe it's 2001? I generally don't mind the odd typo, but this was one that came up pretty consistently.

Apart from that, solid read. Would definitely recommend to any True Crime enthusiast.

[Jen Roy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book from cover to cover. It was written in a way to shield the victim yet it was truthful and didn't contaminate what was spoken from the suspect to the victims. This book didn't glorify what the serial rapist become serial killer had done. This book was written so that maybe a person who reads this may come across some tidbit of info that may be able to have someone come forward with more info or the identity of the Golden State Killer. I'm rereading this book again and will keep for future research.

[Ellen]

29% — So far, this well-organized "bible" on one of the most infuriately unsolved case in the USA's history is very, very good. Shockingly, I have been reading for hours and hours and I am not even a third of the way through. It is a painstakingly thorough account. Also, I think it really says something, too, about the sheer amount of criminal activity that this shit-smear got away with. He committed over 50 rapes, at least a dozen murders, and probably hundreds upon hundreds of home invasions.

I don't know that EAR/ONS would be able to get away with what he did in the 70's (and briefly in the 80's) now, in 2018, because of the current abundance of home security technology and cell phones. Forensic capabilities are far and beyond what they were, too. Still, even though EAR/ONS lived in a way more opportunistic time for criminals of his sick sort, what he got away with over law enforcement is nothing short of outrageous.

[Jackiemoryangmail.com · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is more of an encyclopedia for the EARONS scholar. I read it cover to cover twice because I've been obsessed with this case for years, but it's not a beach read, and it's not the type of book you would read cover to cover. It's a good reference book. Also, the facts of the case ARE SCARY AS HELL. This case is so SO SCARY.

I highly preferred it to Sudden Terror and Hunting a Predator, the other two books that present the facts of the case-- only those books incorporated narratives that I largely skipped.

[Andy Kirkland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Expertly researched and thoughtfully written


The writer displays her knowledge of this killer in an expertly researched manner. Her descriptions of the attacks provide enough detail to properly convey the terror felt by his victims and draw the reader into his world. Care was taken to protect the victims despite the horrific events. At no point will the reader feel close or sorry for the killer. Great read.

[Mzfitted · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellrnt

Put together as a comprehensive look at available facts ,time place ,victim choice ,if you prefer more of a narrative type book this might not be for you .It is a overview of The East Area Rapist also known as The Golden State Rapist .Has never been identified this book hopes to fix that.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Admittedly rather dry but an indispensable and well-structured chronology. A few glaring typos but not as many as one would expect for what I presume is a self-published volume, definitely not to deal-breaker level. I'd categorize it as a must-read for obsessives, and a helpful companion volume to IBGITD for readers who are frustrated by that book's rather hopscotch-y timeline.

[Jane Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

True Crime

This is a comprehensive list of the crimes committed by the Garden State Killer. The author has done a tremendous amount of research and explained the case well. It makes the reader hope that man, recently identified, will explain many of the questions that have arisen about this case

[Rob Sedgwick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very thorough

This book is very thorough and quite tedious to read cover to cover, which I did. It goes through each case in exhaustive and repetitive detail. There are also numerous typos and errors indicating it was not read thoroughly by the authors. Still if you want a blow by blow account of the case, written before the main suspect came to trial then this is just that.

[monica lunardi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book I've ever read!

Best book I've ever read! Lived through that nightmare... So many questions for so many years. Kat Winters is amazing!

[Jared Long · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book gives a good insight into the bizarre nature of the Golden State Killer / EAR by examining the case files. Interesting read.

[Jenny Powell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I still can't believe I was reading this when they finally caught up to this monster.

[Mark Pollock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written, and extremely well researched.

[Andrew Chao · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay

I know the GSK had a distinctive MO that was utilized repeatedly, but the description of the attacks, which makes up a majority of the book, is very repetitive. Also, I have never seen so many grammatical and typographical errors in a book. I kept seeing them over and over and it really made me wonder, “Who the hell edited this thing?”

[Truitti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent detailed account, well as detailed as you can get from interviews and public information. It is so interesting that this was published before the East Area Rapist suspect was found via DNA from a public and open genealogical web site. Based on what is publicly known about the suspect, so much information in the book fits with so much. Fascinating and has caused me to pray for all who was touched by this deviant. It is cut and dry, just the facts, so don't expect a story line. Some descriptions were unpleasant to read. I borrowed this book from the kindle owners digital loan program from Amazon. This is my 37th book of 2018. I have purchased this Book from Amazon. There is so much information that I would like to re-read at leisure and if it comes to trial, see how much is presented during the trial.