Kat Winters - Case Files of the East Area Rapist / Golden State Killer

The East Area Rapist / Golden State Killer case is one of the most terrifying and complex cold cases in American history. For over forty years, this baffling case has remained unsolved.

He was the ultimate villain. Always one step ahead. He couldnt be tracked, he couldnt be spotted, and he couldnt be identified. Police couldnt catch him, and he flew under the radar so well that neighbors often shrugged him off. He was careful, so careful that in all the years that he offended, police werent sure if they even had his fingerprint. He was prolific, attacking in over a dozen communities over a five-hundred mile range and over a ten-year period.

This methodical and deadly rapist-turned-killer was on the loose in California. Deadlybut one knew how deadly. There were too many pieces of the puzzle, and the pieces were spread too far apart. None of them seemed to fit. Time and time again, the offender would emerge from the night, terrorize or kill, then vanish like a ghost.

But there was nothing supernatural about this offender. He was careful, methodical, and lucky , but he was a man, and he has a name a name other than the one the FBI has given him. Until we learn what that name is, we call him the East Area Rapist, the Golden State Killer, or sometimes the Original Night Stalker.

With over one hundred burglaries, fifty rapes, and possibly a dozen murders, the EAR / GSK was truly one of historys 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 that left police baffled and communities on-edge. As time wore on, he began moving away from the Sacramento area and targeting surrounding communities like Modesto, Davis, Concord, San Ramon, San Jose, Danville, Fremont, and Walnut Creek. In the latter half of 1979, he appeared in Southern California and began murdering couples and single women in Goleta, Ventura, Dana Point, and Irvine. He vanished for five years, then returned for one more murder in 1986.

Its a complex case, and naturally, theres a great amount of confusion about even the basic facts. When I first became aware of this case, the learning-curve was steep and it was quite a challenge to make sense of the information that was in the public space (which over time, had become quite dizzying and convoluted). To smooth out the process, I gathered a team to create a website for the general public (located at https://www.coldcase-earons.com), and while we were fairly successful in our efforts, it was clear that much more could be done. Other projects were started, the website gained more traction, I assumed a moderator position at the main discussion forum dedicated to the case, and several victims, survivors, and even past/present Law Enforcement officers generously spent their time assisting with me with my work and research. As all of these things started to come together, not only had we simplified the presentation and information about the East Area Rapist / Golden State Killer, but I suddenly found my finger on the pulse of this case in a very unique way. Through the people who e-mailed my site every day, the forum members I assisted, the discussion threads I shepherded, and the contacts I had made, I was at the nexus of a diverse and comprehensive set of vantage points related to the publics informational needs regarding the EAR/GSK case. These perspectives allowed me to get a real sense where the knowledge gaps were, how the interplay and dynamics among the different parts of the cold-case ecosystem worked, and a sense of the evidence and materials people were looking for when they started to learn about the case.

Whats more, I could clearly see that my goal of streamlining the information of this case for everyone had not yet been met, and that there was an entire segment of the population that needed an off-web presentation. From that frame of reference and the ones described above, I set about the task of compiling the narrative and facts of the case into an even more comprehensive and accessible medium. This book is the result of those efforts.

The EAR/GSK, by any measure, is one of the most prolific, enigmatic, and dangerous criminals to ever haunt the nightand he remains unidentified and unpunished to this day. Despite the fact that hes still at large, the public knows almost nothing about this offender. That needs to change. While its true that many years have passed, this case has not yet fallen into the abyss of history. Actuarial tables estimate that the killer is still alive, and in the interest of justice, everything possible must be done to capture and convict this violent offender. The statute of limitations will never expire for his homicides, and the statute of limitations for the pain and loss hes caused thousands of people will never run out, either. Justice delayed is not ideal, but justice denied is unthinkable.

Every move the assailant made, every word he spoke, every wardrobe choice he made, and every sighting of a suspicious person or vehicle in the vicinity of the crimes has the potential to blow the case wide open. As the years have worn on, more and more jurisdictions have come forward with unique clues and findings that werent shared at the time of the actual crimes. More is known about the assailant now than ever before.

This book contains an exhaustive rundown of all of the information available on this criminal, with plenty of new facts never released before and additional analysis to help provide context. Each and every attack is covered, with information culled from every source possibleincluding information taken from conversations with victims and survivors who have never spoken to authors or the media about the case before. Going over the complex details of this case with such granularity is a worthwhile exercise. This case is solvable. The clues to his identity are in here.

Because as they say, the Devil is in the details .