Yesterday was the first day of filming for the documentary based on the late Michelle McNamara’s best-selling true-crime book, I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer, trailing the decade-long spree of a serial rapist and murderer. Today, in a string of truth-is-stranger-than-fiction 

Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, was arrested on two counts of murder; police say they are preparing more charges.; Credit: AP/REX/Shutterstock

Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, was arrested on two counts of murder; police say they are preparing more charges.; Credit: AP/REX/Shutterstock

coincidences, a press conference was held in Sacramento announcing that a suspect had been arrested in connection with the heinous crimes after a 40-year search.

In one twist, McNamara, a true-crime writer and late wife of actor Patton Oswalt, who died in her sleep at age 46, passed away two years ago this week and would have celebrated her 48th birthday two weeks ago. Her life’s work mission was to bring to justice the serial rapist and murderer she dubbed the Golden State Killer. McNamara no doubt would have been pleased and perhaps vindicated by the arrest of 72-year-old former police officer Joseph James DeAngelo on two counts of murder; Sacramento police, who made the arrest, said they are preparing more charges. The Golden State Killer was linked to 12 murders, 45 rapes and more than 120 home burglaries that spanned from Northern California to Ventura and Orange counties. The killer also was known as the Original Night Stalker and the East Area Rapist.

In another bit of serendipity, Oswalt shared on his Twitter feed that yesterday’s film shoot, on location in Naperville, where contributors to McNamara’s True Crime Diary blog had gathered, ended with him saying, “He’s running out of time.” Of his prediction, he mused, “And now all this. Surreal.”