Michelle McNamara

Michelle Eileen McNamara (April 14, 1970 – April 21, 2016) was an American freelance writer and crime blogger. She was the wife of comedian Patton Oswalt and the author of I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer, a true crime book about the Golden State Killer. The book was released posthumously in February 2018 and is being adapted as an HBO documentary series. 2Early life and education McNamara grew up in Oak Park, Illinois, the daughter of Thomas W. McNamara, a trial lawyer, and, Rita McNamara (née Rigney), a stay-at-home mother. Her parents were Irish American. McNamara was the youngest of the couple's five daughters and one son. They grew up Irish Catholic. In 1988, she graduated from Oak Park and River Forest High School in Oak Park, Illinois, where her senior year she was editor-in-chief of the student newspaper, the Trapeze. In 1992, McNamara graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a bachelor's degree in English. She earned an MFA in creative writing from the University of Minnesot