Michelle McNamara, Crime Writer & Wife of Actor/Comedian Patton Oswalt (1970-2016)

[Zoneboy]

Link

NEW YORK — Michelle McNamara, a crime writer and wife of comedian and actor Patton Oswalt, has died at her home in Los Angeles, according to Oswalt's publicist. McNamara was 46.

Kevin McLaughlin of Main Stage Public Relations said Friday that McNamara died in her sleep Thursday. No cause was given.

McNamara graduated from the University of Notre Dame and received a master's degree in creative writing from the University of Minnesota. She founded the website True Crime Diary, which covers both breaking stories and cold cases.

In a 2007 online interview, McNamara said she started the blog almost as a lark. "I wanted to get more involved in the cases that were fueling my own curiosity," she said.

She didn't focus on the big celebrity murder case but ones that were smaller and out of the public eye. She wrote about the Golden State Killer and the 1976 murder of nurse Melanie Howell.

"It's the ones that really don't get that much attention that interest me because I think what's interesting about them is there's more stuff to be unearthed that hasn't been in the public yet and you can do it."

Oswalt is a comedian whose TV credits include "Veep," ''Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." and "The King of Queens" and films including "Magnolia," ''Starsky & Hutch" and "Ratatouille." McNamara and Oswalt married in 2005.

Besides her husband, McNamara is survived by 7-year-old daughter Alice.

[Zoneboy]

http://truecrimediary.com

[wiseguy182]

Whoa, this was unexpected. Had no idea she was married to Patton Oswalt, who is in another genre completely. Wonder what she died from.

She must have been a favorite of the "A Crime To Remember" producers, as she was interviewed in quite a few episodes for that show. Have to wonder if she even might have had a hand in which stories got selected.

Admittedly, I wasn't a fan of her trying to rename ONS/EAR "The Golden State Killer", but I did enjoy a lot of her other work.

Has this been a week for premature deaths or what?

[nohwheregirl]

I'm brokenhearted over this. Such a talented writer and voice for victims.

[AB]

Rest in peace.

[wiseguy182]

Died on the same day as Prince.

One guess as to which one got more exposure.

[JamesG]

Patton Oswalt Reveals Wife Michelle McNamara's Cause of Death
by Karen Mizoguchi
February 3, 2017


Patton Oswalt has revealed his wife Michelle McNamara’s cause of death, nearly one year since she died unexpectedly in her sleep at age 46.

“We learned today the combination of drugs in Michelle’s system, along with a condition we were unaware of, proved lethal,” the actor and comedian wrote in a statement to the Associated Press on Friday.



Oswalt also explained that the couple, who wed in 2005, had “no idea” she had a condition that caused blockages in her arteries.

The blockages, combined with her taking the medications Adderall, Xanax and the pain medication fentanyl, caused the mother of one’s death in April 2016, Oswalt said.

McNamara’s cause of death remains listed as pending, Los Angeles coroner’s Lt. David Smith confirmed to AP.







In an October interview with The New York Times, Oswalt recounted the last night he had with his wife, speculating that she may have accidentally overdosed.

McNamara, who was writing a book about a serial rapist and killer at the time, was working long days and nights and was unable to sleep due to anxiety and nightmares that kept her up at night.

So worried about her health, Oswalt suggested she take a night to “sleep until you wake up.” On April 21, McNamara took some Xanax and went to sleep, but never woke up.



The next morning, Oswalt remembered waking up early to get their 7-year-old daughter Alice dressed, packed and off to school. On the way home, he picked up an Americano coffee and left it on McNamara’s bedside table — around 9:40 a.m., he recalled.

Hours later, he checked to see if his wife was up yet. She was still in bed — not breathing. The paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene. While a cause of death was not declared by the coroner’s office at the time, Oswalt said he believed the Xanax was to blame.







In December, the father of one penned an emotional essay for GQ about his first year as a single parent.

“This is my first time being a single father. I’ve missed forms for school. I’ve forgotten to stock the fridge with food she likes. I’ve run out of socks for her. I’ve run out of socks for me. It sucked and it was a hassle every time, but the world kept turning. I said, ‘Whoops, my bad,’ and fixed it and kept stumbling forward,” Oswalt wrote.

“I’m going to keep going forward, looking stupid and clumsy and inexperienced at first, then eventually getting it, until the next jolt comes, and the next floor drops out from under me, until there are no more floors.”

http://ew.com/news/2017/02/03/patton...ause-of-death/

[JamesG]

Patton Oswalt thanks supporters of his new engagement with actress Meredith Salenger.

http://ew.com/news/2017/07/09/patton...s-widow-essay/

[MA]

I'm really not surprised at all that the cause of death was drugs to be honest with you.

Still very sad and tragic though.

[Chocolate Moose]

I'm glad he found love again. He deserves it and so does his daughter!

[JamesG]

How Patton Oswalt Steered his Late Wife's Final Book to Completion
by David Canfield
Feb. 26, 2018


Patton Oswalt still can’t recall the aftermath of his late wife’s death. He’d been married to Michelle McNamara for more than a decade when she suddenly died in her sleep on April 21, 2016. They had a young daughter, Alice, born in 2009, and worked successfully in different areas: Oswalt being an acclaimed actor and comedian, McNamara an accomplished armchair detective who ran the popular cold-case website True Crime Diary.

Yet when she passed, Oswalt immersed himself in her space — he became committed to completing I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, the true-crime book McNamara had been researching and writing for nearly as long as they were married, and bringing it out into the world.





How did he do it? Manage to push himself through such an intense grieving period?

“I wish I could tell you some moment of epiphany when I realized that I was going to finish it, but I don’t have it,” Oswalt tells EW, trying to recall the steps he took to get the book done. “That whole year is just this really painful blur.”





I’ll Be Gone in the Dark marks McNamara’s greatest achievement, a fitting cap to a career of investigative writing. It’s the product of her nearly decade-long hunt for the Golden State Killer, who committed at least 50 sexual assaults and 10 murders from 1976 to 1986, but is fashioned as her own story too: a personal account of what it means to track down a killer, intermixing conventions of memoir and short-story writing for a wholly innovative true-crime read.

At the time of her death, she’d written much of the book, but (spoiler alert) was unable to unmask the killer, with handwritten notes and thousands of computer files left unassembled.









With regard to completing the book, Oswalt can only describe what happened in the broadest of terms: how he, while wading through shock, grief, and chaos, assumed the mentality of, “I’m going to get this book done.”

Reflecting on that unimaginably difficult time, Oswalt apologizes repeatedly for having no specifics to draw on, only that he started “sending emails,” “making calls,” and encouraging all involved to “get this done.”

He does remember being nervous about getting the book right, however. “Absolutely, yeah,” he says when asked. “It was her book and it’s an amazing book. I wanted to do right by her.”





Jennifer Barth, McNamara’s editor at HarperCollins who acquired I’ll Be Gone in the Dark in the summer of 2013, says that Oswalt took great, necessary steps to ensure he did just that. She recalls how he recruited McNamara’s researcher Paul Haynes and crime journalist Billy Jensen to compile the book.

(The pair wrote the slim third and final section; other subsections are versions of articles previously published by Los Angeles magazine, and clarifying editor’s notes are sprinkled throughout.)

Barth explains that through his profound memory of McNamara, Oswalt guided them all through the process of doing right by her. “He’s just been leading the way,” she says. “He knows the book: He just got how Michelle thought about it.”





Barth, Oswalt, Haynes, and Jensen would sit down periodically as they put the book together, engaging in healthy debate over the late author’s intentions, often in regard to turns of phrases Barth now describes as “vintage Michelle.”

There would be disagreements, inevitable given the sensitivity of the endeavor, but Barth recalls Oswalt being engaged throughout the process, avoiding “knee-jerk” reactions and instead providing thoughtful commentary and perspective.

“If Michelle had been married to somebody else, I’m not sure that they would have pressed on with the book and been able to help make it happen in the way Patton did,” Barth says candidly. “It was a total commitment. … He’s just been a real champion.”









Because of McNamara’s frank approach to storytelling, I’ll Be Gone in the Dark provides small, revealing glimpses into what her family life looked like: How she’d scour the web in a playroom after her husband and daughter were sound asleep, or how while attending a film premiere for Oswalt, she’d lurk in the background, eyes glued to her phone, as case clues kept rolling in.

Oswalt says the random nature of facts “crashing in” meant that McNamara “was always writing,” and that it was important for him to leave her to her process, noting, “I was very conscious of giving her time alone to write.”





Even at a distance, though, he saw what motivated her — what her obsession was rooted in.

“She was a very logical person with a lot of compassion,” Oswalt says. “When she saw someone act with such cruelty, the logic part of her brain would kick in and go, ‘Well, that kind of cruelty should be met with justice, and there should be someone to answer for the victims.’ To have all of those threads and have it be open and unresolved for so long really ate away at her sense of order. She took on the pain of the survivors and of those that lost family members because of this guy. That’s what drove her.”





Barth remembers what Oswalt brought to the process: He’d speak openly about losing McNamara and the difficulty of moving forward, in effect “giving insight into how involved she was in this book and this story, and just the humanity of the victims and even the killer.”

He’d tell stories and provide photos that had a stinging intimacy, of the kind that scattered notes and research could only hint at. Oswalt’s main goal, Barth adds, was to keep things “in Michelle’s voice.”









I’ll Be Gone in the Dark publishes Tuesday, concluding a nearly two-year journey to completion. Time has passed and life has changed for the family: Oswalt has remarried, tying the knot with actress Meredith Salenger late last year.

But he’s no less committed to honoring McNamara’s memory. He checks in with Haynes and Jensen about once a week, and they talk about showcasing more of her writing. Oswalt particularly hopes to get True Crime Diary back “up and running,” and, together with Haynes, form a nonprofit in her name to aid investigative journalism.





Yet with the book’s release right around the corner, Oswalt reveals that it’s difficult for him — even, or perhaps especially, given the praise being heaped on it. He can’t help but look at things from McNamara’s perspective, as both her longtime partner and a fellow writer, and realize that this isn’t precisely the story she wanted to tell.

“It’s very painful,” he admits. “I think other people are going to really love the book, but to me, there’s so much that’s left unsaid and unfinished.”

http://ew.com/books/2018/02/26/patto...ok-completion/

[JamesG]

Michelle McNamara's Posthumous I'll Be Gone in the Dark is a No. 1 Bestseller
by David Canfied
March 8, 2018


Michelle McNamara’s posthumous true-crime book I’ll Be Gone in the Dark has debuted in the No. 1 spot on the New York Times best-seller list (combined print and e-book, nonfiction), and her widower, Patton Oswalt, shared the news Wednesday on Twitter.

“I hope you know, sweetie,” Oswalt wrote. “I feel like you know. And I hope you know it when your work leads to his capture. #IllBeGoneInTheDark debuts at #1 on the @nytimes bestseller list. I’m so proud of you.”

http://ew.com/books/2018/03/07/miche...1-best-seller/

[JamesG]

Michelle McNamara's I'll Be Gone in the Dark to Become HBO Docuseries
by David Canfield
April 12, 2018


Michelle McNamara’s hunt for the Golden State Killer may have been cut tragically short, but her story continues to live on.

EW has confirmed that HBO Documentary Films has acquired the rights to McNamara’s posthumous true-crime book I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, a powerful read that tracks McNamara’s obsessive search for an elusive serial killer and rapist.



Published in February with an afterword by McNamara’s widower, Patton Oswalt, the book quickly surged to the top of the New York Times best-seller list and earned rave reviews. HBO is set to develop a docuseries out of it.

“HBO taking on this story will advance the passionate pursuit that Michelle shared with dozens of men and women in law enforcement — to solve the mystery of one of California’s most notorious serial killers,” Oswalt said in a statement.

http://ew.com/books/2018/04/09/ill-b...bo-docuseries/

[JamesG]

Patton Oswalt Responds to News of Golden State Killer Suspect's Arrest
by David Canfield
April 25, 2018


On the day news broke that the primary Golden State Killer suspect was arrested after more than 40 years, Patton Oswalt sat down with EW and opened up about the complex emotions he’s feeling.

The comedian and actor was married to Michelle McNamara, the true crime journalist who spent more than a decade doggedly researching the case before her untimely death in April 2016.

Her book on the Golden State Killer, I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, was published earlier this year to great acclaim and a top spot on the New York Times best-seller list. Oswalt had previously spoken to EW about how it became his mission to finish the project after McNamara died.





On Wednesday, he spoke on the subject of the arrest while being interviewed for PeopleTV’s Couch Surfing.

“My mind is going in a million directions right now, but on top of all the exhaustion and surrealism, I just feel very, very happy that her work wasn’t in vain,” he says when asked what he’s feeling. “Weirdly enough, I had been with her family the night before, doing a talk for her book, so that was very strange.”




Between 1976 and 1986, it was estimated that the Golden State Killer murdered at least 10 people and committed at least 50 sexual assaults. The case struggled to gain traction until McNamara began digging into it, helping brand it (she dubbed him the “Golden State Killer”), and publishing initial thoughts and compilations of research on her website, True Crime Diary.

Given this landmark moment in the case, Oswalt describes not having McNamara around to experience it as saddening. “Spin a wheel of emotions and pick eight of them, and they all apply,” he admits.





At a press conference earlier Wednesday, authorities suggested that no new leads came from McNamara’s work. Oswalt tells Couch Surfing this is slightly misleading, and doesn’t give McNamara the proper credit she deserves.

“A cop is never going to credit a writer or a journalist in helping them solve a case,” he says. “But they kept saying ‘Golden State Killer,’ so just by that act alone, her work affected the case…The new name is what helped get interest in this thing.”





Oswalt clarifies that it became his “mission” to finish McNamara’s project, if only because it was what he needed to do at the time to keep living his life in the wake of her death. He encountered 7,000 pages of police reports on a thumb drive, and more than 40 boxes worth of documents that McNamara had left behind.

As Oswalt puts it, “It was a massive undertaking that she did.”





As for what McNamara might have made of this moment?

“She’s too complex a person to speak for in that way,” Oswalt says. “I can’t say what she would make of today. I wouldn’t insult her by putting words into her mouth. I honestly don’t know. She would have way too many emotions, and they would be very complicated. You couldn’t reduce them to a soundbite, so I’m not going to try.”

http://ew.com/books/2018/04/25/patto...killer-arrest/