The “Golden State Killer” Economy — A Serial Killer Created an Industry

Here’s who does and doesn’t make money off these crimes.

Billy Jensen, Paul Haynes, and Patton Oswalt in Citrus Heights discussing Michelle McNamara’s book. Author’s image.

I live at the intersection of true crime, storytelling, and entertainment. There are still moments when I look up and think, “am I really in the middle of all this insanity?” Of course, the answer is yes, and I’ve done my best to slog my way through.

Since I write and podcast about my experience, many think I’m making bank. Uh. No. That’s not how it works, at least not for me. I do it because I enjoy it. It’s helped me heal, allowed me to tell the truth about our part of the crimes, and ideally, it lets me develop content I hope will help others.

But some are doing well thanks to DeAngelo’s crimes. I call it the Golden State Killer Economy: how one industrious sadist created an industry.

Let’s start with the obvious: the prosecution and defense of Joseph DeAngelo.

For the citizens of California, DeAngelo has been expensive. Let’s set aside the money spent on chasing this guy across more than 100 cases in 16 jurisdictions over forty years (at least ten of those spent on active investigations). If we could add that up, I fear the final amount would be obscene. All this is before his arrest.