What Life is Like Two Years After Convicting the Golden State Killer
The arrest had more impact on my life than I ever imagined; give trauma survivors Grace because the road ahead is miserable.
In 1980, when the murder of my dad and stepmom happened, it was a big deal. I talk about it as this rush of noise, like all TV channels turned on at once. Police, lawyers, media, friends, my dad and Charlene’s friends, and more descended on our lives.
With her Minnesota DNA, my mom had us soldier on, sending us to school as usual and tricking us into believing this was all normal. We went about our daily routine despite the noise. As I look back, it was dystopian as hell. Whenever I read headlines about a traumatic event, I feel for the families entering that dystopia. It’s hard enough to deal with the trauma. It’s insane when it’s public.
But I couldn’t know then that a delayed arrest or trial, in our case, 40 years delayed, could be even more dystopian.
Catching the killer unleashed a tidal wave of activity.
In April 2018, I was at the height of my career. As a marketing VP in Silicon Valley, my team had just pulled off an amazing RSA (a huge cybersecurity tradeshow). I was getting feedback from industry colleagues that what we’d done was delightful and informative. We’d even secured a coveted speaking…
