It’s been 102 days since writer Michelle McNamara, wife of comedian Patton Oswalt, passed away unexpectedly. A gifted writer and the creator of the site True Crime Diary, McNamara was working on a book about the Golden State Killer, a notorious case she frequently wrote about for LA Magazine. Oswalt, who has used social media as an outlet for his grief in the months since his wife’s passing, took to Facebook today to post a heartfelt, heartbreaking update on how he’s holding up, and his plans to make sure McNamara’s work finds the audience it deserves.
Says Oswalt:
Michelle McNamara got yanked off the planet and out of life 102 days ago. She left behind an amazing unfinished book, about a horrific series of murders that everyone – including the retired homicide detectives she worked with – was sure she’d solve. The Golden State Killer. She gave him that name, in an article for Los Angeles Magazine. She was going to figure out the real name behind it. She left Alice, her 7 year-old daughter. But not before putting the best parts of her into Alice, like beautiful music burned onto a CD and sent out into the void on a spaceship. And she left me. 102 days into this. I was face-down and frozen for weeks. It’s 102 days later and I can confidently say I have reached a point where I’m crawling. Which, objectively, is an improvement. Maybe 102 days later I’ll be walking. Any spare energy I’ve managed to summon since April 21st I’ve put toward finishing Michelle’s book. With a lot of help from some very amazing people. It will come out. I will let you know. It’s all her. We’re just taking what’s there and letting it tell us how to shape it. It’s amazing.