A Riveting Look into the Trenches of Cold Case Investigations

Unmasked by criminalist Paul Holes reminds me of another excellent book, Blood Beneath My Feet, by death investigator Joseph Scott Morgan. Both involve case review and police procedures, but are also in large part a memoir about the meticulous, grueling forensic work done to catch and convict killers, and the human toll this profession extracts by those who get caught up in that, by virtue of their proximity to details. In Holes’ book, his strengths are on site crime scene management, thorough analysis of voluminous cold case files, and development of a perpetrator profile specifically based on information provided in both crime scene analysis and painstaking review of investigative files. 

In the cold case involving a rapist and murderer, an issue Holes encountered was withholding of information by law enforcement. Once a task force was set up, the flow of information between investigative districts was not always freely forthcoming. Michelle McNamara was an online sleuth and writer who had become obsessed with finding the East Area Rapist, now known as the Golden State Killer. Holes notes, “It was because of Michelle and her gift of the homicide files that I was finally able to evaluate these murders. The Southern California contingent, even after the task force was formed, had continued to keep critical information close to the chest and not share. I didn’t blame them. Everyone wanted to be the one to crack the Golden State Killer case—but not everyone was willing to jeopardize our collective chances of success by withholding information.”  

Michelle McNamara’s contributions are highlighted by Holes, who grieves her passing at age 46 before this killer was identified due to a combination of prescription drugs, including fentanyl, likely to help her sleep through the night. He writes, “In the Los Angeles magazine story in 2013, Michelle had written: “In the past, when people have asked whether it worries me that the killer may still be out there, I’ve waved dismissively, pointing out that he’d be much older now—sixty-two, if I had to guess. ‘He can’t hurt me,’ I say, not realizing that in every sleepless hour, in every minute spent hunting him and not cuddling my daughter, he already has.” In a way, she was the Golden State Killer’s last victim.”

A particularly interesting aspect of the book was the discussion of the importance of crime scene management in the investigation’s initial stage, coordinating the collection of evidence. Holes states, “My job was very much a hybrid position because of its scientific component. I viewed evidence with the eyes of a forensic scientist, assessing and collecting it in a manner that would be optimal for when I returned to the serology lab to examine it.” This could include noticing a small tear in the bottom of a sock, a seemingly unimportant detail, that could contain the only killer’s DNA in the entire crime scene. 

The world is full of people who have lost a family member or close friend to murder, and no one has been held accountable for the crime. They may be in the movie seat next to you, in the house across the street, in your church, or your child’s schoolteacher. You never know because they hold their story inside, as it’s not something to bring up in normal conversation. It’s a weight on their very core of being that affects them the rest of their lives. They look across the gas pump and wonder, is this the person who killed my sister? They watch the old man across the street mowing his grass and ask the same question. It well might be. 

Killers live among us, have families, children, yet have committed heinous acts, and have not been held to account. Law enforcement and the judicial system are charged with seeking justice for those who have been taken from us, it might be a child holding a kitten in a field who, while waiting for her friend to come back, has been targeted by a predator of the worst kind hiding nearby. Without the single minded dogged determination of investigators and the army of forensic scientists, and others, many would never have answers. These investigators connect with the walking collateral damage of monsters, and swear to themselves they will not stop until the wrong is righted. These investigators see the victims at crime scenes, or meet them in pages of voluminous cold case files. Their search becomes an obsession their own family members can’t understand, and it comes with a cost. 

This book is a testament to not giving up, full of examples of what it takes to bring a criminal to justice. The needs are many, with no end in sight. Holes writes, “I’ve seen statistics indicating that some two thousand serial killers are operating in the United States today. Most are not loners and outcasts. They can and do function as your friendly next-door neighbor. They know that what they’re doing is twisted, and they can stop for periods of time, but the urge to kill is stronger than the fear of being caught. I counted at least six active serial killers in our county in the 1970s and ’80s.” Theirs is a crusade for justice and truth, their exhaustive efforts yield results, and every cold case file that gets solved and closed, is a victory for mankind.