'You Did It, Michelle': Oswalt to Late Wife After Big Arrest

"Goodnight, Michelle. You did good," comedian Patton Oswalt tweeted Wednesday, praising his late wife's role in the Golden State Killer case. Suspect Joseph James DeAngelo was arrested almost two years to the day after the death of Oswalt's wife, true-crime writer Michelle McNamara. She chronicled her 10-year-long hunt for the sadistic California serial killer accused of 12 murders and around 50 rapes in the '70s and '80s in I'll Be Gone in the Dark, the Washington Post reports. Oswalt helped finish the best-seller, which was released earlier this year, after McNamara died unexpectedly in her sleep at age 46. "You did it, Michelle," Oswalt said Wednesday, calling the day the "definition of bittersweet."

Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones says the book "helped keep interest in tips coming in," but "there was no information extracted from that book that directly led to the apprehension," the AP reports. Patton says his wife's determination helped put a spotlight on the case. She "aimed a light and helped the hunters catch a monster," he says. Jones says DeAngelo, a 72-year-old ex-cop, was "very surprised" when he was arrested outside his home on the basis of DNA evidence, the Sacramento Bee reports. "It looked as though he might have been searching his mind to execute a particular plan he may have had in mind … he was not given the opportunity," the sheriff says. McNamara's book predicted a very similar arrest. "The doorbell rings," she wrote. "This is how it ends for you." (More Golden State Killer stories.)