The Golden State Killer could be the most horrifying of America's serial killers. Not just because of his gruesome crimes, his disturbing chatter and hysterical weeping, or his penchant for collecting personal items from his victims while leaving behind valuables and cash. It is not even for the fact that he vanished without a trace after terrorizing California communities over the course of a decade between 1976 and 1986, raping more than 50 women in their own homes and murdering at least 10 people by bludgeoning them to death with items discovered nearby, like a log taken from a fireplace, or a pipe wrench. The reason the Golden State Killer haunts the detectives who worked on his case, the families of victims and survivors, and the crime writers and amateur sleuths on his trail all these decades later is because it is unfathomable that he got away.