The arrest of a suspect in one of California’s most terrifying serial murders provides a backdrop for a modern and relevant investigation into unhealed trauma, the enduring harm of hostile attitudes toward women and rape, and hidden cost of political ambition. The investigation documented repeated instances where dismissive attitudes toward women, rape and the political ambitions of law enforcement leaders allowed the escalation of a serial killer, and thwarted his capture. It also drew new attention to a hidden victim class, men whose trauma remained unacknowledged for half a century. And it cast modern attitudes toward sexual assault into an historic context and gave voice to a generation of women who were shunned into silence.
