A-U-C-L-A mystery. I'm Jason Horton. I'm Rebecca Lieb. And this is Ghost Town.

A April 21, 2016, 46-year-old crime writer Michelle McNamara died in her sleep.

Two-thirds of the way through writing her book, I'll be gone in the dark,

one woman's obsessive search for the Golden State Killer, which was eventually published in 2018.

Just three months later, with the help of McNamara's intensive, almost obsessive research

into her work, authorities in California identified 72-year-old Joseph James D'Angelo

as the Golden State Killer and arrested him at his home. Though the decades-old mystery of

the Golden State Killer was finally solved, McNamara lost sleep over lots of other cases,

cases just as tragic, mysterious, and pervasive. Today we'll be talking about another

strange and heartbreaking case that consumed McNamara, the unsolved murder of U-C-L-A medical

center nurse, Melanie Howell. The life of 22-year-old Melanie Amber Howell was busy, full of friends,

culture, and helping others. Born August 7, 1954, Howell was redondo beach native with a loving

family of her parents and two siblings. She began working at U-C-L-A medical center in February

of 1975, assisting in the postcardiac care unit, loving her work inspired her to enroll at

Santa Monica College to gain her credentials as a registered nurse. But she didn't just love

nursing. Howell loved the arts, going to ballet class on Saturdays, and also enjoying reading and

writing. According to Anthony De Niro, Howell's high school English teacher, she was, quote,

very cooperative and friendly, more mature than most students, and she was bright, she wrote very

well. Her bubbly personality and commitment to her work made her fast friends at U-C-L-A,

a place she felt she belonged. Head nurse Doreen Fanning said of Howell, quote,

Melanie was a responsible person, living on her own and following her real interest, which was

nursing. She was very well liked by the patients, many would specifically ask for her.

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