I Know Who You Are by Barbara Rae-Venter: Book Review

Title: I Know Who You Are: How an Amateur DNA Sleuth Unmasked the Golden State Killer and Changed Crime Fighting Forever
Author: Barbara Rae-Venter
Genre: True Crime, Memoir, Science, Ethics
Audience: Adult
Content Warning: Violent murders, rape, adoption

My Review:

I listened to I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara a few years ago, not realizing that the Golden State Killer hadn’t been caught at the time that book was published. That was an excellent book and I highly recommend it if you’re a fan of true crime. It goes into quite a bit of detail about the gruesome murders and rapes though.

I wanted to fill in the last few steps that led to this horrible serial killer finally getting caught so I picked up I Know Who You Are.

Ms. Rae-Venter wisely chooses not to cover ground that Ms. McNamara had covered so well in her book and focuses instead on her own part of the story. It is absolutely amazing to me that she and her team tracked down this man who had evaded capture for 40-some years in 63 days. Days. She is quick to point out that the officers, medical examiners, forensics workers, and others kept this cold case alive and laid the groundwork for his eventual identification and prosecution. She just happened to be in the right place with the right skills at a time when technology finally provided the tools to track this man down.

She describes some of his crimes a bit, so this book still isn’t for the faint-hearted.

There’s only so much she could write about her role in finding the Golden State Killer though and it was not enough to fill a book. She decided to write about the first criminal case she solved as a volunteer investigative genetic genealogist. A detective asked her if she could help a 30ish-year-old woman who was abducted as a child and who had no idea where she came from. Ms. Rae-Venter not only tracked down her identity, but also helped an adopted man find his birth family in the process, and identified a different serial killer. She wrote about that serial killer and a few of her other complex criminal cases as well.

I am generally more oriented toward words than visuals (give me a step-by-step description of how to do something with a picture or two and I am much happier than I am watching a YouTube tutorial), but I have to admit that I wish there were some graphics. I followed along well for the most part but the last case she details is so complex, I don’t really have any idea how she found the guy. I don’t know how practical this would have been but some basic family trees and the relevant branches would have been a lot of help, even with generic names like “Grandparent 1.” Readers who rely on visuals more than I do may struggle.

She alludes several times to the ethics of using someone’s DNA on a genealogy site to solve a criminal case. She doesn’t really dig into that topic until the last chapter and even then she doesn’t have a lot to say. To her, the ends mostly seem to justify the means. And when you’re looking at a notorious case like the Golden State Killer, I have to agree. But where is the line? She writes about how privacy policies on family history sites have changed, making her work harder, but granting more privacy to their users. This topic could (and probably does) fill a book on its own. I’m glad she included it but part of me wishes there had been a more in-depth discussion. That isn’t her purpose in writing this book though.

This is an excellent follow-up to I’ll Be Gone in the Dark and an interesting look at investigative genetic genealogy. True crime fans should definitely give it a try. I can even see it being a good fit for the right book club. I feel that it could lead to some fascinating discussions.

Synopsis from GoodReads:

For twelve years the Golden State Killer terrorized California, stalking victims and killing without remorse. Then he simply disappeared, for the next forty-four years, until an amateur DNA sleuth opened her laptop. In I Know Who You Are, Barbara Rae-Venter reveals how she went from researching her family history as a retiree to hunting for a notorious serial killer—and how she became the nation’s leading authority on investigative genetic genealogy, the most dazzling new crime-fighting weapon to appear in decades.

Rae-Venter leads readers on a vivid journey through the many cases she tackled, often starting with little more than a DNA sample. From the first criminal case she ever solved—uncovering the long-lost identity of a child abductee—to the heartbreaking story of the Billboard Boy, whose skeletal remains were discovered along a highway, to the search for the Golden State Killer, Rae-Venter shares haunting, often thrilling accounts of how she helped solve some of America’s most chilling cold cases in the span of just three years.

For each investigation, Rae-Venter brings readers inside her unique “grasshopper mind” as she analyzes DNA data and pores through obituaries, marriage records, and old newspaper articles. Readers join in on urgent calls with sheriffs, FBI agents, and district attorneys as she details the struggle to obtain usable crime scene DNA samples, until, finally, a critical piece of the puzzle tumbles into place.

I Know Who You Are captures both the exhilaration of the moment of discovery and the sheer depth of emotion that lingers around cold cases, informing Rae-Venter’s careful approach to her work. It is a story of relentless curiosity, of constant invention and reinvention, and of human beings striving to answer the most elemental questions about What defines identity? Where do we belong? And are we truly who we think we are?

Similar Books:

If you liked I Know Who You Are: How an Amateur DNA Sleuth Unmasked the Golden State Killer and Changed Crime Fighting Forever, you might also like my reviews of

• The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson
• From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial that Galvanized the Asian American Movement by Paula Yoo

Reading Challenge:

Purchase:

Buy I Know Who You Are: How an Amateur DNA Sleuth Unmasked the Golden State Killer and Changed Crime Fighting Forever from Malaprop’s Bookstore in beautiful Asheville, NC or

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