Patton Oswalt paid tribute to his late wife Michelle McNamara, posting a photo of the two of them on Instagram with the caption: “Ten years gone. Miss you, baby.” The actor and comedian shared a tribute on April 21, marking 10 years since his wife’s death.
McNamara died April 21, 2016, in her sleep at age 46. The cause was later confirmed as an undiagnosed heart condition combined with prescription medications, according to People. She was a true crime writer known for her detailed work on unsolved cases.
Oswalt and McNamara met in May 2003 at the Largo club in Los Angeles. He later told People that he mentioned Irish women during his set. After the show, she approached him and said, “Irish girls, nice!” He recalled the moment clearly. “It was love pretty much immediately for me,” Oswalt said. He added that she took longer to fall in love, but moved in with him within months.
They married in 2005. Their daughter, Alice, was born in 2009. Oswalt has said in interviews that raising their daughter became his focus after McNamara’s death.
Michelle McNamara’s Work on Golden State Killer Case
McNamara was a true crime journalist who launched her website True Crime Diary in 2006, at Oswalt’s own suggestion. She built a devoted following covering cold cases other outlets had long ignored.
McNamara spent years tracking a serial predator who had terrorized California throughout the 1970s and ’80s, committing more than 50 sexual assaults and at least 12 murders before vanishing. She coined his now-infamous name: the Golden State Killer.
She was nearly done with the book when she passed away. Oswalt later worked with crime writer Paul Haynes and journalist Billy Jensen to complete the manuscript using McNamara’s notes, files, and drafts, according to Time magazine.
Oswalt later described the experience. ‘It’s another part of her that’s kind of gone,’ he said on “My Favorite Murder” podcast.
‘In a very sick way, not having the book done—and us working on it, meant she was still here.’
‘I’ll Be Gone in the Dark’ was published posthumously in February 2018. It debuted at No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list for nonfiction and stayed on the list for 15 weeks. HBO adapted it into a documentary series in 2020.
Oswalt delivered a copy to McNamara’s gravesite after publication, and he shared a photo on X. ‘You did it, baby,’ he wrote. ‘The book is excellent, the writing brilliant. You tried to bring kindness to chaos, which was your way.’
The Golden State Killer, later identified as former police officer Joseph James DeAngelo Jr., who was arrested in April 2018.
He appeared on ‘Late Night with Seth Meyers’ the following day and said the arrest felt like ‘a beginning of this whole other chapter.’ ‘Now it feels like this thing that she wanted so badly is done,’ he said, according to CBS news.
Patton Oswalt on Loss, Family, and Moving Forward
GettyOswalt has spoken about McNamara in multiple interviews since 2016. In a Time essay, he described her personality and work. “She steered her life with joyous, wicked curiosity,” he wrote. He followed that with a simple line: “I loved her.”
In a 2017 interview with People, he spoke about grief. “I can get up and I can do my job and I can be a dad but the wound is there. It is healing. It’s not shut yet,” he said. He explained that he focused on daily routines and parenting.
Oswalt remarried in November 2017 to actress Meredith Salenger. However, he has continued to speak about McNamara while also discussing his current family life.
The 2026 tribute follows a pattern of direct, personal messages. Oswalt has consistently marked major dates connected to McNamara. He has also continued to support her work through interviews and public statements.
McNamara’s book remains widely read. The case she worked on became one of the most recognized criminal investigations in the US. Her reporting helped bring attention to evidence and timelines that had been overlooked for years.
