Above all, thank you to my strong and supportive Shriner men. We are wiser and stronger for our sacrifices. We play it as it lays around here.
Many family members of Little’s victims welcomed me into their lives, their stories, their memories, their pain. My respect for their vulnerability and strength is immeasurable. Thank you to the Christie family, the Flores/Zambranos, the White Buffalos, and the Nelsons. Pearl Unique—you are truly both.
To Debbie and the Duvall family (of which I am proudly an honorable member), your love and faith give me the strength to keep going.
Thank you to Little’s surviving victims, Laurie Kerridge and the late Hilda Nelson, for your willingness to share your stories with me, in the hope of helping others.
I extend my humble gratitude to the McDowell family, who allowed me into their homes, and into their hearts.
Deepest gratitude to LAPD Detective III Mitzi Roberts, for gifting me a life-changing story, and inspiring me to see it through.
To my cop-crush, retired LAPD Detective Rick Jackson, I treasure your belief in me, your ebullience, and your patient guidance.
MC, thank you for lighting the LA skyline for me with the flick of a switch.
Thanks to my manager Charlie Fusco—friend and force—and the crackerjack team at TGC. Laura, what would I do without you? Rachel Weintraub, there are no words. Thanks to Ethan Cohan, a scholar and a gentleman. Thank you, Anna Michels, for your sharp editorial eye, and to the team at Sourcebooks for your unflinching support. All gratitude to Shelley Venemann, Gladys Pittman, and the peeps at Provident.
It was an honor to work Joe Berlinger and his remarkable Radical Media crew on the documentary Confronting a Serial Killer.
All love to our Reboot mishpuchah, Nefesh kin, and Ethiopian extended family, who continue to teach me the ways of joy, community, and reverence.
Bonkers, bananas gratitude to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. In a truly heroic midnight save, Sarah Matthews told me I would not be walking into court unrepresented, while protecting my sources.
Thank you to Michael Dore of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP: a pit bull in Ferragamos, a sucker for the First Amendment, and the reason this isn’t written on toilet paper from San Bernardino County Jail. Thanks also to my mentors through Women in Film, Anika McClaren and Tara Cole.
Tara and Mike—don’t know how you magnificent lawyers both got stuck with me. You’re fucking cool.
Love to my friends, family and co-conspirators: R’Susan Goldberg, Amaia Perta (soul sister in crime), Penn Jillette, Zoe Ruiz, Trevor Noah, Jenny Feldon, Jonathan Ames, DDA Kelly Howick, Jon Feldon (owe you a shiny nickel), all my Suite 8ers and bitch night bitches, Heather Havrilesky, Annabelle Gurwitch, Del Wilber, Maurice Chammah, Claire Bidwell-Smith, Colin Summers, the LaZebniks, Billy Jensen, Garret Finney, Kurt Gutjahr, Charles Graeber, Gilly Barnes, Justin Van Hairston, Andrew Dreskin, Dr. Tina Bloom, Gary Lippman, Christophe Liglet, Anne Dailey, Renee Reeser, Randy Petee, John and Fred, Paul and Vincie, the Shriner family, the Dreskin family, the Fern family, the Fogliano-Paynter family, Sasha Zohuri, Zackary Drucker, Mitch Eisner, Judy White, Jamie Rose, Garrett Finney, and the Children of Darkness.
To my invaluable design team, Edward Kingston and Gretta Eberline, thank you for entering my life and expanding my creative world. Mckenzie O’Connor, thank you for bringing the map to life with your unique vision.
The members of the law enforcement community across the country who came together to work on the Little case are too manifest to mention.
Thanks also to DDA Beth Silverman, retired Detective Tim Marcia, the LAPD, LASD, LAPD Robbery Homicide Division, Wise County Sheriff Lane Aiken, Detective Kellyanne Best, Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Rick Bell, and the whole Cleveland team, Detective Justin Caid, Detective Michael Hubbard, Detective Leticia Gamboa, Michael Pentz, Lieutenant Detective Darren Versiga, retired Sergeant Detective Snow Robertson, Dr. Joseph Wu, and Detective Dana Harris.
The sheriff’s deputies and inmates alike at California State Prison, Los Angeles largely treated me with respect and kindness. Thanks, Calvin and Everett, for always having a pencil and pulling out my chair.
Thanks to Deamer and the patrol officers at Newton Division for not sending a black and white every time I called from Tam’s.
Thanks to Special Agent Shayne Buchwald for your grace and humor.
My great respect and admiration go out to DOJ ViCAP liaison Angela Williamson and BSU ViCAP analyst Christie Palazzolo for being the brainiacs, working long and hard for justice behind the scenes. Your commitment to the ViCAP and SAKI programs has already changed the world.
Thank you, Texas Ranger James B. Holland, for making me a better journalist.
Dr. Eizabeth Loftus, thank you for helping me to understand your iconoclastic/iconic insights on eyewitness testimony.
Dr. James Fallon, thank you for sharing your staggering brilliance, wit, and a wonderful afternoon.
Dr. Del Paulhus from the University of British Columbia—the world’s nicest expert on Evil—thank you for sharing your innovations…and for empowering Muffin, Tootsie, and Ike to fight another day!
To Dr. Fallon, Dr. Macciardi, and Dr. Halpern: I’m sorry I failed to get you that brain. Thank you for your patience and your efforts. I would’ve taken a hacksaw and brought it to you myself if I could have. Next one.