Unmasked: My Life Solving America's Cold Cases

In 1997, Holes’s attention is drawn back to the EAR, and he digs further into the files, attempting to discern patterns in the perpetrator’s behavior. He finds that after the Sacramento Bee reported in 1977 that the perpetrator had never struck a home where a man was present, the EAR began doing just that. Holes is also pleased to discover that DNA collected from the 1970s cases still exists—because of storage limitations, it is typically destroyed when the statute of limitations is up. Using new technology, Holes proves what previous investigators suspected: that the rapes committed in the late 1970s were done by the same person.

Holes consults Lieutenant Larry Crompton, a member of the original EAR task force. Crompton suspects that the perpetrator stopped committing crimes in the area because he began committing them in Southern California instead. A psychiatrist’s assessment of an uncaught serial murderer fits the EAR’s profile, in Crompton’s view. However, Crompton had no success when attempting to collaborate with police in Santa Barbara.

Holes contacts the Santa Barbara Police Department, which leads him to some cases in Irvine that resemble the EAR. Holes speaks with crime lab personnel in Irvine, comparing notes on DNA. Holes knows that the technology needed is not yet as advanced as it will one day be.

As 1997 continues, Holes and Lori continue to have marital difficulties. They attend marriage counseling, but Holes cannot connect with Lori. He wants to share his passion for his work with her, but she feels the emotional distance has grown too great. After retrieving two bodies from an area of thick vegetation, he develops a poison oak rash. He feels as though Lori is unempathetic about his pain and realizes that the marriage must end.

In 1998, Holes visits a crime scene involving a father and his two young daughters. The father, a felon and gang member, had barricaded himself into his home for 42 hours, threatening to take the lives of the girls because his wife had ended their relationship. The standoff ended in murder-suicide, and as he surveys the crime scene, Holes can’t help but think of his own children.

In November 1998, Holes is called to collect evidence at a crime scene in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. There he meets Inspector John Conaty of the Pittsburg Police Department and his partner, Ray Giacomelli—a team renowned among investigators across the nation.

In the morgue, Holes collects and documents evidence from the victim, a teenager named Lisa Norrell. After he is finished, the pathologist begins the autopsy. Holes, the pathologist, and Conaty and Giacomelli banter jokingly—a coping mechanism to deal with the horror of the task at hand. This marks the beginning of a friendship between Holes and Conaty and Giacomelli. The latter are eager to learn what they can about the science of evidence assessment, and Holes is mentally stimulated by learning about the process of solving a homicide.

The case of Lisa Norrell—along with those of three other women murdered in the area in a similar fashion—goes cold. Holes wonders if there is a serial killer in Pittsburg and becomes even more determined to uncover the identity of the EAR.

By 1999, Holes has begun dating Sherrie Post, a new criminalist and colleague. He admires her passion for their shared work and believes she may be the right one for him.

In June of that year, Holes works on the “strangest case of [his] career” (116)—the death of 56-year-old Emmon Bodfish. Bodfish lived in the wealthy town of Orinda and was bludgeoned to death in his home. Because the body has been decaying for several days by the time the team arrives, Holes is permitted to remove the clothing from the body before it is transported to the morgue. Holes cuts off the clothing to bag it as evidence and discovers the victim has female genitalia: Bodfish was a transgender man. Bodfish also leaves behind 17 years of journals, through which Holes learns he practiced Druidism—a belief system that dates from the Celtic era.

Bodfish’s son, Max, is initially the primary suspect, but Max dies by suicide after learning of Bodfish’s death. Holes examines Max’s body in the Los Angeles morgue, and though others are certain Max must have been the murderer, Holes is not. Bodfish’s journals reference an alter-ego and reveal that Bodfish also considered himself a demon. Holes believes Bodfish may have had someone intentionally bludgeon him to death to die by suicide and finally escape the demon inside of him. The case remains unsolved.

In 2001, Holes is promoted to the position of supervising criminalist. While he does not enjoy the managerial aspects of the role, it allows him to finally focus on the EAR. He looks into the serial killer Phillip Joseph Hughes Junior, incarcerated for the murders of three women. Holes attends a parole board hearing for Hughes; after hearing the stories of the victims’ families, he becomes determined that Hughes never be released. If Holes can prove that Hughes is the EAR, he will be less likely to receive parole.

Holes examines several cold cases that police suspected Hughes was responsible for. With modern technology, he tests the DNA of a blood sample that was too small to test at the time of the murder. It does not match Hughes’s DNA but does uncover the victim’s killer.

Next, Holes looks into the murder of Cindy Waxman, an 11-year-old girl killed in 1978. He interviews Waxman’s cousin, Stephanie, who was the last person with Cindy before her abduction. He is also able to locate Waxman’s clothing from evidence and tests a semen stain. Waxman’s killer is not Hughes but a man named Charles Jackson, released on parole just before Cindy was killed (though he has since died). Holes continues to investigate other cold cases, hoping to link them to Hughes.