By the time I got involved with the story of what happened in Napa on that Halloween night 2005, the killer had already been caught and the shock of who he was had been replaced by a different question – why? Why had he killed these two young women, one of whom he knew quite well?

I set about trying to answer that haunting question. I flew to Napa and had dinner with Arlene Allen, the valiant mother of Adriane Insogna, one of the victims. I met with Adriane’s friends. I spoke to people who had worked with Leslie Mazzara at the Niebaum-Coppola winery as well as others who knew her on a more intimate level. I spoke to the police and the district attorney and finally I wrote letters to the killer, his wife, and everyone in the family.

I’m sorry to say that killer remained mum about his crimes – until his sentencing. Then he opened up in a big way. I thought he was quite eloquent; others called him a coward but there was no denying the emotion in the courtroom that day when he turned to the mothers and friends of the women he killed and told them he was sorry. Some people later said he was only sorry for himself because he was going to prison forever with no possibility of parole.

I didn’t see it that way. I felt the killer was genuinely sorry. What he did was beyond horrible and it seemed as though the reality had finally hit him.

In his statement, he gave clear clues as to why he killed those two young women without ever stating it plainly. Why? For one very good reason I think. Murder is an insane act that doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t make sense to kill someone whatever your reason. I don’t think the killer, who was drunk at the time of the murders, knows why he did what he did. He was acting out of some primordial feeling that faded when he sobered up, realized his crime, and hid from authorities for nine long months.

Another clue to his real feelings lies in the suicide notes the killer wrote to his mother, father, and employer. I’ve written about them before.