Golden State Killer Investigator Paul Holes Is Joining Reboot Of 'America's Most Wanted' 

The iconic crime series “America’s Most Wanted” is coming back and this time, one of the badasses who helped catch the Golden State Killer is joining the cast.

From 1988 until 2012, “America’s Most Wanted” shined a light on criminal suspects who were on the run, resulting in tips that led to the capture of hundreds of fugitives.

Now, as the show reboots, a renowned investigator who worked on one of America's most recent notorious cases joins their roster as an expert: Paul Holes. He began hunting down Golden State Killer — who was later identified as former police officer Joseph DeAngelo — when he was in his 20s while working as a forensic toxicologist in Contra Costa, one of the California countries in which the serial killer struck. Years later, while working as a cold case investigator for the Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office, true crime author Michelle McNamara teamed up with him to further hunt the elusive serial killer. 

Holes initiated the genetic genealogy research in the case, which ultimately narrowed the search down to DeAngelo. A rummage through his trash confirmed his DNA matched the genetic material found at the killer's crime scenes. While Holes technically retired in 2018, shortly before DeAngelo’s arrest, he has never stopped working on behalf of crime victims. He’s been vocal about the Golden State Killer case as well as his friendship with McNamara, and was featured in the HBO docuseries “I’ll Be Gone in the Dark.” He also runs a cold case podcast “The Murder Squad” along with true crime investigator Billy Jensen.

“I’m excited to be part of the iconic America’s Most Wanted family and to continue to contribute in any way, utilizing my own experience and expertise to help the AMW team catch criminals who are evading justice,” Holes told Rolling Stone.

Veteran investigative journalist Elizabeth Vargas will be hosting the show and she tells prospective viewers in a trailer that their tips will help them catch the country’s “most dangerous fugitives.”

A lot has changed since 2012, as technology in the trailer suggest. Vargas stands next to 3-D avatars of suspects, constructed using police photos and "age-progression technology, which the FBI and law enforcement use, in combination with doctors and medical experts on how the human body ages,” she told Entertainment Weekly.

“For example, we may stop growing but our nose and ears don't. They're able to show tattoos or deformities, too, in a very lifelike way with these avatars."

She added that the show will also use "augmented reality in interactive ways" and that viewers will get a "walk through of crime scenes while pointing out evidence that could be crucial to viewer identification."

“America’s Most Wanted,” Holes and all, returns to Fox on March 15.