Michelle McNamara, crime writer and wife of Patton Oswalt, dies

Crime writer Michelle McNamara, the wife of comedian Patton Oswalt, died on Thursday at the age of 46, Oswalt’s publicist confirmed on Saturday.

She died in her sleep, the publicist told the Associated Press. No cause of death has been reported.

McNamara created the True Crime Diary, a blog devoted to both breaking crime and cold cases.  Some of the lesser-known cases she covered included the Golden State Killer and the 1976 murder of Melanie Howell, according to the AP.

McNamara was a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, and received a master’s degree in creative writing from the University of Minnesota.

McNamara and Oswalt married in 2005. They have a seven-year-old daughter, Alice.

Oswalt’s comedy special, Talking for Clapping, taped six months ago in San Francisco, premiered on Friday. Oswalt, normally a prolific tweeter on politics and other news events, simply retweeted the Hollywood Reporter article about his wife’s death.