Meet True Crime Author, Journalist, and Murder Investigation Expert Frank Girardot

Author Frank Girardot

Frank Girardot (born 1961, Detroit, Michigan) is an American author, journalist, victim advocate, and radio host. He is CEO of Pegasus Communications, LLC and a former editor and columnist for the Los Angeles News Group.

Girardot got his start in journalism as a copy boy at the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner. Subsequent to the newspaper’s closing, he worked for the Ontario Daily Report, the San Gabriel Valley Tribune and the Pasadena Star-News. His 1994 story on the unsolved murder of Geneva Hilliker Ellroy, the mother of novelist James Ellroy resulted in Ellroy’s book,”My Dark Places”. He has won several writing awards including the Southern California Press Association’s award for Investigative Journalism 1995, the Los Angeles Press Club’s First Place Award for sportswriting in 1998 and was a finalist for the 2015 University of Florida Award for Investigative Data Journalism in 2015. Girardot headed a project for the Los Angeles Newspaper Group titled “Getting Away with Murder.” The effort chronicled 11,242 homicides that occurred in Los Angeles County between 2000 and 2010. Relying on data supplied by the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner the project found that less than 50 percent of all homicides that occurred countywide were ever solved.

Girardot is the author of true crime non-fiction books, including “Name Dropper”, which was cited by author Walter Kirn in his book “Blood Will Out.” He is co-author with Burl Barer of “A Taste For Murder” and “Betrayal in Blue“, the latter also co-written with Ken Eurell and both published by WildBlue Press.

Brothers in crime Frank Girardot and Burl Barer

Girardot has appeared on several true crime shows on various cable networks including Investigation Discovery. He has been a frequent guest on Crime Time with Allison Hope Weiner on LipTV. He has also appeared on Fox News and Dateline NBC. His topics of expertise include murder investigation, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Richard Ramirez, Clark Rockefeller and Los Angeles area true crime.

In 2015, Girardot co-hosted the Randy Economy Show in Los Angeles on radio station KRLA.

Girardot resides in Pasadena, California. He has three children and is a Roman Catholic. He plays guitar in Thunderheart, a band he formed with “Breaking Bad” co-star Dean Norris.

“Frank Girardot is the pit bull crime reporter that other crime reporters wish they were.” — James Ellroy