Former SoCal Assemblyman Mike Gatto still seeking answers more than 10 years after father's murder

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Former California Assemblyman Mike Gatto's quest to find his father's killer has spurred him to write a book about the unsolved mystery more than a decade after it happened.

Joe Gatto was 78 when he was shot and killed in his Silver Lake house on Nov. 13, 2013. His youngest daughter found him slumped over his desk, shot once in the stomach.

Joe Gatto was an unlikely target for a killer. He was a retired high school teacher who was nationally recognized. He was loved by his neighbors and had taken up jewelry making as a hobby.

"He was an Army veteran, he was a doting grandfather, he was just a terrific guy," said his son Mike Gatto. "The case has confounded me for 10 years, and I think it's confounded everybody who's looked at it seriously."

Mike Gatto was a California State Assemblyman at the time of the murder. He has spent the years after his father's murder trying to help investigators find the person who pulled the trigger and wrote a book about the mystery. It's called "Noir by Necessity: How My Father's Unsolved Murder Brought Me To Dark Places."

Gatto says it's his way to honor his dad's life, maybe spark a break in the case and to share the challenges of living with the unsolved murder of a loved one.

"It is so much work, I think for any family of any murder victim, because you're waiting for answers and it occupies a lot of space in your head," he told Eyewitness News. "You're always thinking about it."

"I will not stop till my father's killer is caught," Gatto added.

The book goes on sale March 7.