Born in 1969, February 29, Richard Ramirez was an American serial killer, serial, rapist, kidnapper, child abuser, and burglar. This article will let you know everything that you need to know about Richard Ramirez. He is now the focus of a new Netflix series called “Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer.” Basically, he has terrorized southern California in the middle of the 1980s. This series that premieres on January 13 will feature interviews with members of law enforcement and how it has helped them to track down and arrest Ramirez.
However, before he became the Night Stalker, Richard was always a troubled kid who grew up in El Paso, Texas. So if all of these triggers you to know more about this serial killer, then you are at the right place. Without any further delay, let’s start with the article.
1. Richard Ramirez’s crime spree started in the year 1984.
And all of that began with the murder, rape, and stabbing of a 79 years old widow who was known as Jennie Vincow in June 1984. And then nearly a year later in March 1985, Richard came back with another crime. He then shot as well as killed Dayle Okazaki and then attacked her roommate named Maria Hernandez who actually survived.
And then in the same night, he again killed Tsai-Lian Yu. All these back-to-back murders, it has sparked a media frenzy. Moreover, he went on to commit a whole series of rapes, murders, as well as burglaries. During his 1989 trial, he was yet again convicted of 13 counts of murder, 11 sexual assaults, 5 attempted murders, and 14 burglaries.
In the year 2009, Richard was further linked to some of the brutal murders including 9 years old Mei Leung in San Francisco with a DNA test.
2. Moreover, Richard forced some of his victims to “swear to Satan” while he was terrorizing them.
In his first court appearance, Richard raised his hand just to reveal a pentagram that was drawn on it. In fact, the Sigil of Baphomet is actually the insignia of the Church of Satan.
He also yelled in the courtroom, “Hail, Satan.” Before he was sentenced to die in the gas chamber, Richard went on a rant in court, the Los Angeles Times reported. His last words before being sentenced were: “Lucifer dwells within us all… You don’t understand… and you are not expected to, you are not capable of it. I am beyond your experience. I am beyond doing evil. Legions of the night, night breed. Repeat not the errors of the Night Stalker and show no mercy. I will be avenged.”
3. Richard was Captured by an angry mob.
To arrest Richard Ramirez, police had to issue a bulletin calling. To the public, his photographer and name were released. And on August 31, 1985, he was again spotted in East Los Angeles.
Richard again fled away and tried to steal a car but was confronted and beaten by the citizens in the area. He was then surrounded by the locals until police arrives and took him into custody.
4. When he was a teenager, Richard began his life of crime and moved to Los Angeles.
Yes! He was in high school when he started to burglarize homes in El Paso and then continued with his crimes even in Los Angeles after he dropped out and moved to LA at the age of 15.
He had brothers and one of the older brothers as per the report has helped him to refine his burglary techniques with Richard. And later was jailed for stealing a car. Furthermore, he has developed a drug habit as per several reports.
5. He assaulted children.
Very unfortunately, Richard has not even spared children. Yes! During he was on his killing spree, a series of young children went missing. They were taken from their bed and then assaulted and abandoned. But, a six years old survivor was crucial in identifying Richard later on. At times, he used to sexually assault a kid whenever he came across in the house while a burglary.
6. He was almost apprehended.
All the investigators were pretty close to apprehending Richard that too several times. Once, he attempted kidnapping but he failed to do so and while he was driving away, he committed a traffic violation and as a result, the cop saw it happen. Richard heard a broadcast of his kidnapping attempt on the cop’s radio and then he drew a pentagram on the hood of the car he had stolen and then he began running.
Richard is known for having extremely bad teeth and then in the stolen car, the cops found a business card for a dentist’s office. And while doing the investigation, cops found a man known as Richard Mena had gotten X-rays done having an infected tooth. As the time went on without a sign of Richard, the dentist’s office to be ready. Furthermore, the dentist advised the officer to install an alarm so that employees could press whenever Richard return back which they did.
However, when Ramirez did come in and the alarm was pressed — it didn’t go off. “We missed him,” detective Gil Carrillo said. “How many more people are going to die?”
7. He got married in prison.
At the beginning of the year 1985, Richard came into a relationship with Doreen Lioy once she started visiting him in the prison. And then they got married in the year 1996. “He’s kind, he’s funny, he’s charming,” she said. “I think he’s really a great person. He’s my best friend; he’s my buddy,” she told CNN in 1997. She reportedly left him in 2009, according to The Guardian.
8. Dianne Feinstein’s Mistake.
When Richard killed an accountant Peter Pan that too in his San Franciso home in the year 1985, evidence of the crime made it all the way up to then-Mayor Dianne Feinstein and that was the tipping point in the investigation.
And then he has announced for the news conference where she holds up a police sketch of the killer. Furthermore, she went on to describe the evidence from all the cases all throughout the state. Even all of that includes any crucial information that wasn’t made to the public.
And by then, investigators knew Ramirez was watching the news, because he told a surviving victim, “I am the Night Stalker.” Feinstein gave up the caliber of gun, the type of shoe, and the fact that he left footprints.
“Without a doubt, Mayor Feinstein made a big mistake,” said Frank Falzon, a San Francisco police inspector. This turned out that the police chief had never told her to not release anything but they were never able to find the shoes after all of that happened.
9. His Heroes
At the time, Ramirez was apprehended for the final time, he called Salerno “Mr. Salerno” out of respect. On the other hand, he used to look up to The Hillside Strangler — a serial killer Salerno had previously apprehended. “He was a student,” Salerno said in the documentary.
Just to persuade him for a conversation, the cops put him in the same cell as The Hillside Strangler, and then he got super excited. Later, he has asked Salerno as well as Carrillo, in case, they would be attending his execution.
10. Richard’s Childhood
Talking about his childhood, the documentary series delves into Richard’s past and that the horrible trauma Richard had to face when he was a child. Then again, his dad used to treat him poorly and he would tie him to a cross in the graveyard that too overnight as a form of punishment. In fact, his cousin killed his own wife right in front of him and he was only thirteen years old.
Later, in an interview that took place in the jail, he posed the question of whether serial killers are born or bred.
11. Richard died in 2013.
Richard died out of some complications from lymphoma on June 7, 2013, at the age of 53. receiving And then again treatment at the Marin General Hospital in California as per the reports made by The Los Angeles Times. During that time, the serial killer was also suffering from “chronic substance abuse and chronic hepatitis C viral infection.
As per the report of CNN, in the year 1989, Richard said “I am beyond good and evil,”. He further said, “I will be avenged. Lucifer dwells in us all.” Ramirez spent his entire life after arrest in prison only. And during the time of his death, Richard was on the death row and was awaiting execution.
In fact, this story of Richard Ramirez’s is quite popular among the true-crime fans. However, the details of the hunt to find, restrain, as well as convict him was probably not that famous as the murders that he actually committed. Night Stalker- the web series that was released on Netflix began streaming on January 13.
