Ramirez was born on February 29, 1960, the youngest child of
5 or 7 children, depending on what account you read. His father was a police
officer and then a laborer, and allegedly abusive. Young Ramirez’s
psychological state was comprimised when he suffered two severe head injuries,
and frequent epileptic episodes. When an older cousin, Mike, a discharged Green
Beret and Vietnam Veteran, came home from the war he spent a lot of time with
adolescent Ramirez. They smoked copious amounts of marijuana together and
talked of satanic worship. Mike would also entertain Ramirez with poloriods he
took in Vietnam. They depicted everything from Mike raping a Vietnmaese
villiager, and proudly holding he decapitated head of a woman.
A defining moment in his life was when the troubled Mike
shot and killed his wife in front of Ramirez, spraying him with her blood.
After witnessing this his behavior changed dramatically, he dropped out of
school, abused drugs, and developed bizarre sleeping habits. In 1977, he was
placed in juvenile detention for theft and after his release he moved to San
Fransisco and eventually on the Los Angeles where he graduated from marijuana
and petty theft to cocaine and full – on burglary. In Los Angeles he delved
deeper into satanic worship and rituals, which would play a major role in his
future crimes. He would kill two in 1984 before being arrested for car theft,
and upon his release he was a homeless, dirty, and uneducated and would almost
immediately start on a six month killing spree living dozens of victims in his
wake.
List of The Night Stalker’s Victims:
April 10
1984:
9
year old Mei Leung was found dead in a hotel basement where Ramirez was living
at the time.
June 28 1984:
79 year - old Jennie Vincow was found stabbed and nearly decapitated in
her apartment.
February 21 1985:
Christina, 58 and Mary Caldwell, 71 were stabbed dozens of time each in
their home.
March 17 1985:
Ramirez
attacked 22 year – old Angela Barrios outside of her home. He shot her before
entering her home, but she thankfully survived. Dayle Okazaki, 34 was inside
and Ramirez immediately shot and killed him.
Within
an hour he struck again in the same area of Montgomery Park. He attacked 30
year – old Tsai Lian Yu and pulled her out of her car and shot her repeatedly,
then fled the scene. She died a time later when police came onto the scene.
The
event of 2 attacks and murders in the same area sparked media attention that
would not subside with the coming weeks. The media dubbed Ramirez ‘The Walk- in
Killer’ and ‘The Valley Intruder’. Bullets
found at both scenes were tested and found to be shot from the same gun.
March 27 1985:
Ramirez
shot Vincent Zazzara, 64 and his 44 year –old wife Maxine. Maxine’s body was
mutilated with several post –mortem stab wounds and a T – carving in her left
breast. He also gouged out her eyes.
Ramirez
left footprints in the flowerbed outside the couple’s window, which police
believed was his point of entry. The prints were photographed and casted and
added to the ever - growing list of evidence being built against him. When the
bullets found to be used in the murder were found to be the same as in the
previous attacks the police and media knew for sure they had a serial killer on
their hands.
At
this point a multi – county police investigation was underway, and presumably
because of the massive media and law enforcement presence, Ramirez took no more
lives for 2 months. When the report of the attacks on of 66 year – old Henry Wu and his wife Jean
were made, Ramirez was officially dubbed the ‘Night Stalker’. Wu was shot in
the head, whereas Jean was beaten, bound, and raped. It is unknown why Ramirez
kept these victims alive, but because of it they were able to give and accurate
description of Ramirez; a tall Hispanic male with long black hair.
May 30 1985:
The newly
named Night Stalker attacked Marival Keller , 83, and her disabled sister
Blanche Wolfe, 80, beating them with a hammer. Using lipstick Ramirez drew
pentagrams on Keller’s lifeless leg and also on the wall of her bedroom. Wolfe
survived the attack and was again able to give a description of her sister’s killer
to police.
May 31 1985:
Ruth
Wilson, 41, was bound, raped, and sodomized by Ramirez while her 12 year – old
son was locked in a closet. Before he left the scene he grabbed the boy from
his hiding place and tied him to his dead mother’s body.
June 2 1985:
Edward
Willgans, 29 was shot and killed before his girlfriend was raped repeatedly. She
survived her attack.
Early June – July 1985:
3 more
women are killed, 2 had their throats cut and one was beaten to death. All were
victims of home invasions, which led them to be tied to Ramirez.
July 5 1985:
16 year
–old Whitney Bennett survived being beaten with a tire iron. IN the same day
another woman, Linda Fortuna, 63, was also attacked. Both victims survived.
July 20 1985:
Ramirez
again struck 2 different homes in one day, first, Chet Assawahem, 32, and his
wife Sakima who was beaten and forced to perform oral sex on Ramirez before he
stole items from their home and left. Later a Glendale couple, both 66 years
–old were shot and mutilated.
August 6 1985:
Ramirez
shot Christopher and Virginia Paterson in the head, killing them both
instantly.
August 8 1985:
Ramirez
attacked a couple in Diamond Bar, first shooting the husband and then raping
and sodomizing his wife, not before forcing her to preform oral sex on him.
August 17 1985:
The attack
on a 66 year –old man and his wife would prove damming for Ramirez, as the wife
survived and was able to identify him as the Night Stalker.
August 24 1985:
Feeling the
pressure of the growing police activity, Ramirez attempted to elude them by
traveling 50 miles south of Los Angeles to Mission Viejo and broke into the
apartment of 24 year – old Bill Carr’s apartment that he shared with he fiancĂ©.
He shot Bill and raped the girl, then asked her to profess her love for Satan.
He also, forced her to preform oral sex on him before tying her up and leaving
her for dead. She was able to free herself enough to go the window and see the
car he was fleeing in and immediately contacted police and described Ramirez
and the getaway car. A teenager some
days later recognized the vehicle off of a news report and was able to jot down
the license plate number. Police found the vehicle abandoned and were able to
obtain a single fingerprint from the mirror and the fingerprint was linked to
Richard Ramirez.
That same
day his mug shots and description as a drifter from Texas were broadcasted all
over the county and were front page news in California and neighboring states. Ramirez
had since traveled back to Los Angeles and was recognized and attacked by a mob
of citizens in East LA. When police were called to the scene force was necessary
to break up the mob before they killed Ramirez.
July 22 1988 & September 20 1989:
Ramirez was found guilty of 13 counts of murder, 5 attempted
murders, 14 burglaries, and 11 sexual assaults. He was sentenced to death.
During his time on death row he corresponded to a number of
‘fans’, but one in particular made a huge impact on him and they started a long
courtship, and were married in the California San Quentin State Prison in 1996.
Doreen was quoted in saying that she would commit suicide on the day that that
Ramirez was executed. She and the state of California never got their chance
however because Richard Ramirez died in a California hospital on June 7 2013,
from natural causes. He was 53 years old, and served 23 years on death row for
his heinous crimes.