This all culminated in the most significant moment of his life, the fact that he witnessed his cousin Mike shoot his wife Jessie in the face, killing her on the spot. What followed was a spree of brutal murders that followed the same pattern: shooting, brutal sexual assault, and stabbing. On September 20, 1989, the jury finally returned a unanimous guilty verdict on 43 charges, including 13 counts of murder, five counts of attempted murder, 11 sexual assault charges and 14 burglary charges. [95] Ramirez again left a shoe print at the scene that detectives discovered and matched to a specific pair of Avia shoes that was not common at the time. You can also find more information, resources, and support at their website. [91] After Ramirez left the home, Sakina untied her son and sent him to the neighbors for help. Mike would also brag about the women he had raped, showing graphic polaroid photos of his victims. Ramirez's childhood is considered an influence on his crimes. A lot of this was due to his older cousin, Mike, who had just returned from fighting in Vietnam. He stated that he was startled to see electrical sparks emanate from the cord, and when his victim began to breathe, he fled the house believing that Jesus Christ had intervened and saved her. He and Mike resumed bonding over their shared use of drugs and alcohol. [102] After stealing what he could find, Ramirez dragged Erickson to another room before raping her. One day, a woman was in the hotel room and he attempted to rape her, resulting in Ramirez being knocked out as her husband returned to the room. Ramirez grew up as an epileptic child, before turning to drugs in his later years. He was convicted and sentenced to death but died while in prison. The Night Stalker is available on Netflix. The youngest of 5 children, he was referred to as " Richie " as a child. The 12-year old was heavily influenced by Miguel (Mike) Ramirez a decorated U.S. Army Green Beret combat veteran who loved to boast about the horrific crimes he committed during the Vietnam War. Ramirez's father, Julin, was a Mexican national and former Ciudad Jurez policeman. According to Philip Carlo's biographical crime book (also titled The Night Stalker), Ramirez's family were the only thing that ever made him feel any remorse for what he'd done. Richard Ramirez leaves the courthouse after being sentenced to die in California's gas chamber. Ramirez killed at least 14 people and raped and tortured at least two dozen more during the spring and summer of 1985. The youngest of 5 children, he was referred to as Richie as a child. [56] The two murders, and an attempted third, in a single day attracted extensive coverage from news media, who dubbed the attacker, described as curly-haired with bulging eyes and wide-spaced, rotting teeth, "The Walk-In Killer" and "The Valley Intruder". He used a stolen car to drive there, which was found on August 28, 1985. Ramirez was born in El Paso, Tex. Netflixs latest docuseriesNight Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer features interviews with several survivors, including Anastasia Hronas, who was abducted from her bedroom by Ramirez when she was a child. "[121] On August 3, 1988, the Los Angeles Times reported that some jail employees overheard Ramirez planning to shoot the prosecutor with a gun, which Ramirez intended to have smuggled into the courtroom. Richard Ramirez, also known as the Night Stalker, terrorized the city of Los Angeles between 1984 and 1985. Frequently abused by his father, Ramirez began developing gruesome and macabre interests in his early and mid-teens from his older cousin, Miguel ("Mike") Ramirez, who also taught him some of the military skills that he would go on to use during his year-long killing spree. Of course not! He says that Ramirez's schizoid personality disorder contributed to his indifference to the suffering of his victims and his untreatability. Richard Ramirez spent 23 years on Death Row in California's San Quentin Prison until he died from cancer in 2013 at the age of 53. In 1989, he was arraigned and found guilty of dozens of heinous charges . Ramirez was captured by authorities in 1985 after he was badly beaten by East L.A. residents while attempting two carjackings. During his trial, he attracted a cult-like following of Satan worshippers who idolized him. We'll share some of that with you now, for you to draw your own conclusions. His main motive was burglary. Ramirez killed at least 14 people and raped and tortured at least two dozen more during the spring and summer of 1985. [5][6] His father Julin, a Mexican national and former Ciudad Jurez policeman who later became a laborer on the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway,[7] was an alcoholic who was prone to fits of anger that often resulted in physical abuse towards his wife and children. [25] It was around this time that Ramirez began to use cocaine, which quickly became his substance of choice, and began to commit theft and burglaries to procure money for sustaining his addiction. A group of over ten residents formed and chased Ramirez down Hubbard Street in Boyle Heights. [47] The stolen Toyota was found abandoned on August 28 in Koreatown, Los Angeles, and police obtained a single fingerprint from the rear-view mirror despite Ramirez's careful efforts to wipe the car clean of his prints. Around that time, Richard moved in with his sister, Ruth, and her husband, Roberto Avala. It was during this period that Richard began to cultivate an interest in Satanism and the occult. 5. However, it was ultimately determined that Ramirez was not responsible for Singletary's death, as she was shot and killed by her boyfriend, who later committed suicide with the same weapon in a hotel. As was shown in the series, charges were not brought against him for his sex crimes against children so as to spare the court the experience. Death always went with the territory. Richard began spending nights in cemeteries to get away from his father. Readers in the US are encouraged to contact the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline on (1-800-422-4453) or the American SPCC (www.americanspcc.org). In March 1985, he began his attacks again. She recalled empty food packages and "takeout stuff" scattered around the "slimy" home and a Madonna album being played on repeat. Does Unforgotten work without Nicola Walker? She had been raped and murdered. [112] While incarcerated, Ramirez openly bragged to a prison officer and other inmates about having killed "more than 20 people". Mike was later found not guilty of Jessie's murder by reason of insanity, with the shooting attributed to post-traumatic stress disorder from his service in Vietnam; he was confined for several years at the Texas State Mental Hospital. Readers who are affected by the issues raised in this story are encouraged to contact the NSPCC on 0808 800 5000 (www.nspcc.org.uk). [53] Hernandez played dead until Ramirez left the scene. A strange event occurred as one of the jurors named Phyllis Singletary got shot to death and police werent too sure whether or not Ramirez was behind the killing or not. Richard Ramirez was born in the county seat of El Paso, far southwestern part of the U.S. state of Texas. After seeing him on television following his arrest, she started writing him letters. As recounted in The Night Stalker: The Life and Crimes of Richard Ramirez, by Philip Carlo, Julian was also prone to turn his rage on himself. 3. Richard Ramirez was diagnosed with a disorder referred to as schizoid personality disorder. People suffering from this disorder tend to be loners who prefer not to engage in social relationships. [123] The alternate juror who replaced Singletary was too frightened to return to her home. However, his first known murder occurred as early as April 1984; this crime was not connected to Ramirez, nor was it known to be his doing, until 2009. [65] Finding a hammer in the kitchen, he bludgeoned and bound Lang in her bedroom, then bound and bludgeoned Bell before using an electrical cord to shock the woman. [134], Psychiatrist Michael H. Stone describes Ramirez as a 'made' psychopath as opposed to a 'born' psychopath. [72] Bennett survived the savage beating and attempted strangulation, although 478 stitches were required to close the lacerations to her scalp. [104] The print was positively identified as belonging to Ramirez, who was described as a 25-year-old drifter from Texas, with a long rap sheet that included many arrests for traffic and illegal drug violations. It wouldn't be long before Ramirez himself seeing the brunt of his father's beatings. While the series admirably tried to centre the voices of those worst affected by his actions, by not sharing any psychological or expert analysis it inadvertently sensationalised the man responsible. One of the most interesting facts about Richard Ramirez is that he would most probably have managed to get away with his murders for much longer if he had simply stayed away from Los Angeles. [92], Ramirez, who had been following the media coverage of his crimes, left Los Angeles and headed to San Francisco. Fast-forward to 1985 and once Richard Ramirez, now the Night Stalker, was taken into police custody, he refused to talk about anything relating to his crimes. "Things started from there. For the Patrick White film, see, Mugshot of Ramirez, taken on December 12, 1984, after an arrest for auto theft, Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer, Night Stalker: The Hunt For a Serial Killer, List of serial killers in the United States, List of deaths and violence at the Cecil Hotel, "Richard Ramirez, the 'Night Stalker' Killer, Dies at 53", "El Paso relatives of 'Night Stalker' Richard Ramirez react to his death", "Richard Ramirez, the Night Stalker 'A Good Boy', "DNA links 'Night Stalker' to girl's 1984 slaying, S.F. On February 29, 1960, Richard Ramirez was born to his parents. At the age of five, he was knocked unconscious by a swing in the park playground. All charges were dropped later as the couple, who were from out of state, didnt show up at the courtroom. Ramirez, along with all his siblings, suffered from health issues, according to New York University'sJennifer Grise. She pulled the trigger just after he turned around and saw her. His most infamous nickname given by the media was The Night Stalker. He was also sometimes referred to as The Walk-In Killer or The Valley Intruder.. Ramirez, who was convicted in the late 1980s, died in prison in 2013. I want you to go in there and I want you to tell them to call 911 and have them get your family to come get you'. At 13 years old, Ramirez watched his cousin murder his wife. Callously, he went on to kill her roommate, Dayle Okazaki. Richard Ramirez was born as Ricardo Leyva Muoz Ramrez on February 29, 1960, in El Paso, Texas. In El Paso, Texas, he was the youngest child growing up. "He told me 'you need to be quietyou need to get in heredon't mess with medo what I say'," she said. Born on February 29, 1960 in El Paso, Texas, Ricardo Leyva Muoz . The Night Stalker killed many of his victims on the West Coast between 1984 and 1985most of which occurred in 1985. He walked past police officers, who were staking out the bus terminal in hopes of catching the killer should he attempt to flee on an outbound bus, and into to a convenience store in East Los Angeles. The Night Stalker committed his final crime on the night of August 24, 1985, when he broke into the house of Bill Carns, 30, and his fiance, Inez Erickson, 29, who miraculously survived the incident. This was eventually proven as it was the womans husband who killed her. To escape his father's outbursts, he often opted to spend the night at local cemeteries. Addicted to drugs at a young age, Richard was also fueled by cocaine. We were also left with lots of questions, including why he did the things that he did. In 1984, her body was found in the basement of a hotel in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco. "Somewhere there were people who loved and cared for him deeply," the book reads, describing the reason that Ramirez did not ever want to be caught or publicly linked to the string of crimes he left in his wake. After this incident, he started developing an interest in Satanism, something that would shape his worldview as an adult. The Caldwell sisters were found stabbed to death in their Telegraph Hill apartment on February 20, 1985. The horrific way that people got killed in combination with the fact that he used the stealth attack tactics in the middle of the night, which he had learned from his cousin, turned the murderer into a real-world boogeyman during this period. On the night of May 1, 1985, Richard Ramirez drove a stolen Mercedes-Benz and killed two women, Mabel "Ma" Bell, 83, and Florence "Nettie" Lang, 81. Ramirez had an impoverished childhood that included physical abuse and the early on-set of drug use. raped and tortured included children that were as young as six-years-old. The popstar's hit tracks 'Holiday' and 'Like A Virgin' inadvertently became a soundtrack to Hronas' horrific sexual assault. At the age of 2, a dresser fell on Ramirez's head, causing a large forehead laceration. At the age of 22, Richard Ramirez moved to California and basically became a drifter who didnt have any social relationships except for sporadic contact with his family. Romero's son, 13-year-old James Romero III, happened to be awake. At the age of two, Richard had a dresser fall on top of him, knocking him unconscious. When she raised her head to get a look at what had happened, he shot Okazaki once in the forehead, killing her instantly.[54]. [2] Ramirez never expressed any remorse for his crimes. Within an hour of the Rosemead home invasion, Ramirez pulled 30-year-old Tsai-Lian "Veronica" Yu out of her car in Monterey Park, shot her twice with a .22 caliber handgun, and fled. "He'd never brush his teeth," said Ray Garcia, who knew Ramirez growing up. He later became a laborer on the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway. [127], By the time of the trial, Ramirez had fans who were writing him letters and paying him visits. [34], On May 14, 1985, Ramirez returned to Monterey Park and entered the home of Bill Doi, age 66, and his disabled wife, Lillian, age 56. After murdering them, he drew pentagrams on their bodies and on the walls of the bedroom. Richard, age 13, witnessed the act, which caused him to withdraw from family members. This was the first time he drew a pentagram on a victim's body. He was beaten up by an angry mob just before being arrested, 14. Ramirez's upbringing was anything but what society considers a normal, safe life for a child. 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