Night Stalker
Aka Richard Ramirez
Childhood
“Night Stalker” Richard Ramirez is a serial killer that terrorized Southern California from 1994 to 1995. He was committed to numerous burglars and murders. He was born in El Paso, Texas-born to Mexican immigrant’s parents. He was the youngest of five children; when he was a child, he would hang around his cousins a lot due to his parents working so much. He spent a lot of time with his older cousin, who fought in the Vietnam war. His father would try and reprimand Richard and would tie him to a cross in the cemetery overnight. His cousin would show him photos of women that he raped and tortured over in Vietnam. Then a year later, when Ramirez was still a child, he witnessed his cousin kill his wife right in front of him. Then he dropped out of high school because he did not have the support from his family. He then began a life of crime and was doing petty crimes. Richard was hit in the head with a falling piece of furniture, and then when he was at school he was knocked unconscious by a swing at school. People who knew Richard when he was a child would say that Richard had every bad influence on a person Richard had in his life (Russel).
Criminal History
His first committed murder was in June 1984, he stabbed and rapped a 79-year-old widow. Later, the April 1984 murder of a nine-year-old girl where his DNA was found at the crime scene would be discovered. He was not charged with the crime due to the statute of limitations. Ramirez would be dormant for eight months before he resumed killings. The majority of the killings happened in Los Angeles also his killings occurred during home invasions. The victims who survived the attack from Ramirez sustained abuse in the form of physical and sexual abuse. Also, the police found satanic symbols at many of the crime scenes. The surviving victims would say that Ramirez would tell them to swear to satan that they would not tell anyone, not to God. The “Night Stalker” name came from the news media also along with the other words The “Walk-in killer” and the “Valley Intruder.” Due to the scariness of the Night Stalker in the Los Angeles area, gun sales skyrocketed (Russel).
Investigation
During the investigation, the head rookie detective Gil Carillo and Frank Serrano found a connection at the beginning of crime scenes, a shoe print found in flower beds and even on victims’ faces. Carillo thought that it was a serial killer when he observed this and it would later be confirmed that it was a serial killer. The police would find a car that belonged to Richard and it had a business card for a dentist's office and he had an appointment. So the police went to that dentist’s office and set up surveillance by placing two officers inside just waiting. The day after the police decided to pull surveillance and just leave a robbery button and the next day Richard came in. The button had malfunctioned and didn’t alert the investigators of him being there. When it was discovered the type of shoe that was at the crime scene was a black Avia shoe, this was confidential information due to the fact that this was the only connection to each crime scene. Richard had moved up to San Fransico and committed another murder and the mayor leaked this information to the public and the investigators were furious and thought that Richard would have not been caught. The investigators knew that Richard was reading the news because whatever the police knew about the case Richard would make changes to his next killings. The shoes were also never found and or used again in murder. When a victim of his was able to call the police Richard started to yank out the telephone lines and use it in his murders.
The reason why it was so hard for the investigators to capture Richard was that he never tuck into one type of person. Richard would range from elderly young, married couples, and single men. Richard would kill any race and any age of people. The police were also able to find a single fingerprint on a stolen vehicle the Night stalker had. The surviving victims told the investigators that Richard would tell people don't look at me! And then if the people said I swear to God he would yell and say swear to Satan! Richard also would eat food from the houses he would take hours within the home, he would sleep, eat the food, take showers, and even masturbate within the home. Richard would also leave satanic symbols within the house on the walls or even on the victims. The way that the police were able to get a connection to who the night talker might be is that a daughter of a friend of the Night Stalker called the information line and said she thinks it's her father's friend whose name is Rick. The police were able to connect the murders to this man because he admitted to the killing done in San Francisco to his friends. An informant came back to the investigators and said that he thinks he found a bracelet connected to one of the cases and it was given to a girlfriend of a friend of the Night Stalker. The investigators were able to find the friend and convince him to give up the name of the Night Stalker who is Richard Rameriz (Richard Rameriz) .
Capture
In the documentary film Night Stalker: Hunt for a Killer, the documentary states that after the police were able to get the name of the Night Stalker. The police were now debating whether or not to realize the information about Richard Rameriz. The police decided not to release the information to the media unless it was done at a public media press conference. After the police released this information Richard Rameriz's face was plastered on the face of every newspaper. The police went to the greyhound bus station that Richard hung out at and started surveillance. On August 31, 1985, the police set up surveillance Richard was coming back to LA from Arizona. He immediately sees the police and makes a run for it. Then he sneaks out of the bus station then goes to the local liquor store, and saw his face was in the newspaper, and runs onto the bus. Richard starts going into a panic because people are recognizing him and the chase is on. Since he was in a panic he was trying to carjack people. Then a man got a metal stick from a broken piece of the gate and hit it square in the head with the pipe. The man that hit him in the head held Richard’s shirt in one hand and the pipe in the other hand. The police were called and when the police got there and saw the man holding Richard, he gave up and went into custody. Richard as he was getting into the police car he kept saying “Yes it’s me, el Matón (Killer).” Richard was messing with the crowd and was spitting at them trying to act like a serpent. Richard went into custody and was interrogated by the head investigators, Richard was excited to meet the investigators and acted like their friends. The investigators said the scariest thing he had done was when the investigators were talking about his family. Richard put his head down and started hyperventilating and his hands started raising and shaking with anger. After the police were done investigating Richard the police transported him to the jail and there was a crowd of people outside yelling and screaming happy that he was arrested. Then as he was driving away a woman unbutton her blouse and flashed him. Richard said, “Do these dumb b**ches not understand that I want to kill them.” When Richard arrived at the jail he went to the same jail cell that the Hillside strangler was in. Richard got so excited, kinda having like a fangirl moment.
Trial
During the trial, the police brought surviving victims to watch a lineup of people and every surviving victim was able to identify him. Richard loved to put on a show for the crowd and for the media. Richard would love to talk back to the judge and the prosecution and this historic photo of him holding up his hand with a tattooed pentagram, and yelling “Hail Satan”. Richard's lawyers were family friends of his. His lawyers were only in practice for two years, and these lawyers were completely underqualified. During Richards' trial, women were obsessed with Richard and would send him photos and letters and money. Richard was known for wearing sunglasses and a black suit. These women would wear sunglasses and show up to the trial in sunglasses. Richard would toy with these women and wink at them or wave or blow them a kiss. During the trial, the prosecution dismissed the child molestation due to the fact he was facing 13 death penalty charges. He was sentenced to death by the gas chamber. At the end of his trial, Rameriz was able to say some words to the court, saying “I am beyond good and evil, and I don't expect you to understand nor want you to understand.” When he was in prison his DNA was connected to more crimes. Richard was able to get married within the jail. He didn’t die by the gas chamber; he died in 2013 via lung cancer(Richard Ramirez).
