Richard Ramirez: Difference between revisions

Ramirez was born in El Paso, Texas, the youngest of [[Julian Ramirez|Julian ]] and Mercedes Ramirez's five children. His father, a policeman who later became a laborer on the Santa Fe railroad, was abusive and believed in corporal punishment.

As a child, Ramirez sustained two serious head injuries: one which occurred when a dresser fell on top of him and the second when he was knocked out by a swing. He also suffered from frequent epileptic seizures which he eventually grew out of.

Ramirez may have been influenced into killing by his cousin, [[Mike Ramirez|Mike]], a Special Forces veteran who boasted of his gruesome exploits during the Vietnam War and showed him Polaroid pictures of his victims. These included pictures of [[Mike Ramirez|Mike ]] raping a Vietnamese woman. The last picture of that series showed Mike posing with the woman's severed head. Ramirez was present the night Mike shot and killed his wife, and her blood spattered on Ramirez's face. Ramirez was 13 years old at the time. After the murder, his behavior changed dramatically; he dropped out of school, began using drugs, and adopted odd sleeping habits.

On April 10, 1984, 9-year-old Mei Leung was found dead in a hotel basement where Ramirez was living at the time. In 2009, Ramirez's DNA was matched to DNA obtained at the 1984 crime scene.

On June 28, 1984, 79-year-old Jennie Vincow was found dead in her apartment. She had been stabbed repeatedly, and her throat was slashed so severely she was almost decapitated.

On March 17, 1985, Ramirez attacked 22-year-old Angela Barrios outside her home. He shot her before entering her house. Inside was Dayle Okazaki, age 34, whom Ramirez immediately shot and killed. Barrios survived. The bullet had ricocheted off the keys she held in her hands, as she lifted them to protect herself. Within an hour of killing Okazaki, Ramirez struck again in Monrwewy Oark. He attacked 30-year-old Tsai-Lian Yu and pulled her out of her car onto the road. He shot her several times and fled. A police officer found her still breathing, but she died before the ambulance arrived. The two attacks occurring on the same day bolstered media attention, and in turn caused panic and fear among the public. The news media dubbed the attacker, who was described as having long curly hair, bulging eyes and wide-spaced rotting teeth, "The Walk-in Killer" and "The Valley Intruder".

On March 27, Ramirez shot Vincent Zazzara, age 64, and his wife Maxine, age 44. Mrs. Zazzara's body was mutilated with several stab wounds and a T-carving on her left breast, and her eyes were gouged out. The autopsy determined that the mutilations were post-mortem. Ramirez left footprints in the flower beds, which the police photographed and cast. This was virtually the only evidence that the police had at the time. Bullets found at the scene were matched to those found at previous attacks, and the police realized a serial killer was on the loose. Vincent and Maxine's bodies were discovered in their home by their son, Peter.

By this time, a multi-county police investigation was in operation. The law enforcement agencies worked through the month of April with no additional attacks by Ramirez. Two months after killing the Zazarra couple, Ramirez attacked a Chinese couple: Harold Wu, age 66, who was shot in the head, and his wife, Jean Wu, age 63, who was punched, bound, and then violently raped. For unknown reasons, Ramirez decided to let her live. Ramirez's attacks were now in full throttle. He left behind more clues to his identity, and was named 'The Night Stalker' by the media. Survivors of his attacks provided the police with a description of a tall Hispanic man with long dark hair.

On May 29, 1985, Ramirez attacked Malvial Keller, 83, and her disabled sister, Blanche Wolfe, 80, beating each with a hammer. Ramirez attempted to rape Keller, but failed. Using lipstick, he drew [[Pentagram|pentagrams]] on Keller's thigh and on the wall in the bedroom. Wolfe survived the attack. The next day, Ruth Wilson, 41, was bound, raped, and sodomized by Ramirez, while her 12-year-old son was locked in a closet. Ramirez slashed Wilson once, and then bound her and her son together, and left.

On August 6, Ramirez shot both Christopher Petersen, 38, and his wife, Virginia, 27, in the head. Miraculously, they both survived. On August 8, Ramirez attacked a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_Bar,_California Diamond Bar] couple, fatally shooting Ahmed Zia, 35, before raping, sodomizing, and forcing Zia's wife, Suu Kyi, 28, to perform [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fellatio fellatio] on him. The description of their attacker fit the previous ones given for "The Walk-in Killer".

Ramirez then left [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Los_Angeles_Area Los Angeles], and on August 17, he shot to death a 66-year-old man in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco,_California San Francisco], also shooting and beating his wife. The wife survived her wounds and was able to identify her attacker as "The Walk-in Killer" from police sketches. Since "The Walk-in Killer" no longer fit the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modus_operandi modus operandi] of the attacker, the news media re-dubbed him the "Night Stalker". The next big break in the case came on August 24, 1985; Ramirez traveled 50 miles south of Los Angeles to Mission Viejo, and broke into the Mediterranean Village apartment of Bill Carns, 29, and his fiancée, Inez Erickson, 27. Ramirez shot Carns in the head and raped Erickson. He demanded she swear her love for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satan Satan] and afterwards, forced her to perform oral intercourse on him. He then tied her and left. Erickson struggled to the window and saw the car Ramirez was driving. She was able to give a description of both Ramirez and his orange [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota Toyota] station wagon.A teenager later identified the car from news reports and wrote down half its license plate number. The stolen car was found on August 28, and police were able to obtain one [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fingerprint fingerprint] that was on the mirror of the vehicle. The prints belonged to Richard Muñoz Ramirez, who was described as a 25-year-old drifter from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas Texas] with a long [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rap_sheet rap sheet] that included many arrests for traffic and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_drug illegal drug] violations.

Two days later, his [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mug_shot mugshots] were broadcast on national [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television television] and printed on the cover of every major [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newspaper newspaper] in California^. The next day Ramirez was identified, chased, surrounded, and severely beaten by an [[Angry Mob|angry mob]] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Los_Angeles_%28region%29 East Los Angeles] as he was trying to steal a car. Police broke up the mob, preventing them from [[Lynching|lynching]] Ramirez.

The case started on July 22, 1988, and on September 20, 1989, he was found guilty of 13 counts of murder, 5 attempted murders, 11 sexual assaults and 14 burglaries During the penalty phase of the trial on November 7, 1989, he was sentenced to die in California's gas chamber. The trial of Richard Ramirez was one of the most difficult and longest criminal trials in American history, taking over four years to finalize Nearly 1,600 prospective jurors were interviewed. More than one hundred witnesses testified, and while a number of witnesses had a difficult time recalling certain facts four years after the crimes, others were quite certain of the identity of Richard Ramirez.

On August 3, 1988 it was reported that some jail employees overheard Ramirez planning to shoot the prosecutor with a gun, which Ramirez intended to have smuggled into the courtroom.Consequently, a metal detector was installed outside the courtroom and intensive searches were conducted on people entering. On August 14, the trial was interrupted because one of the jurors, Phyllis Singletary, did not arrive to the courtroom. Later that day she was found shot to death in her apartment. The jury was terrified; they could not help wondering if Ramirez had somehow directed this event from inside his prison cell, and if he could reach other jury members. However, Ramirez was not responsible for Singletary's death; she had been shot and killed by her boyfriend, who later committed suicide with the same weapon in a hotel. The alternate juror who replaced Singletary was too frightened to return to her home.

By the time of the trial, Ramirez had fans who were writing him letters and paying him visits. Beginning in 1985, freelance magazine editor Doreen Lioy wrote him nearly 75 letters during his incarceration In 1988 he proposed to her, and on October 3, 1996, they were married in Prison. Lioy stated that she will commit suicide when Ramirez is executed^. By some estimates, he could be in his early seventies before the execution is carried out, due to the lengthy California appeals process. He died of liver failure June 7, 2013 while still awaiting death row appeals.

[[Category:List]]

[[Category:Heroes Turned To The Dark Side]]

[[Category:Imprisoned Villains]]

[[Category:Deceased Villains]]