Richard Ramirez

REAL CRIMINAL
Name	Ricardo Leyva Muñoz Ramirez
Alias	Richard The Night Stalker The Valley Intruder The Midnight Stalker The Walk-In Killer Dedos Ricky Rick
Gender	Male
Birth Date	February 29, 1960
Place of Birth	El Paso, Texas
Date of Death	June 7, 2013 (aged 53)
Place of Death	Marin General Hospital, Greenbrae, California
Occupation	Former Holiday Inn employee Drug dealer
Pathology	Serial Killer Serial Rapist Robber Necrophiliac (once) Pedophile Enucleator (once)
Signature	Leaving Satanic pentagrams on victims
Modus Operandi	Varied
Type	Disorganized
No. of Victims	20 killed 8 attempted 8 raped 6+ victimless crimes 2 intended rapes 2 held captive
Span of crimes	c.1973-August 31, 1985
Criminal Charges	Auto theft 14 counts of murder 31 other felonies
Sentence	Several months (auto theft) Death
Apprehended	June 28, 1984 (for auto theft) August 31, 1985 (later)
Status	Deceased (B-cell lymphoma)

“	We've all got the power in our hands to kill, but most people are afraid to use it. The ones who aren't afraid, control life itself.	”
	— Ramirez

Ricardo "Richard" Leyva Muñoz Ramirez, a.k.a. "The Night Stalker," was an American one-time necrophilic and pedophilic serial killer, serial rapist, robber, and one-time enucleator. He is not to be confused with a serial killer who holds a similar nickname, the Original Night Stalker.

Background

Ramirez was born in El Paso, Texas, on February 29, 1960. His father Julián, a Mexican national and former Ciudad Juárez policeman who later became a laborer on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, was prone to fits of anger that often resulted in physical abuse. They had a total of five: Ruben, Joseph, Robert, Ruth, and, finally, Richard Ramirez. His mother Mercedes's pregnancy with Ramirez was very difficult because the chemical fumes she inhaled at her job at a boot factory caused her body to try and reject the fetus. At the age of two, he nearly died when a dresser fell on him, and he suffered a concussion. Growing up, he was quiet and self kept. When he was a young boy, it was discovered that he had epilepsy, though doctors said he would grow out of it, he began experiencing epileptic seizures which continued until he was in his mid teen years. His epilepsy resulted in him being removed from his position as a quarterback on the school's football team. When he was in seventh grade, his grades began slipping and he started sniffing glue. At the age of ten, he began spending nights at cemeteries and also began smoking marijuana. When he was twelve years old, his cousin Miguel returned from his second tour in Vietnam and they began spending time together. He would show Ramirez photos of Vietnamese women he had raped, tortured, and killed. In the photos, the women would be beheaded, beaten to death, ect. He also taught him how to keep hidden and kill with stealth.

When Ramirez was thirteen, Miguel shot and killed his wife in front of Richard. Shortly before that, he had begun burglarizing people's homes, committing petty theft, skipping school, and becoming addicted to cannabis. During burglaries, he enjoyed walking around in the homes and going through the residents' personal belongings. During a trip to Los Angeles to see his brother Ruben, a petty criminal, Ramirez was taught more about burglaries from him. After returning to El Paso, he enrolled in the Jefferson High School but dropped out after less than a year. The only subject in which he did well was physical education. He would hunt animals with his family when they were available. If they were not, he would go alone; he particularly enjoyed sneaking up on them and then stabbing and gutting them. He liked watching horror movies and began to attend Jehovah's Witness meetings, where he became interested in Satan. At the age of fifteen, while he was still in high school, he briefly held down a job at a Holiday Inn, but was fired after a few months for entering a woman's room and attempting to rape her, but was stopped by her husband. Because the couple was from out of state and wanted to move on as soon as possible, they wouldn't testify against him and the charges were dropped. At the age of sixteen, he was already a skilled burglar. Shortly after turning eighteen, he moved to Los Angeles permanently.

Killings, Capture, and Incarceration

Ramirez's mugshot.

During his first weeks in L.A., Ramirez mostly lived as a transient. He made a substantial amount of money by selling marijuana that he had bought cheaply in El Paso and brought with him to sell, in which he would use the money for motels and personal needs. He made a habit of stealing cars, spending a few days in them, stealing anything valuable inside, and then ditching them. He became addicted to cocaine, which was a very popular drug at the time, and could afford the habit by selling items he stole during burglaries. One night in the summer of 1978, he bound a lesbian woman with whom he smoked PCP and raped her repeatedly. His interest in Satanism evolved and he became involved with the Church of Satan. He spent some months in prison for auto theft but was released. In 1983, his sister Ruth went to L.A. and tried to convince Ramirez to come back to El Paso, but he turned her down. On June 28, 1984, after snorting cocaine, Ramirez burglarized the home of 79-year-old Jennie Wilcow, raped her, and stabbed her to death. On March 17 of the next year, he bought a .22 revolver from a dealer and would later use it in several of his killings. Over the course of a little more than a year, Ramirez proceeded to kill twelve additional people, as well as rape and/or attempt to kill multiple others in several different Californian cities. While doing so, he would burglarize the individuals, demanding that they "swear to Satan" that he was receiving all the valuables. The media eventually nicknamed him "The Night Stalker". On August 24, 1985, Ramirez committed his last known murder, killing a man named William Carns and raping his fiancée, leaving her alive. She got a good look of both him and the orange Toyota he was driving, including its license plates.

Ramirez mugshot in 2007.

On the morning of August 28, the car was found outside a shopping center in Los Angeles County. Though Ramirez was always careful not to leave behind fingerprints, he forgot to wipe off one on the rear-view mirror. When the print was matched to those of his prints that were on file, the Night Stalker task-force released his name and picture to the media. On August 31, 1985, Ramirez tried to steal a Mustang, not noticing that the owner was under the car. When he heard the car start, the man got up and forcibly pulled Ramirez out of the car. Ramirez then ran across the street and tried to steal another car, but the driver called for help; a neighbor heard the noise and called the police. When Ramirez was recognized from the published mugshot, a large number of residents banded together, apprehended him, and managed to hold him down until police arrived and arrested him. His trial for fourteen counts of murder and 31 other felony counts didn't take long and included hundreds of pieces of evidence against him. As it progressed, Ramirez garnered several female "fans" who became utterly devoted to him. On October 3, 1989, the jury found him guilty and he was sentenced to death. On October 3, 1996, seven years to the day after he was found guilty, he married one of his female fans, a freelance magazine editor named Doreen Lioy, after a long relationship in which they wrote letters to each other; she once stated that she would commit suicide if he were executed. They remained married to until the year he died when they divorced. In 2009, Ramirez's DNA was linked to the 1984 murder of nine-year-old Mei Leung, who was beaten, raped, and stabbed, though he was never charged with the killing since he was already awaiting execution. During his time awaiting the death penalty he participated in a few interviews in which he claimed that "Everyone is evil in some form or another." Which, anyone who is human can't disagree with. He also insisted that there are evil people and that he is evil. There were locals then who said they saw the face of evil in Richard's eyes. On June 7, 2013, after spending more than half his life on death row, Ramirez died from complications of B-cell lymphoma at the Marin General Hospital, at the age of 53.

Modus Operandi

Ramirez typically struck at night and entered his victims' homes through home invasions. According to several witness reports, he would dress in black, presumably as camouflage. His victims varied in age and race and were often shot with a .22 revolver but were also killed or attacked in a variety of ways, including stabbing, slashing with a machete, and bludgeoning with a hammer or a tire iron. Ramirez sometimes raped his female victims and left Satanic pentagrams as a signature. His generally preferred style of killing was to burglarize the home, kill the husbands, and then rape the wives. He said in interviews that he liked the excitement he got from seeing the fear in his victims before killing them. He even would hide at times and make a noise on purpose to make his presence known so he could watch the fear in the victims faces before carrying out the execution. It seems as if he liked it when the victims could see him as long as he knew they were scared, although it has been said that at times when raping victims, he would demand that they "swear to Satan" they wouldn't look at him.

Known Victims

Some of Ramirez's victims.

Note: The names of some victims vary depending on the source. This list was based on Wikipedia's. The asterisk signs mark names that vary.

• Unspecified dates in c.1973: Numerous victimless burglaries and petty thefts
• Unspecified locations:
  • Unspecified date in 1975: Unnamed woman (tied up and intended to rape, but was stopped)
• 1978
  • Unspecified dates: Numerous victimless auto thefts
  • Unspecified date: Unnamed woman (raped repeatedly, but not killed)
• Unspecified date in c.1983: An unspecified auto theft
• California:
  • 1984:
    • April 10, Tenderloin, San Francisco: Mei Leung, 9 (beaten, raped, and stabbed)
    • June 24, Glassell Park, Los Angeles: Jennie Vincow, 79 (raped, stabbed repeatedly, and her throat slashed deeply; engaged in necrophilia with her corpse)
    • November 13: Masataka Kobayashi, 45
  • 1985:
    • February 21, Telegraph Hill, San Francisco: Christina and Mary Caldwell (both stabbed repeatedly)
      • Christina Caldwell, 58
      • Mary Caldwell, 71
    • March 17, Los Angeles:
      • Rosemead: Maria Hernandez* and Dayle Okazaki:
        • Maria Hernandez, 22 (shot with a .22 revolver; survived)
        • Dayle Okazaki, 34 (shot through the forehead with the same gun)
      • Monterey Park: Tsai-Lian Yu, 30 (shot twice in the chest with the same gun)
    • March 20, Eagle Rock, Los Angeles: An unnamed eight-year-old girl (raped only)
    • March 27, Whittier, Los Angeles: Vincent and Maxine Zazzara:
      • Vincent Zazzara, 64 (shot once in the left temple)
      • Maxine Zazzara, 44 (fatally shot three times; stabbed repeatedly, carved a "T" on her left breast, removed her eyes post-mortem, and took them)
    • May 14, Monterey Park, Los Angeles: William "Bill"and Lillian Doi:
      • William Makato Doi, 66 (shot in the throat and beaten)
      • Yuriko Lillian Doi*, 63 (raped only)
    • May 29, Monrovia, Los Angeles:
      • Malvia Keller, 83 (beaten with a hammer, tortured, and raped only)
      • Blanche Wolfe, 80 (beaten with a hammer and tortured; survived)
    • May 30, Burbank, Los Angeles: Ruth Wilson* and her unnamed son:
      • Ruth Wilson*, 41 (attempted; raped and non-fatally slashed)
      • Ruth's unnamed son (tied up only)
    • June 2, Cow Hollow, San Francisco: Edgar Wildgans and Nancy Brien:
      • Edgar Wildgans*, 29 (shot)
      • Nancy Brien (raped repeatedly)
    • June 27, Arcadia, Los Angeles: An unnamed six-year-old girl (raped only)
    • June 27-28, Arcadia, Los Angeles: Patty Elaine Higgins, 32 (sodomized and her throat slashed)
    • July 2, Arcadia, Los Angeles: Mary Louise Cannon, 75 (beaten, bludgeoned with a lamp, stabbed repeatedly, and her throat slashed like the previous victim)
    • July 5, Sierra Madre, Los Angeles: Whitney Bennett*, 16 (beaten severely with a tire iron; survived)
    • July 7, Monterey Park, Los Angeles:
      • Joyce Lucille Nelson, 61 (beaten and bludgeoned with a blunt object)
      • Sophie Dickman, 63 (robbed and attempted to rape, but gave up when he couldn't maintain an erection)
    • July 20, Los Angeles:
      • Glendale: Lela and Max Kneidings (both slashed with a machete, shot, and mutilated post-mortem)
        • Maxson Kneiding, 66
        • Lela Kneiding, 68
      • Sun Valley: The Assawahem family
        • Chitat Assawahem, 32 (shot)
        • Sakima Assawahem, 29 (beaten and forced to perform oral sex with him)
        • The unnamed son (sodomized only)
    • August 6, Northridge, Los Angeles: Christopher and Virginia Petersen (both shot in the head; survived)
      • Christopher Petersen, 38
      • Virginia Petersen, 27
    • August 8, Diamond Bar, Los Angeles: The Abowath family*
      • Elyas Abowath, 35 (father; shot in the head with a .25)
      • Sakina Abowath, 29 (mother; beaten, raped, and sodomized only)
      • Aamar Abowath, 3 (tied up only)
    • August 18, Parkmerced, San Francisco: Peter and Barbara Pan
      • Peter Pan, 66 (shot in the head with a .25)
      • Barbara Pan, 62 (sexually assaulted and shot in the head with the same gun; survived)
    • August 24, Mission Viejo, Orange County:
      • William "Bill" Carns, 30 (shot three times in the head; survived)
      • Inez Erickson, 29 (raped repeatedly and left alive)
    • August 31: Two attempted victimless auto thefts

The Original Night Stalker

• Main Article: Joseph DeAngelo

The Original Night Stalker was an unsolved serial murder/rape case that preceded Ramirez's serial killings. The offender was also known as the "East Area Rapist". He targeted women (though he later attacked couples), would strike at night when the victims were asleep, wake them up at gunpoint, tie them up with shoelaces using a so-called diamond knot (his signature) and rape them. When the offender killed, he targeted couples, broke into their houses at night, robbed the place and then killed the couple by bludgeoning them with some object from the house (except for the first couple, who were shot). Most of those victims were also tied up with a diamond knot. In total, 12 murders, including five couples, and over 50 rapes have been attributed to the killer. The two cases were connected by DNA evidence in 2001. In spite of the brutality of the attacks and the high victim count, the case is not as well-known as that of Ramirez. In 2018, the killer was identified as Joseph DeAngelo.

On Criminal Minds

• Intro: Ramirez's mugshot is among the mugshots shown during the show's intro.
• Season One
  • "Won't Get Fooled Again" - Ramirez is first referenced when his mugshot is one of several shown.
• Season Three
  • "Lucky" - While not directly mentioned or referenced in this episode, Ramirez appears to have been an inspiration for the episode's unsub, Floyd Feylinn Ferell - Both were serial killers who had involvements in Satanism (Ramirez believed he served Satan, while Ferell worshiped him and believed he was guided and protected by a demon), committed crimes against females prior to their murders, primarily targeted women (though Ramirez also killed men), and killed victims by slashing them with bladed weaponry (though this was only one of Ramirez's methods). Ferell also appears in Season Thirteen.
• Season Four
  • "Catching Out" - While not directly mentioned or referenced in this episode, Ramirez appears to have been an inspiration for the episode's unsub, Armando Ruis Salinas - Both were serial killers and robbers who were drug users (which included household substances), had a brother named Ruben (who influenced their crimes in some way), were close with a particular male relative (Salinas' half-brother and Ramirez's cousin, respectively), committed numerous petty crimes (primarily robbery), moved to California where their killings occurred, travelled primarily through some illegal form of transportation (train-hopping in Salinas' case, car-jacking in Ramirez), initially killed single victims before escalating to killing couples, killed their victims by either stabbing or bludgeoning them with iron objects, robbed them and removed fingerprints afterwards, and were given nicknames for their crimes.
• Season Five
  • "Outfoxed" - Ramirez was referenced again.
  • "Exit Wounds" - While not directly mentioned or referenced in the episode, Ramirez appears to be an inspiration for the episode's unsub, Owen Porter - Both are serial killers who were physically abused by their fathers, had an older male figure in their lives who taught them techniques in their murders (Porter was taught to hunt by Joshua Beardsley, Ramirez's cousin Miguel showed pictures of women he raped and murdered during the Vietnam war), had criminal records before their murders including animal cruelty, broke into the home of at least one victim, killed their victims by stabbing, shooting, and mutilation (though Ramirez used other means), and had a violent mob searching for them to kill them before they were arrested.
  • "Our Darkest Hour" - Ramirez was mentioned again when the BAU compared him to Billy Flynn, who seems to have been inspired primarily by him - Both were serial killers, rapists, and robbers who committed their first murders in California in 1984 (except Ramirez stayed put while Flynn traveled around the U.S. in evenings and nights), both committed home invasions and usually killed their victims with revolvers, had substance abuse problems severely discolored teeth (Flynn primarily due to smoking meth, Ramirez due to poor diet and hygiene), killed their victims in the middle of robberies, would lock the children in closets while they committed their crimes, and were given nicknames by the press. The scene in "The Longest Night" where a group of suburbanites rallies together to try and capture or kill Flynn themselves may have also been inspired by Ramirez's violent apprehension by a group of civilians. Also, the scene from the same episode where Flynn kills a motorist who is trying to call the police may have been loosely based on Ramirez's murder of Tsia-Lian Yu, who was pulled over by him and shot twice in the chest next to the car. Flynn also appeared in Season Six.
• Season Six
  • "Corazón" - While not directly mentioned or referenced in this episode, Ramirez appears to have been an inspiration for the episode's unsub, Hollis Walker, Jr. - Both were serial killers who were the children of interracial married couples, had religious aspects involved in their crimes, mutilated their victims post-mortem, and would kill their victims in their homes through various means (including slashing with a machete, shooting with revolvers, and bludgeoning).
  • "The Stranger" - While not directly mentioned or referenced in this episode, Ramirez appears to have been an inspiration for the episode's unsub, Greg Phinney - Both were rapists and serial killers who were given nicknames, dressed in similar black clothing (cap included), broke into their victims' homes at night and killed them by stabbing them to death (though that was only one of Ramirez's killing methods).
• Season Seven
  • "Profiling 101" - Ramirez was referenced again when his mugshot was among several mugshots of real-life criminals showcased by the BAU in an online montage to a Criminology class.
• Season Nine
  • "Angels" - A mugshot of Ramirez was seen alongside one of Ted Bundy on a board kept by Sheriff Peter Coleman for the current investigation.
• Season Eleven
  • "Tribute" - Another mugshot of Ramirez was seen on the cover of the book America's Deadliest Killers, which was read by Michael Lee Peterson.
• Season Thirteen
  • "Lucky Strikes" - While not directly mentioned or referenced in this episode, Ramirez appears to have been an inspiration for the episode's unsub, Marcus Manning - Both were serial killers (budding at least) who had Satanic influences which compelled them to leave Satanic pentagrams at crime scenes, committed crimes prior to their murders, were influenced by older serial killers ending up as their mentors (Floyd Feylinn Ferell and Ramirez's cousin Miguel), primarily targeted women (though Ramirez incidentally killed men too), and killed victims by slashing them with sharp bladed weaponry (though this was only one of Ramirez' methods).

Sources

• Wikipedia:
  • Richard Ramirez
  • EAR-ONS
• TruTV Crime Library articles about Ramirez
• Evil Beyond Belief's article about Ramirez
• The Night Stalker: The Life and Crimes of Richard Ramirez (1996) by Philip Carlo
• A documentary about EAR-ONS
• SF Gate article about Mei Leung
• Associated Press article about Ramirez's death
• Murderpedia's article about Ramirez
• International Business Times article about Ramirez
• Radford University's summary of Ramirez's life
• Personal website article about Ramirez
• Find A Grave article about Ramirez's victims
• Detailed article about Richard Ramirez's Life