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Who is Richard Ramirez?
Richard was an American serial killer whose crime spree took place in California between June 1984 and August 1985. He was convicted and sentenced to death in 1989, he died in 2013 while awaiting execution. -
Richard’s Childhood
Richard was born in El Paso, Texas in February of 1960. -
A Broken Home
Richard grew up in a violent home, with an abusive father. Richard's older cousin, Miguel Ramirez, often bragged about crimes he committed in Vietnam and even showed Richard a photo of himself posing with a Vietnamese woman he had raped and abused. When Richard was only 13, he watched as Miguel shot and killed his wife, Jessie during an argument they were having. Miguel was found not guilty by reason of insanity and was released four years later. -
Past Arrests
Richard dropped out of school in the ninth grade, Ramirez was arrested for the first time in 1977, for marijuana possession. Richard then moved to California, progressing to cocaine addiction and burglary, and cultivating an interest in Satanism. He was arrested twice in the Los Angeles area for auto theft, in 1981 and again in 1984 -
Richard’s first killing
On June 28, 1984, Jack Vincow visited his mother's apartment in Los Angeles' Glassell Park neighborhood. He noticed a window screen missing, the front door unlocked and his mother's belongings scattered around the home.
Then, he found his 79-year-old mother's body, Jennie Vincow has been sexually assaulted, stabbed, and killed. -
Ramirez still on the loose
Ramirez repeated his attack pattern on elderly William and Lillie Doi in May 1985. Over the next few months, his murder rate escalated, claiming another dozen victims in a frenzy of burglary, assault and brutal violence, complete with Satanic rituals. He often left pentagrams or other occult symbols on the walls of his crime scenes. The Los Angeles Police Department responded by putting together a dedicated task force, with the FBI stepping in to assist. -
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A “spree” of attacks
On March 17, 1985, he attacked Maria Hernandez, who managed to escape, and then killed her roommate, Dayle Okazaki. Not satisfied with these assaults, he also shot and killed Tsai-Lian Yu the same evening. -
A “spree” of attacks
10 days later, on March 27, Ramirez murdered 64-year-old Vincent Zazzara and Zazzara's 44-year-old wife, Maxine, using an attack style that would become a pattern for the killer: The husband was shot first, then the wife was brutally assaulted and stabbed to death. -
San Francisco
The media and police pressure, aided with descriptions from his surviving victims, forced Ramirez to leave the L.A. area that August. He traveled north to San Francisco, where he took two more victims, Peter and Barbara Pan, on August 17. His unmistakable M.O., complete with Satanic symbolism, meant that the "Valley Intruder" was no longer appropriate the press quickly got a new name, the "Night Stalker," as most of his assaults took place at night in his victims' homes -
Final night of terror
Ramirez's actions on his final night of terror, on August 24, 1985, soon led to his capture. First, he was spotted outside a Mission Viejo home, where he unwittingly left a footprint, before the witness took note of his car and license plate. Later, after Ramirez raped another woman at her home (and shot her fiance), the victim provided a detailed description of her attacker. -
Ramirez was Caught
Ramirez's abandoned car was found a few days later, complete with enough of a fingerprint to make a match, and his criminal record enabled the police to finally put a name to the "Night Stalker." National TV and print media coverage featuring his prison photo, along with a series of clues from witnesses and survivors, led to Ramirez's capture on August 31, after he was badly beaten by East L.A. residents while attempting two carjacking -
Sentence
Ramirez's defense team did not provide a potential motive for his client's horrific crimes. On September 20,1989, the jury 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. Two weeks later, the same jury recommended the death sentence on 19 counts. -
Death Row
The convicted murderer was formally sentenced to death in the gas chamber and was sent to San Quentin Prison in California to spend the remainder of his days. Ramirez eventually was linked to more vicious crimes. In 2009, a DNA sample connected him with the April 10, 1984, rape and murder of a 9-year-old girl in San Francisco.
After nearly 24 years on death row, Ramirez died on June 7, 2013, at the age of 53 from B-cell lymphoma. -
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My opinion on Verdict
I did agree with the verdict and outcome of the trial although I do not think he should of sat on death row for 24 years, he should of got the death penalty.