Richard Ramirez “The Night Stalker” the Ultimate Post!

Richard Ramirez aka “The Night Stalker” is an American serial killer that murdered 14 people in Los Angeles. He also raped most of his female victims and believed that Satan himself protected him.

• Name: Ricardo, Leyva, Muñoz, Ramírez, commonly known as Richard Ramirez
• AKA: The Night Stalker, The Valley Killer and The Walk- in Killer
• Father : Julian Ramirez
• Mother: Mercedes Ramirez
• Born: 29 February, El Paso, Texas
• Convicted Crimes: 13 murders, 5 attempted murders, 11 sexual assaults and 14 burglaries
• Imprisoned: San Quentin Prison in California
• Spouse: Doreen Lioy
• Death: 7 June, 2013
• Cause of Death : B-Cell Lymphoma paired with long time drug abuse

Main Sections of this post:

1. Richard Ramirez Info-graphic
2. Childhood
3. Leaving school and moving to Los Angeles
4. The Night stalker Crimes
5. Capture
6. Preparing for the Trial
7. Richard Ramirez Quotes
8. Mental State
9. Satanism
10. Wife
11. Rape/Burglary
12. Interview

Here is an info-graphic highlighting pivotal moments and the murders of Richard Ramirez’s Life. .

Richard Ramirez’s Childhood

Richard was born Ricardo Leyva Munoz Ramirez in El Paso, Texas on the 28^th of February, 1960.  He was the youngest of seven children. (Reference-

Book- True Crime Serial Killers) When his mother was pregnant with him she worked at a boot factory and was exposed to chemical fumes and all his other siblings suffered from birth defects which included breathing problems and bone deformities.

Richard’s parents were Mexican immigrants and his father worked as a laborer for the Sante Fe Railroad. They were a Catholic family but his father was prone to violence which he often took out on his family.

At the age of two, a dresser fell on Richard and he got 30 stitches on his forehead. When he was six years old a swing in the playground knocked him unconscious. After his injuries, he began to have elliptic seizures and had it until he was a teenager.

Richard would sleep in cemeteries to get away from his father’s physical and emotional abuse and struck up a close relationship with his cousin Miguel Ramirez.

Miguel was a veteran in the war and would show Richard photos of Vietnamese women he raped.  In one of the photos he showed Richard a woman who was hoisted on two poles with a decapitated head and he told him how he raped her. Since Richard was so young he did not realize what Miguel did was wrong and thought the stories were interesting.

Miguel would take Richard to the desert to teach him how to kill animals with guns and knives, during this stage Miguel was unemployed and married. Miguel would sit at home and smoke weed with Richard. The neighbors remember Richard as a loner and in school, he found it difficult to make friends.

On the 4^th of May 1973, Miguel’s wife Jessie confronted him about being lazy and not having a job. Miguel responded by shooting her with his .38 revolver in front of Richard, Jessie’s blood splattered all over Richard. Richard was 13 years old at the time. After the shooting Richard continued smoking weed and became involved with gangs.

While Richard was in school he took a job at the local Holiday Inn and would use his pass key to take items from the guests while they were sleeping. He lost his job after a guest walked in while Richard attempted to rape his wife. The husband beat Richard and the charges were dropped after the couple decided they are not going to stay to testify against him.

Later in the year of 1973, Richard moved in with his sister Ruth and her husband Roberto. Roberto taught Richard how to be a peeping tom and under the guidance of Roberto, Richard started studying Satanism and experimenting with LSD.

Richard Ramirez leaves school and moves to Los Angeles

Richard dropped out of high school in the ninth grade and got arrested for the first time in 1977  for drug possession. With the early drug abuse and violence in his life, it proved to be the perfect cocktail for the creation of this serial killer. Richard moved to Los Angeles to follow a female friend.

Richard was arrested twice in Los Angeles for auto theft in 1981. He began to neglect his hygiene and injecting his arms with cocaine, his diet at this stage consists of junk food. His teeth were rotting and he was living out of a backpack. If he did sleep indoors, it was in flophouses but most of the time he slept in unlocked cars, alleyways, and doorways.

His lively hood during 1982 and 1983 came from car theft and burglary. He was arrested for attempted rape but the charges were dropped as the woman did not testify against him.

The first Murder

Richard’s first murder was on the 10^th of April 1984 in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco. Mei Leung was nine years old and was found in the basement of the hotel Richard lived in. She was raped, stabbed and beaten to death. When her body was found she was hanging from one of the building’s pipes. At the time the crime was not linked to Richard and in 2009, authorities used DNA evidence to link Richard to the crime.

Richard Ramirez “The Night Stalker” crimes:

28 June 1984

The time he is to be known as The Night Stalker begins on the 28^th  of June 1984 in Glassell Park. He entered the apartment of Jennie Vincow (79) through a window. Ramirez brutally stabbed Jennie to death while she was sleeping.

Richard cut her throat so deep she was almost decapitated her and according to an autopsy report, he raped her as well. He ransacked her house and stole items out of the house. His fingerprints were found on the mesh in front of the window which he cut to gain access.

17 March 1985

Maria Hernandez pulled into the garage just before midnight at her apartment in Rosemead, Los Angeles; she shared her apartment with Dayle Okazaki (35). Dayle was a traffic manager and was born in Hawaii.

As Maria left the garage she saw a man dressed in black pointing a gun at her. “Don’t shoot” she said, raising her hand and at that moment he fired. The keys in her hand deflected the bullet and she was thrown backward by the impact. Richard savagely kicked her and stepped over her into the apartment.

While Maria staggered to her feet she heard the second shot and was confronted with Richard again as he ran out of her apartment. In the kitchen, she found Dayle dead with a bullet wound in her head.

When Dayle heard the first shot she hid behind the kitchen counter and when she peeked out he shot her in the head. Maria was able to give the police a description of the attacker and the police found a dark blue baseball cap with the letters AC/DC on the floor of the garage.

In the same evening Richard pulled Tsai –Lian Yu, 30 a law student, out of her car in Monterey Park and shot her twice with a .22 handgun. She was dead upon arrival at the hospital. With 2 murders and 1 attempted murder in one night his he gained a lot of media attention. The media called the murderer with the rotten teeth, and bulging eyes “The Valley Killer and The Walk- in Killer.”

20 March 1985

Three days later he abducted a young girl from her home in Eagle Rock and sexually abused her, surprisingly he then let her go. (Source – Real Life Crimes and how they were solved volume 6)

Vincent Zazzara(64) a pizza parlor owner and his wife Maxine(44) were killed on the 27^th of March 1985. Richard entered their home at 2:00 am and shot Vincent with a .22 caliber handgun while he was sleeping. Maxine woke up and Richard raped her several times before stabbing her to death. Her plucked her eyes out and put it in her jewelry box he found while ransacking their home. It would become his killing style by first killing the husband or men and then taking his time raping and stabbing the women to death.

The only evidence the police found was the bullets of the handgun that matched the other crimes and a shoe print from his Avia sneakers found in the flowerbed. The autopsy of Maxine revealed that most of her stabbed wounds occurred when she was already dead. The bodies of Maxine and Vincent were found by their son Peter.

After these murders, the police realized they were dealing with a serial killer and launched a full-scale investigation into the murders. They could not, however, find any concrete evidence and did their best to keep the case open and looked for any leads they could find.

At first, it looked like the reactions of most people was to ignore the murders and burglaries and thought that in a city with millions of people they would be safe statistically. As the crimes progressed people were terrified and would lock their doors, some people had insomnia as they were so scared to become the killer’s next victim.

According to sources, Richard would travel every month to San Pablo which was near San Francisco to Donna Meyers, a friend of him to launder his stained clothes. (Source – Real Life Crimes and how they were solved volume 6)

14 April 1985

Richard broke into the house of Bill Doi and his disabled wife Lillian Doi in Monterey Park. He shot Bill in his face and beat him unconscious and then bound Lillian with thumb cuffs while he ransacked their home. After he collected their valuables he raped Lillian repeatedly. Lillian survived the attack, but Bill died of his injuries in the hospital.

29 May 1985

On the evening of the 29^th of May, 1985 Richard stole a Mercedes Benz and drove to Monrovia and broke into the house of Mabel Bell (83) and Florence Lang (81). Both women were beaten with a hammer that he found in the house and he used an electric cord to shock and torture Mabel. He raped Florence and used Mabel’s lipstick to draw a pentagram on her leg and bedroom walls. Mabel and Florence were both in comas when they were discovered and Mabel died because of her injuries.

30 May 1985

Richard traveled to Burbank and broke into the house of Carole Kyle; her 11-year-old son was in the house with her. Carole was sleeping and as she woke she saw someone with a torch shining in her eyes, a gun pointed in her face, a male voice ordered her to get out of bed and to move to the room where her son was sleeping.

Richard handcuffed both of them and put her son in the cupboard and then proceeded to ransack their home. After he could not find anything she gave him her diamond and gold necklace. Then he raped her telling her not to look at him as he will cut her eyes out. She told him “You must have had a very unhappy life to have done this to me.” He replied “I do not know why I’m letting you live. I’ve killed people before.” According to sources this bravery of Carole was the reason she was not killed that day. Before he left the house he bound her and her son together with the cuffs.

27 June 1985

Richard broke into the house of Elaine Higgins in Arcadia, California and slashed her throat killing her.

2 July 1985

Mary Louise Cannon (75) was killed while she was sleeping. He beat her unconscious with a lamp and stabbed her repeatedly with a 10-inch butchers knife that came from her kitchen.

5 July 1985

Three days later in the suburb of Sierra Madre, he entered the home of Whitney Bennet (16). While she was sleeping he beat her with a tire iron and when he could not find a knife in the house he attempted to strangle her with the telephone cord. There were sparks emanating from the cord when she started to breathe. He was so scared and thought it was a sign from God who intervened and saved her that he fled the house. Whitney survived the attack but needed 400 hundred stitches to close the lacerations on her scalp.

7 July 1985

Joyce Nelson was a youthful 61-year-old grandmother who lived in Monterey Park the area in which Richard liked to kill. Richard entered her home while she was sleeping on the couch in the living room. He beat her to death by using his fists and kicking her in the head, his Avia shoe print was found on her face, and before he left he ransacked the house and took her valuables.

On the same night, he entered the house of Sophie Dickman a 63-year-old nurse. He handcuffed her at gunpoint and repeatedly raped her. He stole all her jewelry and she swore to him that he has taken everything of value he then told her to “swear on Satan.”

20 July 1985

Richard stole a Toyota and drove to Glendale to the house of Lela Kneiding (66) and her husband Maxon (68). Maxon had a heart condition and owned three garage stations. His employees described him as a gentleman.  While they were sleeping he hacked them with a machete and killed them both with a gunshot to the head. After he killed them he mutilated their bodies and stabbed Lela repeatedly with a knife, the police said that the stab wounds were frenzied attacks. He slashed her throat so deep her head was almost severed. Before leaving the house he takes their valuables. (Source – Real Life Crimes and how they were solved volume 6)

He then went to Sun Valley and broke into the home of Chainarong Khovanath and his wife Somkid. While Chainarong was sleeping Richard shot and killed him, he then raped and beat Somkid in front of their 8-year-old who was screaming. Ricard dragged her around the house to give him all their valuables and made her swear to Satan that she was not hiding any money from him. Before he left the house he bound the 8-year-old and according to sources stole 30 thousand dollars and jewelry.

Fear and the Investigation

By now the citizens of the Los Angeles suburbs were filled with terror. Fearful for their lives the citizens bought guns from vigilante groups and bolted their doors and windows at night.

The police have worked the case and have already linked 6 murders by matching the bullets, description from two survivors and fingerprints.

Detective Sergeant Frank Salerno of the LA County Sheriff’s Department was in charge of the case and they knew they were looking for a serial killer. With all the evidence Frank persuaded his superiors to put him in charge of a task force to hunt down the killer and to work closely with the LA Police Department.

6 August 1985

Richard drove to Northridge to the house of Christopher and Virginia Peterson. While they were sleeping he came into their bedroom and startled Virginia which caused him to shoot her, he shot Christopher but he fought back and Richard fled the house. Both of them survived.

8 August 1985

Richard stole a car and drove to Diamond Bar. He broke into the house of Sakina Abowath (27) and her husband Elyas (31). While Elyas was asleep he killed him with a shot to the head and handcuffed and beat Sakina and forced her to tell him where all the valuables are in the house.

While he brutally raped her he told her she has to “swear on Satan” that she would not scream while he raped her. When her 3-year-old son came into the bedroom Richard bound him and made him watch while he sodomized Sakina. After Richard left the house Sakina untied her son and told him to go to the neighbors for help.

The Hunt for Richard Ramirez Intensifies

The LA Police Department with the help of the FBI put together a dedicated task force of 200 hundred people to hunt for the killer. They started to build a profile of the killer and one of the witnesses gave a good enough description and by the following day, all the newspapers in Southern California published the image of Richard in the hopes that someone would recognise him. At that time he made his regular trip to San Francisco to wash his clothes. Donna looked at one of the sketches that were published and he asked her “Do you think it could be me?” She said no and said he did not have the guts and he laughed at her saying nothing.

When Richard saw all the media coverage of the crimes and the task force hunting a serial killer and more of his victims coming forward to give descriptions of him he decided to leave and went to San Francisco.

A short Criminal profile of Richard Ramirez

Richard’s victims range from 22 to 80 years and it involved burglaries, rape, murder and in all the crimes scenes evidence of a satanic ritual were present. He killed 14 people. According to sources at some of the murders children where witnesses to the attacks, murders, and rape. While he attacked and raped his victims he would of talk about Satanism and would tell his female victims to swear their love for Satan before leaving the women alive but brutally beat and raped them.

There was no connection between the attacks and Richard as he chose his victims at random. He draws pentagrams at some of the crimes scenes and professes his love for Satan telling everyone that when he died he will be in hell with Satan.

17 August 1985

Richard Ramirez went to Lake Merced and broke into the home of Peter Pan (66) and his wife Barbara (62). He killed Peter in his sleep with a .25 caliber handgun. He beat and raped Barbara before shooting her and leaving them for dead. They were dead when they were found and the police matched the bullets to the cases in Los Angeles. Richard used lipstick to draw a pentagram and the phrase “Jack the Knife “on the bedroom wall.

According to the sources when the mayor of San Francisco Dianne Feinstein realized it was the killer from Los Angeles she held a press conference and said they had matching ballistic and shoeprint evidence. When the task force heard about it they were furious as they knew the killer was following the news and that it gave him the opportunity to destroy evidence. Richard did indeed follow the news and that night he threw his shoes over the Golden Gate Bridge.

24 August 1985

A week later on the 24^th of August 1985, he traveled to the South of Los Angeles in a stolen orange Toyota to Mission Viejo. Richard broke into the house of James Romero Jr. According to sources James just returned from vacation from Rosarito Beach, Mexico. James’s 8year old son was awake and heard there was someone outside the house and went to wake his parents. Richard flees the house but James was behind him and was in time to make out the number plate, make and color of the car Richard was driving. James contacted the police and reported the incident. At the time he thought it was just a thief it turns out his son saved the family.

On the same night, Richard drove to the house of William Carns (30) and his fiancée Inez Erickson (29). Richard shot William three times in the head and told Inez “I am the Night Stalker” and forced her to swear to Satan while he beat and raped her and bound her with neckties from their closet. Before Richard left the house he told her “Tell them the Night Stalker was here” he then flees the house with cash and valuables.

Inez untied herself and went to the neighbors for help and to phone the police. William survived the attack and they could remove some of the bullets but according to sources he has permanent brain damage and resides in a caring home.

Inez gave the police a detailed description of Richard and the police found a footprint at the house of Romero that matches the other crime scenes. Some people believe that he wanted to be found as he was callous about the evidence at the crime scenes.

A stolen car Leads to a break in The Night Stalker case

The stolen car Richard drove around in was found on the 28^th of August 1985 and fingerprints matched all the other crimes scenes. With the new laser scanning technique that was installed only days before the prints matched Richards’s prints and “The Night Stalker” now had a face. The police decided to have a press conference and released the photo of Richard to every newspaper in California.

Discovery, Chase, and Capture of Richard Ramirez
30 – 31 August 1985

On the 30^th of August 1985 Richard took a Greyhound bus to Tucson Arizona and according to

sources he went to visit his brother and buy cocaine, when he could not get hold of his brother he took the bus back to Los Angeles on the 31^st of August 1985. According to sources, he arrived back and at around 8:30 am he went into a Liquor store to buy Pepsi and a packet of doughnuts. After a group of women looked at him and yelled “killer” he saw that all the newspapers had his photo on. He then fled the store in a panic.

Richard ran across the Santa Ana Freeway and attempted to carjack a woman but was pursued by bystanders. He ran for nearly two miles and paused as he struggled to breathe when he heard more people chasing him and a police car.

On Percy Street, he beat on the door and screamed help me but Bonnie Navarro who lived there slammed the door in his face. On Indiana Avenue, Richard tried to pull a woman from her car and as passer-by ran to her help he jumped over the fence and ran into Luis Munoz while he was making a barbeque.

Luis struck Richard with his tongs and Richard jumped into another yard.

Faustino Pinon was working on his Mustang’s transmission when Richard tried to climb into the driver’s seat of his car, Faustino had him in a headlock and Richard broke free and ran into Hubbard Street followed by Faustino.

Angelina de la Torres was about to get into her gold Granada when she saw Richard coming towards her screaming “I’m going to kill you” she then hit him with the car door, her husband Manuel who heard her screams came out of the house with a metal rod and ran towards Richard. From the other side of the street Jose Burgoin and his two sons, Jaime and Julio all ran after Richard. Now 5 men were chasing him.

Manuel caught up to him and struck him 3 times with a metal rod, Richard fell to the ground and Jose, Jaime, and Julio jumped on top of Richard just as the police car screech to a halt. (Source – Real Life Crimes and how they were solved volume 6)

When Richard saw the policeman he screamed “Save me, please! Thank God you came!” After his arrest, he was held in a cell at Hollenbeck police station. Outside of the police station, there was a crowd of people shouting “Hang him!” The streets were full of people when the police motorcade took Richard to the county jail. Richard was only too happy to tell Deputy Sheriff Jim Ellis “I love to kill people. I love watching them die. I would shoot them in the head and they would wriggle and squirm all over the place, and then stop. Or I would cut them with a bread knife and watch their faces turn real white. I love all that blood. I told one lady one time to give me all her money.She said no. So I cut her and pulled her eyes out.”(Source – Real Crimes and how they were solved volume 6)

Preparing for the Richard Ramirez Trial

A poll that they took showed 93% of the community had heard about Richard and most of them thought he was guilty.

According to sources one of the reasons for the delay of the trial is because of the bickering by the defense attorney and prosecutors. Since Richard’s crimes were so widespread there were some issues with the jurisdiction, and some of the charges were dropped against him in order to expedite the journey to justice.

Richard’s trial was of one of the most expensive trails in California at the time and although it looked like an open and shut case it took two years for the first preliminary hearing and another two years before he was found guilty.

Richard could not decide who he wanted to represent him in court and changed his mind constantly, after a while he got two attorneys whom he was happy with but he did not give them any co-operation. The two attorneys had very little time to prepare for the case and the prosecution was concerned that any conviction might get reversed on appeal.

On the 2^nd of July, 1988 jury selection began, over 1600 jurors were scanned before both sides decided on 12 people that were unbiased. Before his trial started there were rumors that Richard would bring a gun to the courtroom to shoot the prosecutor. After the threat, they installed metal detectors in the building.

After three and a half years Richard Ramirez has changed from when he was the Night Stalker, his hair was groomed, his teeth had been capped and he wore a grey pin-stripe suit when his trial started in January 1989.

According to sources Richard looked like an LA Showbiz superstar when he entered the court with his sunglasses and he enjoyed all the attention. He refused to testify in his own defense and his attorneys had to work hard to make the jury believe that it was someone else who murdered all the victims.

During the trial, Richard had a following of people who were Satan worshippers and who dressed in black for the trial. Richard would sometimes dress in black and had a pentagram drawn on his hand which he would show everyone in the courtroom.

He had lots of fans who were writing letters and paying him visits. Doreen Lioy wrote 75 letters to him while he awaited trial and in 1988 he proposed to her. Young girls flocked to the courtroom just to get a glimpse of Richard.

According to sources what Doreen a magazine editor experienced was hybristophilia which according to Wikipedia means a psychological condition where “sexual arousal, facilitation, and attainment of orgasm are responsive to and contingent upon being with a partner known to have committed an outrage, cheating, lying, known infidelities, or crime – such as rape, murder, or armed robbery.” She also attended his trial and was defending him telling people he was a soft, friendly and caring person.

Disruption in the court

On the 14^th of August 1989, there was a disruption in the courtroom as Phyllis Singletary, one of the jurors did not arrive at the courtroom. She was found shot to death in her apartment.

According to sources, the jurors were terrified and some could not sleep as they thought Richard had connections in jail and someone that he knows on the outside killed Phyllis. It turned out she was killed by her boyfriend, he later committed suicide in a hotel room with the same weapon he killed Phyllis.

The Guilty Verdict and Sentence

On the 20^th of September 1989, Richard was found guilty on 13 counts of murder, 5 attempted murders, 11 sexual assaults and 14 burglaries. The trial cost 1.8 million dollars the most expensive trial prior to the OJ Simpson trial. Richard’s sentencing was on the 7^th of November 1989, where he received the death penalty by gas chamber.

The judge declared Richard Ramirez demonstrated “cruelty, callousness, and viciousness beyond any human understanding.”

When the judge asked Richard if he has something to say he said “I have a lot to say, but now is not the time or place. I don’t know why I am wasting my breath. But what the hell, I don’t believe in the hypocritical moralistic dogmas of this so-called civilized society. You maggots make me sick. Hypocrites one and all! You don’t understand me. You are not expected to. You are not capable of it. I am beyond your experience. I am beyond good and evil.”  (Real Life Crimes and how they were solved volume 6)

When he was transported to San Quentin Prison in California for the remainder of his days he flashed his devil horns and said “Hey big deal, death comes with the territory. I’ll see you in Disneyland.”  The son of the first murdered couple Peter Zazzara said after the outcome of the trail “I don’t know why somebody would want to do something like that. To take joy in the way it happened.”

Richard got married to Doreen on the 3^rd of October 1996, at the San Quentin Prison. In an interview CNN had with Doreen she “I think he’s a really great person. He’s my best friend; he’s my buddy.” For years she claimed that she would take her own life if Richard was executed, however, they divorced after a few years.

Because of the case that was so big with 50 thousand pages of trial records his first appeal only started on the 7^th of August 2006. His attorney argued that Richard was a man who was possessed by the devil and a helpless victim of his own sexuality and should not be sentenced to death. “Life imprisonment without parole means he will never see Disneyland again.” The California Supreme Court upheld his convictions and death sentence and denied his request for a rehearing.

Death of Richard Ramirez “The Night Stalker”

After 23 years on death row, Richard succumbed to B-Cell Lymphoma at Marin General Hospital in California on the 7^th of June 2013. He was 53 years old. In his 23 years on death row, he had never admitted to any crimes or showed remorse for what he did.

Richard Ramirez in Popular Culture

Richard’s story has sparked creations in the pop and art culture and in 2015 his character was featured on an episode of American Horror Story and in 2016 his life was portrayed by Lou Diamond Phillips in A&E the Night Stalker.

Richard Ramirez Quotes

He said that to the reporters when he was sentenced to death by gas chamber on his way to the San Quentin Prison.

Richard said this to Maxine Zazzara one of his victims that he murdered.

“When I was 11, I had an episode in my life, I saw my cousin shoot his wife. It wasn’t traumatic, but the shock value… I went back into the apartment to collect some things with my dad, because my cousin was in jail. The bed was all bloody. It was there where she had landed after the bullet. She got a .38 to the face. At the same time, it was very…. Uh the stillness of the room, the eeriness, you know. We had to open windows to ventilate the room and it was something … It was death! I had known the woman. I know her very well. I went into the living room and saw her purse. I looked through her purse; saw her ID cards and her things. It was a strange feeling. That was the first time I ever ran across death, ever since, I was intrigued.”

Is what he shouted in the courtroom when he had his preliminary court hearing.

“I’ll be in hell then, with Satan.” He told his lawyers this when they warned him he may receive the death penalty.

He said that to several of his female victims that he raped and killed.

“I need not to look beyond this courtroom to see all the liars, the haters, the killers, the crooks, the paranoid cowards… You maggots make me sick! Hypocrites one and all, we are all expendable for the cause.”

Richard said this to Carol one of his victims that he raped but she survived.

He said that to one of his victims that he raped Inez Erickson.

“I love to kill people. I love watching them die. I would shoot them in the head and they would wriggle and squirm all over the place, and then stop. Or I would cut them with a bread knife and watch their faces turn real white. I love all that blood. I told one lady one time to give me all her money.She said no. So I cut her and pulled her eyes out.” Ricard boasted about his crimes to the Deputy Sheriff Jim Ellis when he was transported to county jail.

“I was not aware of my actions. Everyone must find out who they are and be aware of their actions before they wind up in a vicious predicament.”

“In the end, we all die, and nothing really matters.”

“Satanists need to have more faith in Christians because Christ was seen and felt. Lucifer has never felt the need to be seen, but in everyone’s soul he can be felt.”

“Everybody has got good and evil in them. I’d like to be 100% evil but, I can’t. I’m too easy-going sometimes. Then again, while anger and hate are two things some people can cope with, I cannot. My anger and hate grow to a level that I cannot live comfortably with it.”

“My mother and father used to take me to church in Mexico and Texas where I used to live, the huge figures of saints and crucifixions. Religion played a big role in my life.”

“I lived a dangerous life. Stealing cars and, I could have been shot. Robbing people, I could have been killed. Nothing in existence holds any terror for me. When I was sentenced to death, it didn’t hold anything for me.”

“I gave up love and happiness a long time ago.”

“Evil has always existed, the perfect world most people seek shall never come to pass and it’ going to get worse.”

“I’ve been accused of almost every crime you can imagine.”

“All the killings are going to be blamed on me.”

“I want the electric chair. They should have shot me on the street. I did it, you know. You guys got me, the Stalker.”

“For some serial killers, sure, for some it is the very act of killing another human being that is-that-uh-that is sexual to them. It’s a bloodlust, I guess you can say.”

“It is undefiled wisdom instead of hypocritical self-deceit… it is power without charity, a Satanist admits being evil.”

“I read suspense and horror, something that intrigue me. I have always been fascinated by death.”

“Of course I did it; you know that I’m a killer. Give me your gun; I’ll take care of myself. You know I am the killer, so shoot me, I deserve to die. You can see Satan on my arm.”

“I would shoot them in the head and they would wiggle and squirm all over the place and then just stop, or cut them with a knife and watch their faces turn real white.”

“Going to trial was very tiring for me, but I did enjoy it better than sitting in a jail cell. That could be very monotonous. Did I enjoy it? Hmm. No, not particularly. I would have rather been on the beach or something.”

“Satan represents what I feel. I’m not like other people, I’m different.”

“There’s blood behind the Night Stalker.”

“I’m beyond your experience. I’m beyond good and evil, legions of the night – night breed – repeat not the errors of the Night Stalker and show no mercy.”

“Tell Satan you love him.”

“Next to self-preservation, the sex is the most important and powerful behavior in mankind.”

“Satanist doesn’t wear gold.”

“A book I suggest to everybody is called, “Mysterious Stranger” by Mark Twain. It’s about Satan and his visit here a good book.”

“When the state comes to execute a man, they laugh. So do I.”

“What Satan means to me. Satan is a stabilizing force in my life. It gives me a reason to be, it gives me an excuse to rationalize. There is a part of me that believes he really does exist. I have my doubts, but we all do, about many things.”

“In today’s society, people use those qualities – I call them qualities – for all things. It is for self-gratification. It is for sex. It is for excitement, this kind of fervor servers its own purpose. It doesn’t obey rules. It runs amok. You see it in the news every day, but society cannot hang its moral and ethical values on me to survive. I do what I must in all ways, and I’m proud of it. The necessity to be myself passes all moral barriers.”

“It was about 1980, and I was hustling on the streets. I landed in jail for a month or two for petty theft. I met up with this guy who was a Satan worshipper. For those two months I was with him, then I get out of jail, but my mind didn’t. I remembered everything he said, which basically was, ‘Why worship the good guy, when the things you do aren’t so good?’ Somehow it just made sense to me, to worship something that would protect you in what you are doing.”

“In my heart, I can’t believe he would have arrived at that. But if the authorities there have proof, what can we do? I believe the marijuana he’s been smoking put him out of control. There was a break between us. He didn’t want to do what we told him to do. It was like this: I’m your father, and I tell you not to use drugs. And you want to keep using them.”

“Blood is the substance that allows any living thing to exist, but blood is blood. I have heard of people drinking each other’s blood. They cut each other, and they drink it and it’s supposed to be a euphoric feeling. But, blood has no special interested for me.”

“That day I went back to that apartment, it was some kind of mystical experience. It was all quiet and still and hot in there. You could smell the dried blood. Particles of dust just seemed to hover in the air. I looked at the place where Jessie had fallen and died, and I got this kind of tingly feeling… Then my father told me to look in her pocketbook for the jewelry my cousin wanted, and I dumped Jessie’s pocketbook on the bed and looked through her things. It gave me the weirdest feeling – I mean I knew her, and these were her things, and she was dead. Murdered, gone and I was touching her things.”

“Who’s to say what’s evil? A man’s beliefs are his own business. Neither the church nor anybody else has the right to tell you how to act, that’s what real freedom is about: to be able to be who you really are, and not what you are expected or supposed to be.”

Richard Ramirez and Satanism

Devil worshipping in California started in 1966 by a former carnival performer Szandor Anton LaVey. Szandor established his Satan church in San Francisco and has been accused of a public seeker and clinically exploited the growing interest in the occult matters and taking advantage of people searching for religion.

In 1969, Szandor published the satanic bible, it consists of a mixture of rituals taken from different sources. In his black painted home near Golden Gate Park, he held black masses and would often invite the press.

In his church, he was a showman and admitted the church offers his followers a release to their sexual hang-ups. A few years later Satanism had been taken up by psychopathic movements who used it as justification for perversion and murder. Their symbol was the pentagram, on which the head of a hornet goat was superimposed.

Richard read Szandor’s book and started to join the cult. He decided after a while that he preferred to be a lone practitioner. He had a deep belief in the power of Lucifer who he said protects and empower him as his disciple. Although he did not take part in any satanic ceremonies there seems to be a link to his killings. Here is a few examples of Richard’s satanic beliefs that could be connected to his crimes.

The Night of the Beast: This is a three-week ceremony which happens at the third full moon of the year – mid-March. “The male is always sacrificed first… the eyes are also removed… the procedure is repeated for the chosen woman, and again for the closing night ceremony.”

The May Day Rite: “There are both human and animal sacrifices, a high priest, and a woman.”

The Passover: This happens every six months, February and August. “There will be two human sacrifices, a high priest, and his wife or ‘Bride of Lucifer’.”

Richard Ramirez’s Mental State

In an interview that A&E had with Dr. Scott Bonn a criminologist and author of ‘Why we love Serial Killers: The Curious Appeal of the World’s Most Savage Murderers’, he talks about what he thinks made Richard a serial killer.

Scott said he believes Richard was a sociopath rather than a psychopath. He said Richard was prone to emotional outbursts, very spontaneous and volatile.

A Sociopath is developed through life experiences and society. In a lot of times, we see changes around puberty which sex and violence sexually arouse them and this is what happened to Richard when his cousin showed him the photographs.

Richard was a thrill seeker serial killer that is why his victims were so random. When he broke into someone’s house he did not know what he will find and made up his mind on the spot, this is called disorganized crime.

When he kills, it was all about his need for stimulation, satisfaction, excitement, and thrill.  Richard believed that Satan was his benefactor but seen from the  U.S. judicial system he was not insane from a clinical or legal perspective which means he knew it was wrong to kill. According to the American Medical Association, a sociopath is not medically ill.

The reason for his devotion to Satanism was that he was a narcissist, very disturbed, and loved notoriety. He loved being the enigma people could not understand. Sociopaths generally have no remorse for what they did which is why he had such a callous attitude when he was sentenced to death.

According to sources one of the biggest factors in Serial Killers, especially in cases such as Richard Ramirez, is childhood neglect or abuse. A few American types of research claim the newly formed fetus in the womb can be affected by the mother’s alcoholism, drug use or psychological strain of unwanted or unhappy pregnancy.

Early childhood trauma is dissociative identity disorder, which means the child employs a survival technique to escape from physical, sexual and emotional abuse. In the case of Richard when his father abused him he would go to the cemetery to escape.

During the dissociative one is not able to associate information as one normally could, thus allow a temporary mental escape from the fear and pain. The process can result in memory gaps which may affect the person’s identity.

Source – Book: Profile of a Criminal Mind – How psychological profiling helps solve true crimes.

His childhood affected him deeply in his adult life and because of this, his criminal behavior is called trauma control. It means that with the predispositions factors such as biological, sociology, and psychological factors and early traumatic events interact with other factors over the individual’s life may determine their criminal psychopathy.

See below a Psychopathy list:

Emotional Symptoms

He is shallow as a person and it is difficult to believe anything he says. The emotions that he displays are not genuine and he tries to portray himself in a positive light. He has a convincing argument for his behavior and would use inappropriate language; this is why he struggles with engaging people in conversation and with personal behavior.

Egocentric and Grandiose

His abilities and self-worth are inflated and he feels self-assured that his opinion is the best. Richard would exaggerate in what he believes, and believe it is because of bad luck that he finds himself in difficult circumstances. He would often see himself as the victim of the system and the future does not seem to be a concern for him.

Lack of Remorse/ Guilt

Richard Ramirez had no conscience and would verbalize his remorse in an insincere manner. When he does something whether it is bad or good he shows no emotion and does not care what impact his actions will do to the people around him.

Lack of Empathy

He is a cold and callous person.

Deceitful and Manipulative

He thinks he has the right to manipulate everyone just like he pleases and would often give a false account of the truth. Richard enjoys seeing people suffer and he would sometimes con a person into believing that he cares so that he can get to your weak points.

Shallow Emotions

When he expresses an emotion it is not real and would often be shallow, his emotions would be inconsistent as he does not know how to express himself.

Impulsive

When he does something he does not spend a lot of time thinking about it and it includes his crimes, Richard would often change jobs and relationships as he was a drifter with poor behavior controls. When he drinks alcohol he would get aggressive and often verbally abusive. His outburst is usually short-lived but sudden and unprovoked.

Need for Excitement

He has difficulty doing things that required attention and like to do things that are risky and dangerous.

Lack of Responsibility

Richard’s behavior causes hardship for others and put them at risk, he is also an unreliable spouse and is inadequate to care for children. His has job performance problems and are untrustworthy with money.

Adult Anti- Social Behaviour

Richard disregard and rules and regulations and has legal problems and his anti-social activities varied frequently.

Why women fell head over heels in love with Richard Ramirez?

No matter how extreme or appalling his crimes were there are women who would stand by him. The women come from different sectors of society and a lot of them made contact with him through the anti-death-penalty campaign.

A lot of women are attracted to him because of the attention he got through the media and his bad boy attitude and his love for Satanism. He even had groupies, it was a group of women who supported Richard and who admire him and sat in the court through the whole trial.

A lot of the women who come from an abusive background and some studies show that women that form relationships with murderers in prison is a better option as they have a relationship without the violence. They also have the power over the relationship and some of these women feel needed and wanted and having a relationship with a prisoner is having the relationship on their terms.

Religion is another reason as it brings the women closer to him and provides a basis for an intense emotional interaction. In rare cases, women are sexually excited about violence that has been performed on other people. Most of the time the relationships that are formed are for companionship and women would talk to him about their dreams and hopes for the future.

Another type is Passive Hybristophiles: It means the women are aroused by the thought of their partner committing acts of violence but, to not partake in the acts themselves.

According to sources some people say it is biology where the drive to find a male comes from our innately animal instincts. Evolution show’s that females are more attracted to aggressive males which display there manliness and power.

There were a lot of women at Richard’s trail that was attention seekers. Interviewed after the trail a lot of them has admiration for Richard but they also enjoyed having their 5 minutes on television.

The daughter of Anton LaVey, the founder of the Satanic Bible gave Richard an honorary membership to the Church of Satan.

Cindy Hadden was an alternate juror on Richard’s trial and she was so excited to be in the same room as Richard, he saw that she had an attraction to him and thought that she may be the one that would sway the jury. Richard made sure to make eye contact with her during the trial. On Valentine’s Day Cindy sent him a cupcake with I love you on top written in icing. After he was convicted she made gestures as to say that she is sorry and had no choice.

Cindy visited Richard Ramirez in prison to express her love for him and even introduce him to her parents. She appeared on a television show saying that Richard was poorly represented.

Richard Ramirez’s Wife

Doreen Lioy who became Richard’s wife in October 1996, was the perfect example to describe a Hybristophiliac. She said the moment she saw him she fell in love with him. She wrote 75 letters to him before she first met him; she stood with him throughout the trial and insisted that he was not guilty and capable of murder and rape.

Doreen told everyone that Richard Ramirez was funny, kind and charming. Doreen said that if Ricard would be executed she would commit suicide; she has since changed her mind when they found Richard’s DNA on a cold case where he murdered a young girl.

Doreen and Richard separated before Richard died and not much is known of Doreen’s reaction to his death.

Richard Ramirez and Rape

The word rape comes from Latin meaning to seize or take by force. According to a source, every two minutes a woman in America is being raped and the motive for rape is usually to humiliate the victim. For a very long time rape has been seen in most cultures as less of crime against the women and more to the man she belonged to, thus the fine that needs to be paid was to the father or husband.

Richard Ramirez is in the category that is called a Blitz rape: meaning an unexpected assault committed by a stranger. The term was coined by Ann Burgees and Lynda Holmstroom in the early 1970’s. They were busy conducting studies of rape at the Beth Israel Hospital in Boston and when the women thought about the rape it was an unexpected assault that they mostly remember. The women also feared it because of the level of violence. Blitz is a German word that means “lightning”

Richard Ramirez and Burglary/ Cat Burglar

Richard falls into the category of a cat burglar. Some police detectives believe that anyone who would prowl around a house with the occupants inside is a mental case. A cat burglar can become violent when confronted and even resort to rape. When Richard enters the homes of his victims his intent was more than just burglary, he raped the women and stole all their valuables.

For a cat burglar, it is common to defecate on the floor or bed of his victims and some will even go as far as to defecate on the bed while the people are still sleeping.

Richard Ramirez Interview

Here you can have a look at a rare interview with Richard Ramirez.

Please note that, although the utmost care is taken to find the correct information there are differences when going through the sources. Please let us know if there is something that need to be changed in The Ultimate post of Richard Ramirez.

Sources: All of the below but not limited to:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/10665003/Murderous-love-Why-are-so-many-women-aroused-by-serial-killers.html
https://www.parcast.com/blog/forbiddenlove
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/jan/13/gender.uk
https://www.biography.com/people/richard-ramirez-12385163
Source – Real Life Crimes and how they were solved volume 6
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/criminology/psychological-assessment-Richard-6923.php
http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1248463
https://www.inspiringquotes.us/author/3426-richard-ramirez
https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/7153865.Richard_Ramirez
https://quotecatalog.com/communicator/richard-ramirez/
https://listography.com/showder/quotes/richard_ram%C3%ADrez
http://www.satanservice.org/real-satanist/richard-ramirez.html