Richard Ramirez

Richard Ramirez, a 25-year old unemployed Hispanic male, was responsible for at least 16 murders in Los Angeles during July 1984 - August 1985 that baffled authorities. Victims ranged from the ages of six to eighty years old. He had no set pattern - weapons used ranged from guns, knives, tire irons, to his bare hands. He dressed in all black wearing an AC/DC hat and Avia running shoes. Victims were scattered throughout Los Angeles he would steal cars to get to each

destination and pawn off valuables from the victims for money and drugs. Richard would enter the homes at night through unlocked doors or windows. Addicted to cocaine and sadistic sexual fantasies; Richard prayed and murdered to the allegiance of Satan. Richard's grandiose delusions and psychopathic personality compounded with a violent upbringing, and biological abnormalities played a major role in transforming Richard into the "Night Stalker".

Ricardo Ramirez was born on February 29, 1960 in El Paso, Texas. Richard was the fifth and last child of Julian and Mercedes Ramirez, Mexican immigrants; they had three sons, Ruben, Joseph, Robert and a daughter Ruth. Father, Julian was a Policeman in Mexico and when he moved his family to El Paso he became a railway worker. The railway job took him out of town days at a time to work on tracks. When he was home even though he was normally easygoing when angered he was extremely violent to himself and the children. Julian himself was a victim of child abuse who experienced extreme beatings from his father and grandfather. Mother, Mercedes came from a religious family - she was a devout catholic and tried to instill the same values onto her children by bringing them to church regularly on Sundays. Mercedes worked in a boot factory mixing toxic chemicals for painting boots. She worked at the boot factory while pregnant with Richard but left a month before his birth - The chemicals were too strong and made her extremely ill. Her hours also kept her from home so the children were looked after by several different babysitters. A lot of times the children were unsupervised.

According to family and friends Richard was an outgoing boy who was doted after by his older sister Ruth. He loved to make his peers laugh and was a fun loving child. He also loved listening to music and dancing with his mother. He loved watching television and was always the first child up - he loved horror shows. During elementary school Richard had no known behavioral problems and earned good grades. There were two head injuries at age five where he was knocked unconscious which doctors stated caused his epilepsy later on as a child. He had his first seizure in fifth grade and subsequently he suffered from one to two dozen petite mal seizures every month along with a few grand mal seizures until he entered his teens. Later he was diagnosed with Temporal Lobe Epilepsy. His biggest disappointment was being thrown off the football team because of his seizures. Due to the epilepsy he also suffered from recurring vivid dreams where monsters were chasing him and once at seven had visions of monsters running around in his yard. Also, at around seven years old he witnessed his brothers being molested by a Teacher who used to help them with schoolwork - Richard stated he doesn't remember if he was molested. At around the same time he stated that he saw a man sodomize a young boy with a candle and he ran from fright.

Due to the lack of parental supervision the Ramirez children started experimenting with marijuana and sniffing glue, Richard being the youngest (11 years old) he followed the behavior of his siblings. Richard started losing

interest in school and started spending a lot of time with his Cousin Mike who just came home from Vietnam - he was an honored Green Beret. He taught Richard stealth war tactics, how to use weapons, how to fight and even showed him photos of gruesome murders and rapes he had done in Vietnam. One photo was of a young woman decapitated tied to a tree.

Richard became fascinated by his cousin and spent the majority of his time with him smoking marijuana and discussing violent sex and murder. During that time Richard witnessed his cousin murder his wife over an argument - she was shot once in the head. His cousin was found criminally insane and was placed in a psychiatric facility and was sentenced seven years for the murder. While his cousin was away, Richard at 12 years old roamed the streets and became a peeping Tom. He regularly slept in the cemetery to get away from his father's aggressive behavior as well as beginning to pray to Satan. He began stealing and breaking into peoples homes, had failing grades and drug use escalated. At 15 years old his interest in Satanism, fantasies of rape and murder intensified. Friends noticed a drastic change in High School; he looked unkempt, and always dressed in black. Richard was no longer the outgoing fun loving kid they remembered.

Richard left high school and acquired a job at the Holiday Inn - he possessed a master key and would hide in rooms and peep on women undressing. One particular woman caught his eye and he tried to rape her, her husband caught Richard and beat him. Richard was never charged since the couple lived out of town and just wanted to put the incident behind them. His criminal record began in 1977, when he was placed in juvenile detention for a string of petty crimes. In 1982 he received probation for marijuana possession. Later in 1982 he decided to move to Los Angeles and in 1983 he was arrested for car theft and spent 6-months in jail. After his release his drug use escalated to cocaine and began purchasing weapons. He continued burglarizing for his addiction. While in Los Angeles he became a loner he had no known friendships or relationships. His sister visited several times and tried to persuade him to come home but without prevail Richard remained. He rented a small room ironically a quarter mile away from police headquarters. At times he would spend all day and night watching MTV, pornography and get high on cocaine.

Richard committed his first murder on July 24, 1984 the victim was 79-year old Jean Vicow, he entered through an opened window and stabbed her to death. A fingerprint was found but since Los Angeles did not have there computer database up and running it would be possible to ID a suspect through 6-million paper copies of prints. The second victim was not until March 17, 1985, 21-year old; Marie Hernandez was driving home on the freeway and caught the eye of Richard. He ended up following her home and entered through the garage. Marie was shot and survived - the bullet deflected off her key chain. Her roommate, 34-year old, Dayle Okazaki was shot to death. Marie was able to give a detailed description of the suspect, a tall, thin, Hispanic male with and bad teeth