Murderous Minds: Richard Ramirez | Serial Killer Documentary

before we get started with this documentary we wanted to share with you how this was all possible this was the first patreon video we ever uploaded and the support we've had over there has been incredible for the past year or so since we started it we've been able to keep up the documentaries not only we love to create but you love to watch the standalone docs like our wuhan lab investigative documentary that never would have lasted a day on youtube to the murderous minds serial killer series and also our brand new documentary series minds of madness where we analyze individuals who have not necessarily committed mass murders single-handedly but who have been involved in heinous and horrible crimes think charles manson or fraudsters like bernie madoff the next minds of madness episode will be on the dark life and career of harvey weinstein the previous episode was on chris benoit who for no apparent reason killed his entire family over the course of a weekend and before that it was the story of the tokyo subway bombing led by cult leader shoku asahara so if you want to support our work and get access to tons of documentaries to binge this month head on over to patreon and start enjoying for just two dollars a month as you will see in this documentary we really put a ton of effort into what we do and now we're incredibly excited to share what was our very first patreon exclusive murderous minds documentary on richard ramirez thank you to all the patrons for making this possible and enjoy when a human being inflicts the most horrendous things are another human being it's easy to think they are insane or just plain evil and we're probably born that way however in this installment of murderous minds that was not the case this murderer was very much influenced by a member of his family and if he hadn't been exposed to some of the things he was from a young age then the name richard ramirez may never have been added to our list of murderous minds here we look at the disturbing story of the man who became known as the night stalker and whose hideous reign of rape torture and murder terrorized the community of los angeles and san francisco in a two-year killing spree that shook the world [Music] [Music] ricardo lever munoz ramez known as richard ramirez was born in el paso texas on february 29 1960. he was the fifth and last child of julian and mercedes ramirez and to his three brothers and one sister he was affectionately known as richie julian and mercedes were both mexican and had moved to america for a better life they were hardworking and devoted to each other and eventually saved up enough money to buy their own house in el paso both had come from tough backgrounds and julian in particular had been brought up in a violent household with regular beatings from both his father and grandfather who had ferocious tempers julian had always vowed that he would never hit his children and let them suffer as he had growing up and for the most part he was a fairly placid man however he had inherited the ramirez family temper and eventually with the pressures of a growing family he did end up beating his children just as his father had the first three of the ramirez children were all affected in some way by the fallout of the nuclear bomb testing that had been carried out near their home in los alamos new mexico their first child reuben was born with lumps on his neck their second joseph developed collier's disease a condition where his bones did not form correctly and left him physically disabled and their third son robert who at first seemed fine had learning difficulties thankfully their fourth child a daughter named ruth seemed unaffected by the fallout four years after ruth was born mercedes found herself pregnant again with richard at the time she was working at tony lemas the famous texas boob maker her job involved mixing chemicals together to make pigments for boots these chemicals were strong and the work was carried out without ventilation or a mask as the pregnancy progressed it was realized just how toxic these chemicals were and the harm they were doing to mercedes and her unborn child she was so ill that she was told by a doctor if she wanted her baby to survive then she must leave her job although that was five months after being exposed to the poisonous fumes when richard was born he seemed fine and it wasn't long before mercedes went back to her job with the bootmakers leaving her children with a child minder mercedes worked full-time and julian was often away working on the railroads so the children lacked discipline and on one occasion when richard was two years old he climbed up a chest of drawers and it fell on top of him knocking him unconscious for at least 20 minutes the injury to his head required several stitches as the children grew older it was reuben that got in the wrong crowd and started sniffing glue and stealing after getting arrested julian beat him black and blue in front of his other children in fact julian's increasing rage was having an impact on all the children he would get so angry some days that he would hit his head against a wall or beat it with a stick until he was pouring with blood his rage was uncontrollable and would only get worse [Music] richard was only a toddler when he witnessed such violence and often had to be comforted by his sister ruth as a child richard was hyperactive and restless and would spend hours on end playing cowboys and indians by himself he seemed to have boundless energy and on one occasion he ran so fast towards his sister who was on a swing but for a second time he was knocked unconscious after this latest head injury he started having seizures and was diagnosed with epilepsy however remarkably no follow-ups or medication was prescribed and his doctor told his mother he would grow out of it in reality he was suffering from temporal lobe epilepsy a condition that can cause personality and behavioral changes as well as obsessive thoughts this was not diagnosed until years later and had it been properly diagnosed and treated at the time his life may have turned out differently as soon as they were old enough richard's brother reuben and robert left home they were both in and out of trouble which only made their father more enraged and beat them harder joseph followed shortly after leaving just richard and his sister ruth behind but things were no better after his sons left and juden became bitter and withdrawn and hard to live with nothing richard or his sister did would live up to the expectations he had for them when richard was 12 his cousin miguel who was father blamed for leading his other sons astray returned from vietnam a war hero he had survived the horrors of the conflict and was decorated for it but miguel had the ramirez family anger and aggression and strangely he claimed he had enjoyed his time fighting and killing people without getting into trouble and boasted that he had killed at least 29 enemy soldiers as well as raping countless vietcong women richard became fascinated with his older cousin and his graphic tales of war and despite the age gap the two started hanging out together miguel relished in the adoration of his younger cousin he confided in richard and started showing him horrific polaroid photos he'd taken during his time in vietnam these showed him abusing women at gunpoint and cutting their heads off he also showed richard eight shrunken heads he brought back from nam that he kept in a suitcase under his bed richard spent hours with miguel as he retold his bloody sexual sadistic war stories of rape torture and killing and he found himself sexually aroused by the vile accounts in particular the disgusting polaroids he knew it was wrong to find such images exciting but he couldn't help himself but what he didn't realize was his cousin was unwell he had not received the psychological counselling he needed when he returned from the war and his twisted influence made his young cousin believe that having power over life and death was normal and the ultimate high the whole thing fascinated richard and he couldn't get enough of miguel's brutal war stories miguel also taught richard all the nuances of jungle warfare he showed him how to become invisible how to protect himself and how to kill with stealth and absolute certainty his influence on richard at such a young age was huge initially julian tried to stop richard spending so much time with his cousin but no matter how much he yelled beat and threatened his son it didn't deter him and eventually he turned a blind eye to it he figured that now miguel was a war hero and respected it could only be a good thing miguel was married with the two children and even his wife jesse found the relationship he had with richard was weird and she constantly nagged him to stop hanging around with a kid and get a proper job be a decent husband and father but miguel was not about to let any woman tell him what to do and jesse paid the ultimate price on may the 4th 1973 richard was hanging out in miguel's house playing miniature pool and smoking marijuana jesse was out shopping but when she returned she started nagging miguel complaining about money and telling him to get a job miguel told her to shut up but she carried on so he calmly went to the kitchen and grabbed his 38 caliber gun then walked up to jesse and pointed it at her she dared him to shoot and he did shooting jessie in the face at point blank range in front of their two sons the bullet went through her lip and exited at the back of her head killing her instantly richard watched in stunned silence as her body shook and trembled in the last throws of death after the shooting miguel ordered richard to leave the house and tell no one he was very upset but did as he was told and even when his parents learned of the shooting and arrest of miguel richard said nothing but the incident as you would expect had a profound effect on twelve-year-old richard and likely paved the way for his murderous spree later in life in the days after the shooting richard went back to miguel's house with his father to retrieve items of jewelry as they entered the house jesse's blood was still in a pool on the floor and the air smelled of death but rather than tell his son to wait outside julian encouraged richard to rifle through the house looking for jewelry richard later revealed that as he searched the house he realized he was very different from normal people because rather than being upset he got a tingling feeling of excitement richard was exposed to things that no 12 year old child should see and in hindsight after seeing a shooting as brutal as jesse's he should have had therapy but as no one apart from miguel knew no one identified the impact it had on his young mind miguel was eventually found not guilty of his wife's murder on the grounds of insanity blamed on the horrors of war and he was committed to a texas state mental hospital after witnessing the murder richard changed radically he was not interested in school and just wanted to get high and steal he and his sister started smoking marijuana together all day and all night and he seemed to be exceptionally quiet and troubled his parents were at a loss about what to do with their son so decided to let him spend the summer with his brother reuben and his wife who had recently had a child and now lived in los angeles a decision they would live to regret richard who is still only 12 years old but looked far older was tall and weighed almost 90 pounds and had inherited the ramirez family's good looks when richard arrived in l.a his brother met him off the bus and showed him around richard had never seen anything like it in his life he saw the ocean for the first time and was captivated by all the scanty-clad women that filled santa monica and the alley prostitutes who brazenly offered themselves and because richard looked much older than 12 he freely walked in and out of the sex shops and thought for the first time that the intense deviant thoughts and fantasies he was having were normal in l.a he was also exposed to the perverts and child molesters that drove around in their expensive cars trying to pick up young boys lan was approached on many occasions during his stay as well as witnessing all the vices of la his brother reuben also taught him how to be an expert burglar so when richard returned to el paso he was a different person he more or less quit school and believed his future was in the city he also took to going out alone hunting animals in the deserts of el paso anne was an excellent marksman something he had learned from his father at an early age however living at home with his father became increasingly volatile and richard often slept in the local graveyard to get away from him and at the age of just 13 he left the family home to live with his sister ruth and her new husband roberto avla although avla was the last person richard needed in his life he was a sex-obsessed peeping tom and he regularly took richard out on his nightly forays to try and get a glimpse through windows and alleyways of people making love or women undressing unsurprisingly ruth's marriage only lasted two years although richard continued to live with her and also continued the peeping tom behavior he had learned from avla he also started to experiment with hallucinogenic drugs and became increasingly obsessed with satan believing he was his only true friend at the age of 15 richard got a job at the holiday inn after three months of working at the hotel he acquired a master key at the time he had already started spying through windows but now richard intended to take things further and started letting himself into the hotel rooms while guests were asleep and stealing from them worse still he planned an attack on a lone female his first victim was a young woman in her late twenties richard crept into a room and attacked from behind he gagged her and attempted to rape her however the attack was interrupted when her husband returned who was a large violent man and was hugely protective of his wife he beat richard to a pulp rendering him unrecognizable and unconscious richard was hospitalized and later arrested and locked in jail his family were mortified and could not believe that richie was capable of such a thing they believed him when he told them that the woman had come on to him and when her husband came back he went berserk richard insisted he was the victim in all of this and his family believed him as he was still a juvenile he was released to his mother and the charges were later dropped after the couple wanted nothing more to do with the incident and refused to testify this was the point in richard's life where things could have been different if he had been charged and found guilty he would have likely received therapy that may have unlocked and possibly treated the demons dancing in his mind as well as the uncontrollable urge to rave and tired women richard knew these thoughts were wicked and against the church but with nobody aware of this inner turmoil there was nothing to stop them a year or so after the incident miguel was released from the texas state mental hospital he had been there for just four and a half years the doctors decided he was fit to return to society and blamed his actions on not getting therapy after the vietnam war almost immediately after his release richard and miguel started hanging out again and miguel continued to corrupt his favorite cousin with his grotesque war stories and sexual conquests richard soaked all these stories up like a sponge and they became deeply etched inside his already twisted mind the pair also resumed their marijuana-smoking cruising habits and miguel became richard's only friend apart from satan [Music] at the age of 17 richard started a secret relationship with 13 year old nancy avila she adored him and would later say that richard was the kindest gentlest person she had ever met and she had no clue about his inner demons within a year the relationship was over and richard was growing tired of el paso so without telling anyone in february 1978 he boarded a greyhound bus and left his hometown for good heading for los angeles his head was now completely full of intense sexual images and fantasies and they had taken over his entire being no matter what he did they would not shift from his mind and he was now a very dangerous man a ticking time bomb if you will waiting to act on his depraved thoughts when he arrived in l.a he headed downtown richard felt comfortable amongst the drug addicts and prostitutes that lived there he had brought a large quantity of marijuana with him from el paso and over the next few weeks he sold it to pay for rooms in various hotels occasionally he stayed with his brother ruben and his wife however this ceased when his brother accused richard of making a pass at her it wasn't long before richard had become addicted to cocaine and to support his habit he committed hundreds of burglaries the drug was also intensifying his sexual fantasies and after just 18 months in the city richard committed his first rape when he was invited back to a woman's apartment where they both got high but when she rejected his sexual advances and told him to leave he was furious and later returned to the apartment while she slept the attack left richard exhilarated and craving for more touched by satan shortly after the attack richard met anton levay founder of the church of satan and author of the satanic bible and church of satan richard felt akin with levay and after attending one of his ceremonies he felt he had been touched by satan he later phoned his mother and told her and asked her to pray for him she begged him to come home but he refused and she feared he would fall victim to the lord of darkness after the encounter richard's demeanor changed even more he took on a look of an unsmiling mean-eyed satanist and he became more and more withdrawn his life consisted of stealing cars and robbing houses to feed his cocaine habit he lived on sweets and cola in between his drug binges and took little or no care of his personal hygiene or appearance his family would often go months without hearing from him at one time his sister traveled to alley to find him and try and persuade him to come home she was shocked at how he looked and the way he was living but there was nothing she could do to convince him to go home all she could do was pray for him since living in l.a richard was a regular visitor to the greyhound bus terminal it was the place where all that was bad in los angeles hung out a dire place where the worst of human nature could be found and at night especially it was a very dangerous place but richard blended in it was the place where he sold the items he had stolen from his robberies and where he scored his drugs he had no real friends there but fitted in and it's from here that richard travelled to commit what initially was thought to be his first murder on the evening of june the 27th 1984 richard bought two grams of cocaine from a dealer at the bus station he then drove a stolen blue toyota to a rat infested abandoned building to inject the drug as the drug took effect he got back in the car and drove downtown with no money for a prostitute he drove around looking for an opportunity to rob a house when he reached glassell park he parked his car on chapman street that ran parallel to the peaceful hills of forest lawn memorial park he sat there for a while and assembled the situation before putting on his black gloves and getting out of the car he walked along the pavement studying the apartments on the opposite side of the road then he crossed the road and stopped at apartment 2 the home of 79 year old jenny vincao her window was open but there was a screen covering it richard tried to remove the screen but his gloves were making it tricky so uncharacteristically he removed one of them and managed to release the screen and quietly enter the apartment once inside he prowled around it with the dexterity of a cat but he quickly realized there was nothing of any value in the home and this enraged him his anger was uncontrollable and there was only one person he could take it out on and that was the sleeping jenny he plunged a six-inch hunting knife into the old lady's chest and she immediately woke and fought for her life but richard was like a wild animal and she stood no chance eventually he cut her throat so deeply he nearly severed her head after killing her he sexually violated a dead body and stayed in the apartment for up to an hour washing his hands before leaving the next day it was her son who found his mother murdered in the most horrific way possible following the murder richard's intravenous cocaine addiction spiraled out of control and his life was preoccupied with how to get his next fix but after months of living like this some sort of realization hit him and he realized the drugs would eventually get him caught so he took the decision to get off the hard drugs so he could concentrate on killing again although it would be almost a year before he struck again [Music] on march the 17th 1985 richard bought a 22-caliber revolver a lethal weapon that at close range was almost always fatal armed with the gun he stole a car from a gas station and hit the alley freeway with the sole intention of finding a victim as he drove he spotted 22 year old mariah hernandez driving back to her apartment in rosemead california richard followed her and snuck up behind her after she'd parked her car in the garage he shot her at close range but miraculously the bullet deflected off her keys but she fell to the ground anyway and played dead richard thought he'd killed her and pushed past her body making his way into the lift up to the apartment she shared with 34 year old dale okazaki dale had heard the shot i was carrying behind the kitchen counter but richard spotted her and waited for her to put her head up when she eventually did he shot her in the forehead killing her instantly he then left the apartment and was surprised to see mariah was still alive she pleaded with him not to shoot and he didn't he spared her life and mariah got a good look at him and was the first witness to see the killer who would soon to become known as the nightstalker as richard drove away he also realized he had dropped his ac dc cap in the garage something that would later prove to be vital evidence within an hour of his first killing richard found another victim her name was tylian you also known as veronica he spotted her in her car and followed her but veronica knew he was on her tail and stopped to confront him demanding to know why he was following her richard told her he thought he recognized her but as she approached the car he tried to grab her and pull her through the window but quickly realized the passenger door was open before veronica could lock it he was sat beside her he said nothing but shot her in the side veronica desperately tried to scramble out of the car into the street but he mercilessly shot her again and she fell dying on the ground richard then fled the scene and dumped the car thirty-year-old veronica died before she reached the hospital the police quickly linked the two murders and he also had a detailed description of richard given by maria who described him as a thin gaunt man dressed in black with dark bulging eyes and wide-spaced rotting teeth witnesses to veronica's murder described a similar man the detective assigned to the case was frank saluno he knew all about the murderous minds of serial killers and had been responsible for bringing the hillside stranglers to justice he was the best around and if anyone could stop richard it was him although at this stage he had no clue that he would be as silent and prolific as he turned out to be in the days following the double murder richard had made a decision to commit his life to killing in the most heinous sadistic ways possible he believed the more vicious the assaults were the more satan would approve and give his blessing richard was an extremely dangerous man just eight days after killing dale and veronica rich's desires took over him and he set out in another stolen toyota with the intention of killing again he headed for an affluent area in waitia and parked outside the home of vincent and maxine zazara he was familiar with the house and its occupants as a year previously he had burgled the place as he slowly crept up to the drive and peered through the windows he could see vincent to sleep on the sofa and maxine asleep in bed he managed to prise open a utility room window and after taking his shoes off he crept up on vincent and shot him in the head the bullet zigzagged through his brain and as he staggered to his feet the blood from his wound projected three feet to a nearby wall he died almost instantly maxine was awoken by the shot but before she could get out of bed richard was there pointing a girl in her face and demanding to know where her jewelry was before ransacking the house maxine desperately tried to free herself and managed to reach for a shotgun the couple kept under the bed she pointed the gun at richard and pulled the trigger but to her horror there were no bullets the gun was empty the attempt to shoot him only fueled richard's anger and he went crazy shooting maxine three times then beating her he picked her up and put her on her bed before trying to cut her heart out when this failed he cut out her eyes and took them as a keepsake he then tried to sexually assault her mutilated body before fleeing the house taking as many valuables as he could find as well as the zazara's shotgun richard drove back to his room at the notorious cecil hotel and cleaned up before sailing his hall and finding a prostitute he then returned to the cecil and marveled over maxine's eyes that he had put in one of the jewelry boxes no link was made between the zazara's murders and the other three murders there was no reason to link them they didn't appear to have the same motive although this time richard had left footprints and it was established that he had a size 11 and a half foot and wore avias sneakers it was also confirmed that thankfully if that is the right term maxine had died from the gunshot before ramirez mutilated her body however as soon as frank salino's right-hand man detective carrillo read the details of the crime he was convinced it was the same person he was also convinced the same man in black with a pungent odor was responsible for a series of abductions and sexual assaults in the los angeles area although apart from salerno none of the other detectives involved in the various cases believed him and laughed off his suggestion in the couple of weeks following the zazara's murders richard spent his days watching pornography playing pool and smoking marijuana he still had plenty of money left from the burglary so he had no need to break into any houses but money wasn't his motivation anymore murder was his new obsession and he started planning his next killing spree this time he wanted to take it to the next level he wanted to be as famous as his hero jack the ripper he wanted the whole world to know the name of richard ramirez he had no conscience no remorse he was a psychopath and nothing was more sexually exciting to him than having power over life and death on april the 14th 1985 just two weeks and four days after his last murder richard was back out cruising looking for an opportunity to kill again in the early hours of the morning he returned to the monterey park area where he had killed veronica ewe he quietly coasted to a stop on trumbauer avenue got out of his car and silently walked towards the home of 66 year old william doyle and his 56 year old disabled wife lillian richard got into the residence three bathroom window and quietly made his way through the house first he spotted lillian fast asleep in her bed and soon realized she was disabled after seeing her wheelchair he left her for now and made his way to williams's bedroom as he approached the sleeping man he chambered his gun immediately waking william who grabbed the nine millimeter he had on his nightstand but it was too late richard shot bill in the mouth at close range the chute did not kill him but left him in a bad way he tried to plead for his life but richard brutally beat him unconscious he then headed to lillian's room binding lilium with thumb cuffs he ransacked the house before returning to lillian and savagely raping her he then kissed her and left the house bill came too and mustered up enough strength to call for help although sadly later died in hospital from his injuries it's hard to imagine a more hideous crime attacking two frail old people and although lilian had a good look at richard her disabilities caused by a stroke years before meant it was hard for her to talk and explain clearly what had happened although she was able to describe a tall man in black with a gun and bad teeth but the most important evidence from the scene was the avian sneaker footprints however unlike most serial killers richard didn't seem to stick to the same type of victim he appeared to pick them randomly regardless of age sex or appearance he also used different methods to kill and sometimes left his victims alive the only real consistency was his clothing and the way he broke into houses at night because of the randomness of his murders it was hard for police to fit the pieces together to conclusively link the same person to all the crimes something that definitely hindered their investigation and then the stalker reign of terror was continuing unchecked his next victims were elderly sisters 84 year old mabel bell an 81 year old nettie lang the pair lived together in an isolated location in monrovia just outside of los angeles there was no reason for richard to be anywhere near the area it was not a place he knew but for some reason he ended up there guided by his inner voice at around 11 30 p.m on may the 29th richard parked his stolen mercedes outside the sisters house they were both fast asleep richard tried the front door and it was unlocked as he crept around the house he soon realized there was nothing of value there which made him incredibly angry so using a hammer he found in the kitchen he launched into a frenzy attack on the old ladies attacking mabel first then moving on to nettie who he brutally raped and this time richard made sure everyone knew he was hand in hand with satan and used mabel's red lipstick to draw a pentagon on her leg and on the wall behind her bed he then left the defenseless ladies alive but comatosed as they lay undiscovered for 58 hours poor mabel clung to her life for six weeks after the attack but eventually succumbed to horrific injuries nettie survived but had long life-changing injuries and could no longer speak and spend the rest of her life in hospital the next evening while mabel and nettie still lay stricken from the attack richard went out again looking for another victim this time he headed for burbank where he entered the home 42 year old widow carol kyle and her 11 year old son mark richard subjected carol to a sustained and vile sexual attack whilst his son was locked in a closet although he did let them escape with their lives leaving them handcuffed to a bed and carol was able to give a detailed description of the man in black however the artist's impression she helped with did not match others of him and again police did not link the offence to the same man in early june 1985 richard went looking for a house in pico rivera he found what he thought was an ideal target and stopped outside little did he know that it was the home of los angeles deputy sheriff john rodriguez and his wife susan as ramirez silently made his way to the side of the house he found an unlocked window but it was stuck and took some force to open and the noise woke john's wife who alerted her husband ramirez had been rumbled before he even got in the house he abandoned the break-in and fled to his car but he left behind his distinctive obvious shoe print outside the window richard was frustrated he hadn't been able to invade the home and carried on cruising the streets looking for a suitable place when he failed to do so he was so furious that he tried to abduct a young girl off the street but she screamed so loud it alerted neighbors who called the police however as richard drove back he was pulled over by a police officer he had already thrown his drugs and gun out the car window so all he could have on him was a stolen car but remarkably despite hearing a detailed description on the radio of a black-haired mexican-looking man driving a blue toyota the officer did not realize he had pulled over the suspect and even jokingly asked him hey you're not that guy killing people in their homes even though the officer had not realized who he was richard knew he had to get out of the situation and when the officer's back was turned he drew a pentagon on the hood of the toyota and made a run for it the officer searched the car and realized it was stolen and had it towed away but took no further action the car was a vital clue as it was later found to be covered in richard's fingerprints after the running with the officer richard became convinced the police had nothing on him and was arrogant enough to believe he was leaving no tracks so instead of lying low he planned another murder on july the 2nd 1985 he drove to arcadia in search of his next victim the heat that yeo was intense and oppressive and many of the residents of arcadia had retreated into their air-conditioned homes to escape it as ramirez silently scanned the streets for the perfect house he stopped outside the home of 75 year old widow mary cannon he then brazenly took the screen off the front window and snuck into her house mary had no chance richard savagely beat her with a vase lamp rendering her unconscious before using one of her kitchen knives to stab her in the neck he then ransacked the house before escaping with his hall and driving back to the city to sell it when the police arrived the next morning they again found the distinctive avia trainer shoe print night stalker had struck again and for the police all the pieces of evidence were there but they still had no idea who they belonged to through newspaper headlines and word on the street richard was now acutely aware that the best detectives in la were looking for him but that didn't stop him just three days after he killed mary cannon he was on the road again audaciously heading back towards arcadia when he arrived he settled on an affluent area in sierra madre and chose the opulent home of mr and mrs steve burnett who lived there with their children whitney aged 16 and 18 year old james the front door to the home was left unlocked and richard had easy access to the house the first bedroom he came to was whitney's where he found her asleep his plan was to kill mr and mrs burnett and their son and returned to whitney to torture her but he soon became spooked when he saw a police car cruising outside so instead he used a tyre iron he had retrieved from his car to bludgeon whitney and render her unconscious he then searched the kitchen for a knife but he couldn't find one so he attempted to strangle whitney with a telephone wire as he pulled the core tightly around her neck he was shocked to see sparks radiating from the cord and when his victim began to breathe he fled the house believing that jesus christ had intervened and saved her when whitney woke up the next morning she had no recollection of the attack but luckily she survived the savage beating that left her unrecognizable and requiring 478 stitches in her head on this occasion not only did ramirez leave a bloody footprint of his avian sneakers but he also left behind the tire iron that he had beat whitney with two days after he beat whitney burnett senselessly he was back in monterey park parked outside of the home of 61 year old joyce nelson after getting in through a window he beat the sleeping joys to death with his fist he stamped on her face and left a clear imprint of his abia sneaker on her face the violence was vicious and relentless after ransacking joyce's home he was on a massive high and all he could think about was sex and murder he got in his car and continued to search for another victim he drove to rosemead and alabama but didn't feel comfortable in either area so at around 3am he made his way back to monterey and chose the home of 63 year old sophie dickman after entering her home he handcuffed sophie and assaulted her at gunpoint he then attempted to rape her and stole her jewelry making her swear on satan there was no more he spared her life and left the various police departments were now finally working together and they had been informed of some very interesting findings concerning the killer's avian sneakers only 1 354 pairs had ever been made and only six had been sold in la and only one pair in size 11 and a half and that belonged to the night stalker so if they found the shoe they found their murderer they also had another breakthrough the car that richard had been driving when he was pulled over by the officer way back in early june had finally been linked to him although it had been left in an outdoor police parking lot and prince on the outside of it had burned away in the california sunshine but what was found was a wallet a dentist appointment card and six phone numbers they found out who the numbers belonged to and put the addresses under surveillance they also established the appointment card was richards and he had visited the dentist under the name of richard menner and the dentist who treated him explained that richard had a very painful mouth condition and needed further treatment and he expected him to return soon so two undercover officers were planted in the surgery to wait for him for now the biggest clues to their killer were his feet and his teeth richard was now acutely aware the police were on his tail and he waited a couple of weeks before he went hunting again this time he purchased a machete and planned to remove the heads of his next victims and leave them on the front lawn of their gardens to torn the police on july 20th he drove a stolen toyota to glendale california his next victims were leela and maxon kneeding he burst into the bedroom and started hacking at them with the machete but he soon realized it wasn't sharp enough so he pulled out his 22 revolver and shot them both in the head at point-blank range he then ransacked their house and left with the valuables richard drove back to the city and sold his hall he then went on the prowl again this time he drove towards sun valley this was new territory for richard this time he left the machete in the car and made his way up to the street to the home of the covenant family after entering their home he shot mr covenant in the head and savagely beat and repeatedly raped his wife in the violence way whilst their two children slept he then bound the couple's terrified eight-year-old son before dragging the wife around the house to reveal the location of any viables during the assault he demanded that she swear to satan that she was not hiding any money from him after these latest killings the night stalker was front page news all over california and also featured on cnn journalists started to descend on the area eager to report all the gory details the whole community was in a state of panic with many of them being unable to sleep at night for fear they would be his next victim ramirez knew the police would be out in full force so his next hunt he chose an area that he had not visited before a place called northridge another smart area that was surrounded by the stunning santa susana mountains after scanning the area he settled on the home of virginia and chris pettison and their five-year-old daughter richard accessed the house through an unlocked patio door and walked into the couple's bedroom but as he cocked his gun virginia woke up he immediately shot her under her left eye and the shot woke cress richard shot him as well but he managed to get up and launched himself with richard he was a well-built fit 38 year old man and he wasn't going to let the nightstalker kill his beloved family the two men wrestled and eventually richard ran out of the house and chris followed him yelling for help richard knew the police would be there in an instant so he got in his car and fled the scene chris and virginia survived their wounds although virginia was extremely lucky the bullet to her face had gone through the roof of her mouth down her throat and exited at the back of her neck completely missing any vital organs after this latest attack for the first time detective salerno made a statement to the press and one of his quotes insinuated that the nightstalker was a coward when richard read it he was furious in his mind he thought it took courage to enter a stranger's house in the middle of the night not knowing what he could face he decided he would show them who was a coward and went out and bought an uzi machine gun from a dealer at the bus terminal the deadly weapon fired 30 rounds a second and just two days after the attack on the petersons he was back out cruising in a stolen toyota this time he drove east to the community of diamond bar where he chose the home of sakina abawath and her husband ellis and their two small children richard managed to open the glass sliding door at the back of their house and sneaked in and heard he surveyed the house and noted that the three-year-old was asleep in his bedroom and the parents were sleeping in the other room with their ten-month-old baby after exploring the house richard brazenly returned to his car and parked it on the driveway so he could make a quick getaway he then re-entered the house shot ellis killing him instantly and then handcuffed sekina and subjected to her to a sickening attack when the baby awoke and came looking for his mother he tied the child up and continued to attack his mother and demanded to be shown where she kept the valuables after ransacking the house and making sekina swear on satan there was no more jewelry he left her alive telling her her husband had just been knocked out and was not dead it wasn't until her ordeal was over that she discovered the awful truth the reward for information leading to the arrest of the stalker now stood at eighty thousand dollars and richard's down and out acquaintances hanging around the greyhound bus terminal he frequented was starting to look long and hard at the scruffy mexican he knew some of them were looking at him and thinking he fit the description of the police photo fit so he took the decision to leave los angeles and head for san francisco people there knew about the stalker but would not expect him to be in the area so would be less vigilant than the people of vale richard checked into the bristol hotel in the heart of san francisco and within hours of his arrival he stalked and attacked a small asian woman aged around 70 years old leaving her broken body in a hallway alive but battered the attack had left him charged up and that night he entered the home of peter and barbara pan he shot 66 year old peter as he slept and then beat and sexually assaulted 62 year old barbara before shooting her in the head and leaving her before he left richard used lipstick to score a pentagram and the phrase jack the knife on the bedroom wall after the pans were discovered by their son and a link was made with the night stalker san francisco's mayor gave a televised press conference and devolved crucial forensic evidence including the avian sneaker footprints the leak infuriated the allied detectives working on the case and rightly so because after seeing the broadcast richard dropped his size 11 and a half avia sneakers over the side of the golden gate bridge richard stayed in san francisco for a week after the pan attack before brazenly returning to la however he stayed away from his usual horns and instead rented a room in chinatown a crowded area where he could mingle without being noticed richard was impressed by the amount of press coverage his murders were getting and was getting restless to kill again he stole an orange toyota station wagon and drove 76 miles south of alley to orange county this was new territory for him but despite being out of the city he could tell the people who lived there were on high alert there were bars on windows and security lights everywhere as he cruised the streets thirteen-year-old james ramirez iii who was up late fixing his scooter noticed richard and had an uneasy feeling about him noting in his head the distinctive orange toyota richard was driving richard was unaware of the boy and continued prowling the streets until he reached the home of 30 year old bill kahns and his fiancee carol smith he broke in through the back door but as he entered the couple's bedroom the sound of the gun cocking awoke bell and he jumped out of bed unfortunately it was too late richard shot him three times in the head he then dragged the carol from her bed hogtied her and demanded she tell him where the valuables were he then dragged her to another room and sexually assaulted her as he left he told her to tell them that the night stalker was here however as he exited the house james romero saw him drive off this time he made a mental note to the plate number although he only remembered three of the digits and after he heard about the attack he told his parents who alerted the orange county sheriff's office after hearing the description of the man dressed in black they knew it was the night stalker remarkably bill khan survived after having two of the bullets removed from his brain four days after the attack on august 27th police got a tip-off from jesse perez's daughter perez was the fence that richard sold his stolen goods to and who had started to suspect richard was the night stalker although he had been reluctant to come forward himself as he was also involved in criminal activities but his daughter felt it was the right thing to do and had done it for him after officers paid perez a visit and promised him protection he spilled the beans after being assured the reward money would be his perez told detectives that the night stalker was a guy he knew as rick he told them about the gun his bad teeth his obsession with satan and that he came from somewhere in el paso he also told them that rick had bragged about killing an asian couple in monterey park but crucially he told them rick had previously been arrested for stealing a car he had crashed into the bus terminal which meant rick was in the system perez also directed them to a guy named felipe salano who had taken a lot of rick's stolen goods off him and still had them in his house the day after meeting perez police found the orange toyota abandoned and were able to lift a single print from the outside of the rearview mirror despite richard's careful efforts to wipe the car clean of his fingerprints the print was positively identified as belonging to richard ramirez who is described as a 25 year old drifter from texas with a long rap sheet that included many arrests for traffic and drug violations and law enforcement officials decided to release a mugshot of ramirez from a december 12 1984 arrest for car theft at a police press conference it was announced we know who you are now and soon everyone else will there will be no place you can hide richard ramirez's photograph now appeared on the front page of every newspaper in california [Music] richard was aware of the publicity and on the morning of february august 30th 1985 he caught a greyhound bus to tuscan arizona he intended to visit his brother robert but when he reached tuscan his brother failed to turn up and richard was getting agitated as he had noticed plainclothes cops had started to descend on the station he abandoned his visit and caught a bus back to l.a when he reached la the bus terminal was swarming with undercover police they believed the night stalker would be trying to escape los angeles and won't expect him to be arriving back so richard was able to walk out to the terminal unchallenged however although he escaped the police the general public were on high alert and after he went into a store to buy something to eat two women in the shop instantly recognized him as he scanned the shop he realized why on the newspaper stand his face was there on every front page he finally realized there was no escape and even before he had left the shop the owner had called the police richard ran as the sirens echoed around him he jumped on a bus but again was recognized by the passengers he jumped off the bus and looked for a car to steal he spotted a woman sat in her car she was waiting for a boyfriend who had just gone in to buy coffee richard grabbed the woman and tried to pull her out of the car but she wasn't giving up without a fight and as she screamed for help her boyfriend arrived followed by another man who recognized richard as the night stalker richard ran for his life as the two men pursued him but after leaping over several fences and attempting two more carjackings he eventually found himself in a tough neighborhood where the residents were not about to let him escape rich had desperately tried to steal another car from a lady but her wife manuel and her neighbours descended on him manuel grabbed an iron bar and slammed it across the back of richard's head as he sat in the car richard got out of the car and ran pursued by several residents armed with bats and clubs eventually manuel caught up with him and hit him again with the bar this time ramirez went down and as he sat bleeding on the sidewalk the police started to arrive first on the scene was deputy sheriff andre ramirez he instantly recognized the man as the night stalker and quickly frisked him and handcuffed him before calling an ambulance the night stalker's reign of terror was over but his story was not shortly after his arrest richard started ranting about satan and he continually asked for a gun to shoot himself he said he should be dead and admitted he was the night stalker however as soon as he realized what he was saying was being written down he stopped speaking detectives were hoping that richard would repeat the claims as they started interviewing him but although richard would speak freely about his life as soon as they spoke about the murders he would climb up they were desperately hoping he would confess to his crimes and plead guilty to spare the relatives of the dead and the survivors having to relieve their ordeals in court when news got out to the ramirez family about richard's arrest and the crimes he'd been accused of they were devastated and were convinced there had been a huge mistake richard's sister ruth and his ex-girlfriend nancy traveled to alley to visit ramirez in jail and spoke to him through a phone and glass screen he cried when he saw his sister he told her he wasn't the night stalker but everyone thought he was and they'd made him a scapegoat so he was going to plead guilty as he'd never get a fair trial ruth urged him to fight the charges if they weren't true and she and the rest of the family would support him on september 3rd 1985 ramirez made his first court appearance the room was packed with reporters police and the public all wanting to capture glimpse of the nightstalker as well as a varied assortment of women who seemed to be fascinated with richard and found him extremely attractive at this first appearance just eight charges were read out and no bail was asked for although richard was warned that there may be many more charges being drawn up that would be heard at a later date the crowds that gathered inside and outside of the courtroom made richard realize what hot property he had become and after the appearance he started receiving stacks of letters from female admirers telling him they loved him and were convinced of his innocence and would do anything to help richard thrived on the attention and started to believe people related to him and thought he was a cool guy he also decided that next time he was in court he would play up to the camera and take control of the situation he was in richard was however determined to plead guilty despite pleas for his family not to and his sister in particular looked for lawyers she felt would give him a fair chance at trial eventually her dogged determination paid off after richard sacked two of his previous lawyers and finally settled on two very inexperienced lawyers ruth had found they were arturo and daniel hernandez who convinced richard and his family they could win the case so to the shock of the courtroom on october 24th 1985 after he made a very angry appearance in the dark flashing his pentagon tattoo and shouting hail satan to the gallery he appeared with his newly instated lawyers and pleaded not guilty to all charges after the preliminary hearings that followed richard was charged with a total of 58 offenses and pleaded not guilty to all of them the hernandez constantly delayed the trial date believing that was the best chance they had of being able to defend their client and it wasn't until july 21st 1988 that the jury selection began this took six months and they were not sworn in until january the 10th 1989 nearly three and a half years after richard's arrest by now he had an adoring following of groupies who regularly attended court appearances in support of the man who became the object of their dreams it was hard to believe they found richard so attractive considering the grotesque things that he had been charged with but in some twisted way they did richard would receive daily letters from his female followers often heavily centered and very suggestive many of them were fellow satanists who related to his twisted beliefs he also had regular visits from these women who declared their love to him however there was one woman in particular who didn't visit him but wrote to him regularly her name was doreen leoy a little-known journalist who regularly defended richard in the press often sending scathing letters to anyone she felt was treating him unfairly when richard realized just how strongly she believed in him and how much time she was devoted to his he called her and invited her to visit him in jail doreen was ecstatic and dressed up as if she was going on a first date and when she got close to him she almost fainted she later described him as nice and sweet like a little boy and on their first meeting she told him she was in love with him he said the same back richard finally realized he had met someone he could really trust no one had ever protected and cared for him like doreen when the trial started doreen dutifully sat in the courtroom alongside all the other women who had declared their love for richard and listened intently to the harrowing account of his vicious attacks dorian was completely devoted to richard anything he wanted she got for him she would turn up to jail at the crack of dawn for a visit to make sure none of his other admirers got in first she gave him money and bought him books writing paper and stamps she was completely smitten and dreamed of marrying him and was prepared to sacrifice everything for him but she was the most unlikely prison mole she came from a conservative background and never been in trouble in her life or had a serious boyfriend before she had always been more interested in studying and work than romance but now she believed she had found true love doreen sat through some of the most heinous details of richard's crimes and she was one of the few of his female admirers that turned up to both morning and afternoon sessions and despite the charges against him and the grisly details and photographs shown to the court her devotion to him remained unwavering richard trusted her and liked her purity and the fact she never saw smoke or drank and was a virgin although all these things made it more unbelievable that she would fall for satan worshiping richard but she did and she believed she was the only woman that really cared for richard and all the others were just looking for attention such was ramirez's appeal to women that on valentine's day he received hundreds of valentine's cards and even one of the alternate jurors a lady called cynthia haldon who had become spellbound by richard baked him a cupcake with i love you written on it that a bailiff handed to him in court as proceedings went on cynthia became more and more enthralled with him and the pair often engaged glances after yet another jury member was dismissed at the request of richard cynthia haldon was sworn in as juror number one this was good news for richard and his defence team as they had sensed the fascination cynthia had with him and felt sure she would not find him guilty in mid 1987 richard found himself in a cell next to the actor sean penn who had been sentenced 33 days in prison for punching a photographer at the time he was married to madonna and allegedly when she visited and saw ramirez she asked penn who that good-looking guy was richard also asked pen for his autograph and he obliged and wrote the following dear richard it's impossible to be incarcerated and not feel a kinship with your fellow inmates while richard i've done the impossible i feel absolutely no kinship with you sean penn richard wrote back dear sean stay in touch and hit him again richard ramirez 666. when pen was released he also revealed richard had photos of his victims in his cell that he stuck on the wall with toothpaste as the trial progressed it was clear the inexperience of the hernandez's was beginning to show and richard's defence team was falling apart in 1989 at the request of the judge attorney ray clark took over to try and salvage the mess that hernandez's had left but despite his best efforts it was too late on july 26 1989 after listening to months of some of the most harrowing evidence ever heard in a u.s court the jury entered the jury room to begin their deliberations however on august 14th jury cypherless singletary didn't turn up and without her deliberations couldn't continue news soon filtered through that cynthia had been murdered and the jurors started to worry that one of richard's groupie followers had gotten to her and they too were now in danger and wondering who would be next it later transpired that phyllis had been shot by a violent boyfriend james c melton he later shot himself with the same gun indirectly richard was responsible for this death as well as phyllis and her boyfriend had an explosive row about richard with phyllis saying she felt sorry for him something melton strongly disagreed with finally at 10 50 a.m on september 20th 1989 over four years after the nightstalker's arrest the jury announced that they had reached a unanimous decision everyone involved gathered in the pact courtroom all except richard ramirez who refused to attend richard was convicted of all charges 13 counts of murder 5 attempted murder 11 sexual assaults and 14 burglaries on hearing the verdicts doreen stood up weeping and fled the courtroom sentencing was deferred until november the 7th rich's attorney wanted him to put up some sort of defense to avoid the death penalty but richard wouldn't hear of it he told them dying didn't scare him and there was no way he was going to beg for his life richard also refused to take the stand although he did attend the hearing and glared menacingly at the jurors who had convicted him ray clark tried in vain to try and spare richard's life but it was pointless the jury had decided to ask for the death penalty on every count of murder as well as six assaults together with six years imprisonment for each of the other 33 charges on the day the sentence was passed the judge asked mr clark if he wished to speak he said no but richard did richard stood in the dark clad in jail has blues and wearing dark sunglasses he'd refused to change and throughout the hour-long sentencing hearing he rocked back and forth on his chair and frequently turned to grin of the audience when it was his turn to speak he removed a piece of paper from his jacket and read out this statement to the court 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 legions of the night my degree repeat not the ears of my father and show no mercy i will be avenged lucifer blasts within us all after sentencing the victims read out impact statements detailing the terrible effect the knights attacks had on their lives as they wept uncontrollably richard ramirez stood in the dark as arrogant as ever his every move being watched by his admirers then with tears in his eyes the judge signed the death warrants and ordered rich should be taken to san quentin prison to await execution by electric chair as he was led away richard responded to the correspondent saying big deal that's always going with the territory i'll see you in disneyland [Music] at the time the trial was the most expensive ever in california history costing 1.8 million dollars it wasn't surpassed until 1994 with the trial of o.j simpson doreen hadn't been in court when ramirez was sentenced to death and when she heard it on tv she was devastated and made her way over to the jail to visit richard to console him as soon as she saw him she urged him to appeal but he refused in the days following his sentencing richard was interviewed by the detectives who worked on the case and he revealed intimate details about his crimes in life shortly after these meetings richard was sent to san quentin's death row in an odd twist that followed the sentencing one of the jurors cindy hayden who had become infatuated with ramirez started corresponding with him by letter she had felt immense guilt at finding him guilty and sentencing him to death and later admitted that she had fallen in love with him cindy began to visit ramirez and the two declared their love for each other doreen was also still a frequent visitor as were the many groupies who had become obsessed with him richard had never had so much female attention in his life and he was thriving on it the fact that richard had now been convicted of some of the most heinous crimes ever committed in the us didn't seem to diminish their interest in him remarkably despite the overwhelming evidence richard's family still believed he was innocent and regularly visited him and urged him to appeal richard was capped at san quentin for a few months and in february 1990 he was moved to san francisco county jail richard was still getting a stream of female visitors and cindy hayden and doreen visited every chance they got both women as well as other groupies competed for rich's attention scouting at each other whenever their paths met cindy even brought to her parents to meet richard on one occasion she also talked with many newspapers and tv reporters that would listen to let the world know that she thought richard had an improper counsel and his convictions should be overturned these were quite extraordinary statements from a member of the jury that had convicted him cindy even persuaded the san francisco public defenders representing richard to allow her to go with him when he visited his client cindy later claimed she was left alone with richard and they had intimate physical contact however it was still dream that richard trusted the most and she acted as richard's personal secretary passing messages to his lawyers and family and helping him with his letters doreen also regularly put money in his commissionery account despite her family all but cut in contact with her nothing seemed to dent her obsessive feelings for him and when richard asked her to marry him she readily accepted his proposal during richard's incarceration at san francisco his father julian died the strain of the trial and his son's conviction had left him a broken man and he died of bone cancer in the spring of 1991. a couple of years after julian's death it was decided that richard should be moved back to san quentin his female visitors were becoming a problem and in september 1993 he was back on san quentin's death row where his visits were much more limited although this didn't stop doreen on october the 3rd 1996 richard and doreen finally got married in the prison and for many years doreen declared that she would commit suicide if her husband was executed shortly after their marriage doreen told cnn report that she always believed richard was innocent and said that he's kind he's funny he's charming i think he's really a great person he's my best friend he's my buddy she also claimed that her family had disowned her because of the marriage and that being married to a death row inmate was a lonely lifestyle but it appears all that changed in 2010 when years after richard's original conviction he was also linked to the 1984 rape and murder of nine-year-old me luang in tenderloin san francisco dna evidence not available at the time of his convictions later tied him to the rape and murder of the little girl whose body was found hanging over a pipe in the basement of her apartment building her murder was more than two months before ramirez's first known murder it's widely believed that this new information convinced doreen her husband was the night's talker after all and she slowly distanced herself from the man she adored although it's not beliefs they ever divorced despite his earlier refusal ramirez did eventually appeal his convictions and death sentence but due to california's lengthy appeals process his first round of state appeals weren't concluded until 2006. these were unsuccessful and his convictions and death sentence was upheld and he was also denied a request for a rehearing richard remained on death row for 23 years until he died on june the 7th 2013 however his death was not as expected by electric chair he never made it that far instead richard died of complications of b-cell lymphoma and in the years before his eventual death he paid the price for his chronic substance abuse and suffered from hepatitis c richard was 53 years old when he died in marin general hospital in california at the time of his death richard still had appealings pending although the adoring visitors he had enjoyed after his conviction had long since stopped and in the last years of his life it was reported he had no visitors when he died no one claimed his body and it was cremated a fitting end to one of the world's worst ever serial killers who without a doubt murdered and assaulted many more than he was actually convicted of perhaps one of the most disturbing things about richard ramirez was he was completely sane and showed no remorse he genuinely believed what he did was satan's will and if he hadn't been caught he would have carried on his insatiable murderous reign for many years equally disturbing is that even after his conviction he was still adored by so many women some of whom claimed they had the same twisted beliefs as him but possibly even more baffling was the two highly intelligent women who somehow became infatuated with him despite knowing the full horrors of what he did it is unquestionably a relief to us all that richard ramirez is now dead and can no longer harm anyone but what is disturbing is those that essentially worshipped him and believed in his satanic cause are still very much alive

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Length: 69min 49sec (4189 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 07 2021