The Night Stalker: The Tale of Richard Ramirez
Satanism is a cult practice that has been practiced around North America for quite a long time. The typical concept that there exists positive and negative energy to balance the universe is the same principle behind Satanism. If there exists an Angel, there exists Satan too. The belief and practice where one worships Satan and gives him an offering of Human corpses or animal corpses is Satanism.
Richard Ramirez was one such person who believed in this cult practice and went on to commit a horrific crime spree which was so intense that even while assigning the sentence, the judge stated his acts to be cruel, callousness, viciousness, and beyond any human understanding!
Ramirez was a nightmare. He was given names such as Valley Intruder, Walk-in killer, and Night stalker. He was born to Mexican immigrants who settled in America. He became a serial killer, rapist, kidnapper, burglar, and child molester.
Being convicted for 13 counts of murder, 5 counts of attempted murder, 11 counts of sexual assaults, and 14 counts of burglary and had victimized more than nineteen people.
Early Life of Richard Ramirez
Richard was the youngest among his five siblings. On his 12th birthday, his cousin who was a Vietnam war veteran showed him a few pictures portraying Vietnamese women he had allegedly raped, tortured, and killed. A few weeks after this incident he witnessed the same cousin kill his wife with one deadly shot on her head.
Richard started to commit petty crimes which soon developed into huge burglaries. He managed to escape every time. However, he was caught once while trying to steal a car.
Criminal Period of Richard Ramirez
Richard was an active criminal for a period of one year starting from 10th April 1984, to 24th August 1985. His first known murder was in June 1984 where he raped and stabbed a 72-year-old widow to death while trying to break into the jewelry room.
Most of the cases thereafter were always followed by him stealing things from the house of his victims. He raped the women and strangled and shot some of the men.
It was extremely difficult for the police to find him. All of his crime scenes had the Satanic symbol. On one such crime scene, he accidentally left his fingerprint which allowed the police to link him with the crimes.
Six days after his last crime i.e., on 30th August 1985, his name and photograph were released in the public. A few weeks later he was captured by the public in Los Angeles and was handed over to the police.
Modus Operandi of His Crimes
Richard did not follow any sort of extreme systematic planned serial killing procedures which psychopaths are expected to have. His main goal was to steal and being a first-class burglar he would break into the house. Then he would proceed to kill the residents of the house either by shooting, strangling, stabbing, or with whatever source he could get access to.
If there were women he would spare them until he could rape them post the death of men. Age was never a consideration for him. He raped women of all ages, be it a kid of twelve years to old-aged women of up to 72 years.
Post Arrest and Trial
Throughout the court proceedings, he would describe himself to be a true Satanist. He kept drawing a pentagram on his palm denoting the Satan symbol.
The trial of Richard began in early 1989. By September he was convicted for thirteen murders and other crimes. Two months later he was sentenced to death.
However, Richard never expressed any sort of remorse for his actions. After receiving the sentence he had stated that ”Big deal, Death always went with the territory”.
While on death row at San Quentin State Prison Richard was diagnosed with B cell Lymphoma aka white blood cell cancer. He died in 2013.
