![]() ![]() Later, after Ramirez raped another woman at her home (and shot her fiance), the victim provided a detailed description of her assailant, who had forced her to swear her love for Satan. First, he was spotted outside a Mission Viejo home, where he unwittingly left a footprint, before the witness took note of his car and license plate. Ramirez's actions on his final night of terror, on August 24, 1985, soon led to his capture. His unmistakable M.O., complete with Satanic symbolism, meant that the "Valley Intruder" moniker was no longer applicable the press quickly coined a new name, the "Night Stalker," as most of his assaults took place at night in his victims' homes. He journeyed north to San Francisco, where he took two more victims, Peter and Barbara Pan, on August 17. The relentless media and police pressure, aided with descriptions from his surviving victims, forced Ramirez to leave the L.A. The Los Angeles Police Department responded by putting together a dedicated task force, with the FBI stepping in to assist. Over the next few months, his murder rate escalated, claiming another dozen victims in a frenzy of burglary, assault and brutal violence, complete with Satanic rituals. In this case, Ramirez also gouged out Maxine Zazzara's eyes.Ī full-scale police operation yielded no concrete results, and Ramirez repeated his attack pattern on pensioners William and Lillie Doi in May 1985. Just 10 days later, on March 27, Ramirez murdered 64-year-old Vincent Zazzara and Zazzara's 44-year-old wife, Maxine, using an attack style that would become a pattern for the killer: The husband was shot first, then the wife was brutally assaulted and stabbed to death. ![]() Not satisfied with these assaults, he also shot and killed Tsai-Lian Yu the same evening, spurring a media frenzy that saw Ramirez dubbed the "Valley Intruder" by the press. On March 17, 1985, he attacked Maria Hernandez, who managed to escape, and then killed her roommate, Dayle Okazaki. Ramirez next struck nearly nine months later. What followed was a spree of brutal murders, rapes and robberies, leaving dozens of victims in its wake. Theft turned to violence with Ramirez's (then) first known murder on Jthe victim was 79-year-old Jennie Vincow, who was sexually assaulted, stabbed and killed during a burglary in her own home. He was arrested twice in the Los Angeles area for auto theft, in 1981 and again in 1984, and noticeably began to neglect his personal hygiene. He soon moved to California, progressing to cocaine addiction and burglary, and cultivating an interest in Satanism. At age 13, Ramirez witnessed his cousin murder his wife.ĭropping out of school in the ninth grade, Ramirez was arrested for the first time in 1977, for marijuana possession. The two smoked marijuana together as Miguel told Ramirez about the torture and mutilation he had inflicted on several Vietnamese women, corroborating these stories with photographic evidence. Known as Richard or Ricky, Ramirez reportedly sustained multiple head injuries at an early age after he was knocked unconscious by a swing at age 5, he began experiencing epileptic fits.Īs an adolescent, Ramirez was heavily influenced by his older cousin, Miguel, who had recently returned from fighting in the Vietnam War. Ramirez was born Ricardo Leyva Muñoz Ramírez on February 29, 1960, in El Paso, Texas, the fifth child of Mexican immigrants Mercedes and Julian Ramírez. He spent the remainder of his days at California's San Quentin Prison, before dying from cancer on June 7, 2013, at age 53. Apprehended in August 1985, Ramirez was sentenced to death at the conclusion of his trial in 1989. After developing epilepsy as a child, he became a heavy drug user and cultivated an interest in Satanism, which became a calling card for investigators at his crime scenes. ![]() Richard Ramirez was an American serial killer who killed at least 14 people and raped and tortured at least two dozen more, mostly during the spring and summer of 1985.
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