Richard Ramirez

Richard Ramirez, also known as “The Night Stalker” or “The Valley Intruder” terrorized the greater Los Angeles area in the mid-1980s. He was a serial rapist, killer, burglar, and self-described Satanist. The man spent a year breaking into people’s homes, robbing them, then raping and mutilating – often after he had already killed them. Despite the countless murders and sexual assaults that he committed, not once did Ramirez ever show a hint of remorse or fear of the consequences of his actions. When he was finally sentenced, his demeanor did not change and he, along with his cult-like followers simply smirked and laughed. His killings were seemingly random – he killed men, women, and children of all ethnicities and races. He did not kill to prove a point or to make a statement; he killed simply because it gave him pleasure, made him feel powerful and dominant. He wanted to watch the world burn knowing he was the one to cause it. He taunted the police and deliberately left clues behind, laughing at their inability to link him to the crimes. He was arrogant, but in the end he was taken into custody; when that happened, the world breathed a sigh of relief. The mad-man known as the Night Stalker was no longer a threat. It is unclear where Ramirez picked up his sociopathic tendencies – or if he always had them – but regardless, Richard Ramirez was responsible for over forty-three combined counts of murder, attempted murder, sexual assault, and burglary in the end. He was doubtlessly one of the United States’ most infamous serial killers, and still is today.

Richard Ramirez was born in El Paso, Texas as Ricardo Leyva Muñoz Ramírez on February 28, 1960. At the age of eighteen, he and his family moved to Southern CaliforniaReports of his ...

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...“big deal” and that “Death always came with the territory.” However, he did not undergo execution as he instead died of B-cell Lymphoma at the age of fifty-three on June 7th, 2013 – while waiting on death row.

Richard Ramirez was a sociopath worthy of a B-grade horror film. I used to listen to my parents’ stories of what life was like during The Night Stalker’s rampage – and it all felt very unreal. The idea that someone could commit such crimes and find pleasure from it is confounding. I cannot say that I understand why he did it or how he found the desire to do it. Even after writing this, reading his letters, looking at pictures of the crime scenes, or staring at his frozen smirk on the screen of my computer – I cannot say that I understand. The enormity of his crimes disgusts me and it only further motivates me to try to help put people such as him behind bars.