Richard Ramirez“The Night Stalker” – By: Jeremy Bieman

Ramirez’s Life Timeline:

Birth

Early Childhood

Teenage Years

Young Adult

Present Day

Quick Summary:Richard Ramirez, a. k. a. the “Night Stalker” began killing in April of 1984, and continued to murder helpless American men and women until the fall of 1985 Ramirez was a devote satanist, someone who worships the devilkilled 13 people, attempted to 5, raped 11, stole from 15Ramirez is currently on death row in California awaiting his execution.

SignificanceHow do criminals think?Why do they act as they do?What has led them to the choices they make?What can you do with them after they are caught?

Richard Ramirez’s Life:Julian and Mercedes Ramirez fostered five children, the fifth being Richard Ramirez. The mother was a Catholic, and his father was a former policeman who later became a laborer on the Santa Fe railroad. Richard and his siblings grew up in a very strict and religious household, including mass weekly. Their father was very abusive of the children for disciplinary measures.

By grade 9 Richard began to turn to drugs to deal with everything going on in his life. He began smoking weed daily and eventually turned to theft to finance his addiction. Richard took on the “Rock n’ Roll” lifestyle, and lived his life according to it. He loved bands such as AC/ DC.It was also in his teenage years that he began to become closer with his cousin, a Vietnam war veteran. They spent a lot of time together and he learned a lot from his cousin.

Mike, Ramirez’s cousin, showed him how to hunt, kill and use a knife. In Vietnam, Mike did some horrific things, killing innocent men, women, children, raping women and completely degrading them. He showed pictures and told Richard of all of these things.One day, Mike got fed up with his wife, and shot her in the head, right in front of Richard. Blood was splattered everywhere, and on young 15 year old Richard.

Then in his early twenties, Richard found faith. He began to study and become seriously involved in satanism. What started as an interest to him, grew into a devotion for the devil and his works. He claimed he was doing work for Lucifer as reasoning for his actions. He had a downward pentagon tattooed onto his left palm, showing his devotion.Richard believes that all people are evil, has stated that he is evil and says on earth we are meant to do evil acts.

A Life of Crimeafter witnessing his aunts death, Richard was changedhe turned to satanism for directionhe began to visualize murder, rape and crimeRichard’s killing began in 1984, with the murder of Vincent and Maxime Zazzara he broke in, shot Vincent in the head, then tortured, raped, kill, and mutilate his wifethis became his method of killing for the future

Richards Murders:June 28th, 1984 – Jennie Vincow, age 79March 17th, 1985 – Dayle Okazaki, age 34. In this incident he shot Angela Barrio outside her condo, she survived by blocking the bullet with her keys.March 17th, 1985 – Tsai-Lian Yu, age 30March 20th, 1984 – 8 year old girl from Eagle RockMarch 27th, 1984 – *Vincent & Maxime Zazarra, age 64, 44May 29th, 1984 – Malvial Keller, age 83. In this incident he beat her sister with a hammer, Blanche Wolfe, but she lived.

Crimes ContinuedMay 30th, 1985 – raped Ruth Wilson, age 41. Her son was locked in the closet, he let them both live.June 27th – Raped a 6 year old girlJune 28th – Patty Higgins, age 32July 2nd – Mary Cannon, age 75July 7th – Joyce Lucille Nelson, age 61. He attempted to rape Linda Fotruna age 63 but failed.July 20th – Maxson & Lela Kneiling, age 66 & 66

Crimes ContinuedJuly 20th – Chitat Assawahem, age 31. He then raped his wife and sodomized his son.August 6th – Shot Ahmed Zia, 35 & wife Suu Kyi, 28 in the head, both survivedAugust 24th – Bill Carnds, age 29. He raped his fiance, forced her to swear her love and devotion to the devil, tied her then left. She managed to catch a glimpse of the car.That night a teenager noticed the suspicious car driving around and took its license plate down.

The End of Ramirezthe stolen car was later located, but abandoned. His finger prints were on it and he was finally identified.an arrest warrant was publicized for Ramirez

and on August 30th, 1985 he attempted to steal a car but was recognized.an angry mob chased him down and beat

him until police arrived and arrested him.

Facts & ProsecutionRamirez was charged with 14 counts of murder, 5 attempted murders, 11 sexual assaults and 14 burglariesthe prosecution had little evidence, only consisting of one key witness who saw Ramirez’s car leaving one of the crime scenes, thus the case took years to completeUntil, Phil Halpin, surprised the defense by finalizing his charges with over 1000 witnesses, and thousands of pages of statements, reports and photographsThen the trial began.

Once the trial began, 1600 possible jurors were interviewed for the case, and a jury was chosen.In the opening statements of the prosecution, Phil stated that he had over 400 pieces of evidence including fingerprints, ballistics and shoe imprints.In jail, Ramirez was overheard calling himself a “super criminal” and saying “I love all that blood”.The shoe impressments linked Ramirez to multiple crime scenes as well as the vicinity of others.Over 100 witnesses were called to the stand to testify against Ramirez.On April 14th, 1988, the prosecution rested their case after 137 witnesses and 521 exhibits of evidence.

Defense

Evidence of the Case

Jury Decision.