Richard Ramirez: A Look at Horrific Crimes of 'Satanic’ Serial Killer Dubbed the 'Night Stalker' and His Eventual Capture

By Rick Martin First Posted: Oct 25, 2022 10:05 AM EDT

Richard Ramirez, known as the "Night Stalker," is one of the most notorious serial killers in the United States.

His infamy grew as bodies piled up in California until he was caught by an angry mostly-Latino mob, who beat him up and handed him over to police.

Who is Richard Ramirez, the 'Night Stalker?'

Ricardo "Richard" Leyva Muñoz Ramirez was born in El Paso, Texas, on February 28, 1960. He was the son of Mercedes and Julian Ramirez.

The Night Stalker grew up as a troubled teen who was enamored by stories from his older cousin, Mike, who had returned home from the Vietnam War.

Mike was a bad influence on Ramirez. He would tell the 12-year-old Ramirez gruesome stories and show him pictures of the Vietnamese women he tortured, raped, and killed.

He also introduced drugs to Ramirez, and this resulted in Ramirez committing various petty crimes while he was young.

According to Crime Museum, Ramirez became rebellious and turned to Satanism. Because of this, he became alienated from his parents.

Ramirez dropped out of school and moved to Los Angeles, California, when he was 15. He then started burglarizing homes to fund his drug addiction.

At 24, Ramirez committed his first murder. His first victim was 79-year-old Jennie Vincow, who was sexually assaulted, stabbed, and killed inside her apartment in Glassell Park, Los Angeles, in June 1984.

The Night Stalker killed her in the most gruesome manner, stabbing her repeatedly in the head, neck, and chest and slitting her throat. Ramirez's subsequent attacks from June 1984 to August 1985 established his pattern of breaking into a home, attacking the victim inside, and leaving Satanic symbols like pentagrams.

He hunted his victims around the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas. According to The Wrap, Ramirez also worked up an appetite after his murders as he would also eat some snacks from his victims' food stocks. Police often found the victims' fridges raided in addition to the dead bodies he left inside the home.

Ramirez was not picky on race, as he attacked not only Caucasian victims but also Asians and other Latinos. He also raped his victims, though he would often first kill any man who was also inside the home.

Because of his style of breaking into a home, Richard Ramirez was first called the "Walk-in Killer." However, the name that ultimately stuck to the public was the one the now-defunct Los Angeles Herald Examiner used: "The Night Stalker."

Richard Ramirez: The Serial Killer's Arrest, Trial, and Death

Richard Ramirez's mugshot was released to the media to make sure everybody knew what he looked like. It happened after Ramirez broke into the home of Bill Carns and his fiancee, Inez Erickson, where he shot Carns three times in the head and raped Erickson.

The couple miraculously survived the injuries, and Erickson was later able to give a detailed description of the serial killer to police.

The Night Stalker was arrested at the end of the summer of 1985 after a group of elderly Mexican women spotted him and called him "El Matador," or "killer" after seeing his face in the newspapers.

Ramirez ran across the Santa Ana Freeway and tried to carjack a Ford Mustang. However, he was pulled out by an angry Latino resident named Faustino Pinon, forcing the serial killer to escape by foot.

He ran across the street and tried to take the car keys from a woman and told her he had a gun. That woman's husband then grabbed a pipe and beat the serial killer over the head before he ran again.

An angry mob of mostly Latinos then chased him down the street. They caught him and beat him up before the police intervened.

Ramirez had become one of the most high-profile serial killers in U.S. history at the time, and his trial caused a frenzy from the media and the Night Stalker's own "fans."

During his first court appearance, Ramirez showed a pentagram in his hand and yelled, "Hail Satan!" After a lengthy circus of a trial, Ramirez was found guilty of 13 counts of murder, five attempted murders, 11 sexual assaults, and 14 burglaries on September 20, 1989.

He was given the death penalty but acted nonchalantly about it, telling reporters, "Big deal. Death always went with the territory. See you in Disneyland."

Ramirez has drawn in several fans, many of whom wrote love letters to him while in prison, much like other rockstar serial killers like Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer. He eventually married one of them, Doreen Lioy, inside California's San Quentin State Prison.

While he was given the death sentence, Richard Ramirez did not receive his punishment of death via gas chamber. Instead, he died in 2013 due to lymphoma. He was 53, according to Esquire.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Who Was Richard Ramirez? | Night Stalker - From Netflix