 - LOS ANGELES, California: It all began the early morning of June 28, 1984, in the small suburban community of Glassel Park. It wasn't designed to be what it became: the first in a series of murders of escalating brutality that threw the entire Los Angeles area into complete panic. It was a burglary, but the burglar, strung out on cocaine and secure in the belief that Satan would protect him, was a time bomb ready to explode.
- He parked his car down the street and walked to the
- two-story apartment building. For no particular reason, he selected the home of seventy-nine-year-old Jennie Vincow. It was such a warm night that she had the window of her first floor apartment open. The gloved hands carefully removed the screen and opened the window wider. Quiet as a cat, he got into the apartment and moved toward the bedroom.
- Soundlessly, he looked through the drawers, but found
- nothing that he could turn into cash for drugs or sex. He was furious that the old woman had nothing of value for him to steal. He would take something anyway, something very precious to Jennie -- her life. The thought of it excited him, so he took out his hunting knife and plunged it into the breast of the sleeping woman.
- She screamed and tried to fight him off, but he kept
- stabbing her. Finally, with one hand over her mouth, he slit her throat from ear to ear, nearly decapitating her. He was so energized by the thrill that he stabbed her three more times in the chest.
- Richard Ramirez was born February 29, 1960, to Julian and
- Mercedes Ramirez, two hard working Mexican immigrants. He was their fifth and last child with three brothers and a sister who preceded him. Initially, the family settled in El Paso where Julian had a job laying track for the Santa Fe Railroad. Mercedes had a job at the Tony Lama boot factory where she mixed chemicals and pigments for the boot leather.
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Mercedes was carrying Richard while she worked at the boot factory, but had to quit in her fifth month of pregnancy. The fumes from the pigments and poor ventilation made her weak, light-headed and nauseous. While Richard was not planned, he was adored as the baby of the family. His older sister Ruth, who frequently took care of him, was devoted to him.
Julian and Mercedes had very high hopes for their children and constantly sacrificed to provide a good home for them. Their oldest son Joseph had been plagued from childhood by poor health and serious orthopedic problems that were believed to have resulted from his parents' exposure to nuclear fallout and radioactivity from New Mexico. With their limited resources, they paid for fifteen operations to help Joseph try to lead a normal life. Two other boys, Ruben and Robert, had learning disabilities and behavioral problems in school.
It looked as though Richard, the baby, might escape some of the difficulties his older brothers had experienced: "Richard continued to be Ruth's personal doll. For hours she'd play house with him like he was her child, talking to him softly in both English and Spanish. Richard was a good baby, didn't cry much, and ate and slept well. He was particularly good looking, with a well-formed face and big, round, long-lashed eyes....Richard loved music." (Philip Carlo)
Life was not easy in the Ramirez family, but they all worked hard to make ends meet. Julian and Mercedes loved their children and provided for them to the best of their ability. The boys, who were rebellious natured and hot-tempered like their father, could have benefited from more supervision, but Julian had to travel to lay track for the railroad and was away from home frequently.
Ruben and Robert started to get into trouble with the law. They were sniffing glue, stealing cars, burglarizing homes and hanging around with the wrong kids. Julian flew into a rage. He was so ashamed that his boys had become so wild. The boys were punished, but it didn't do any good.
 When Richard was in the fifth grade, the family realized that he was epileptic. Sometimes he would have grand mal seizures and other times he would just stare off into space as he experienced petite mal seizures. The doctors told Mercedes that he would grow out of it and eventually he did. Up to the age of thirteen, Richard did comparatively well in school with better than average grades. In the seventh grade, things started to go downhill.
According to his sister, when Richard was arbitrarily thrown off the football team, his pride was very hurt. Richard had been very proud of being a good quarterback and felt it was very unfair of the coach to drop him from the team because he had an occasional blackout from the epilepsy.
Shortly afterwards when he was twelve, Richard found a new mentor, one that would heavily influence his behavior. His cousin Mike had been a Green Beret in Vietnam and had returned from two tours of duty with four medals on his chest. He also brought with him a Polaroid odyssey of rape, torture and mutilation that made a huge impression on young Richard.
This highly successful killer and sadist took Richard under his wing and taught him how to kill and fight. Mike's wife Jessie was alarmed at what Mike had become during the war. She didn't need a husband who did nothing but brag about his wartime brutalities and sexual conquests, smoke pot and hang around with Richard.
Disagreements between the two became more and more heated and one day, in front of Richard, Mike shot his wife in the face. Mike went to trial for the murder, but plead temporary insanity. With his impressive war record, Mike was dealt with leniently and was committed to a mental hospital.
Mike's influence on Richard was indelible. His interest in school had vanished and all the thirteen-year-old boy cared about was getting high on pot. He went to Los Angeles to live for the summer with his brother Ruben who was a heroin addict and a burglar. There was only one objective now -- stealing money to get high.
When he went back to El Paso, the clashes with his father became more prevalent. Julian was heartbroken to see his youngest son going down the wrong path. Richard saw his father as a tyrant. Both of them, like all of the Ramirez men, had terrible, explosive tempers. Eventually, he moved in with his sister Ruth and her husband Roberto.
The problem with Roberto was that he was over-sexed. Roberto and Richard would entertain themselves at night by going to selected homes in the neighborhood and peeping in the windows at unsuspecting women as they undressed.
Richard had always been somewhat hyperactive and required very little rest. "My brother never slept," Ruth said. "He was up all night all the time. He was one of those people who functioned with only a few hours of sleep."
During this period of his life, Richard started taking LSD and other hallucinogenic drugs. At the same time, he started imagining that he was becoming one with Satan. He saw himself as a disciple of Satan.
While he was in high school, he got a job with a hotel and had access to a master key. He began breaking into the rooms while the guests were sleeping so that he could steal their valuables. He was careful enough so that no one connected the occasional thefts with his access to the passkey.
He became obsessed with the beautiful women in the hotel. Often, he would sneak into the room and hide behind the heavy curtains so that he could watch them undress. He fantasized about sex with these women until his fantasies erupted into an assault.
He went into the woman's room, surprised her from behind, tied her up and proceeded to rape her when her husband came into the room and knocked Richard to the ground. He gave Richard a well deserved beating and turned him over to the police. Richard's parents were in denial. There was no way that their baby Richie could have assaulted that woman. Richard convinced his family that the woman had lured him to have sex and her husband simply came back unexpectedly.
Richard was only fifteen and the judge was lenient. He got away without any probation. Even his parents believed his story.
Cousin Mike got out of the mental hospital at the end of 1977 and started hanging around with Richard again. By that time, Richard had become a very effective burglar and thief. From Mike he learned survival tactics and how to be tough. Aside from his cousin, he saw himself as a loner in a hostile unfair world.
When Richard turned eighteen in 1978, he left his home in El Paso and headed for Los Angeles. His only interests were drugs, sexual fantasies and the heavy metal music which he listened to continuously. Philip Carlo describes the dangerous young man that he had become: "He was drawn to musical groups whose rhythms were hard-driving and whose lyrics had something to do with his innermost thoughts on religion and sex. He no longer believed in the Catholic Church....Intense sadistic sexual images filled Richard's head...For such thoughts, Jesus Christ, he knew, would scorn him and make sure he went to hell and stayed there forever...Unlike Jesus, Satan would not scorn him, but embrace him and give him solace, protection and understanding."
Once in Los Angeles, Richard initially stayed with his brother Ruben until the two of them had a falling out over Ruben's wife. Richard became a cocaine addict and supported himself by burglary. When he was stealing to support his habit, he sat around fantasizing about sadistic sexual relationships. He had no normal relationships with women. The only sex he had was with prostitutes.
Eventually, Richard started substituting P.C.P or "angel dust" for cocaine. It did nothing but deepen his aggressive and psychotic episodes. One day, he vented his aggression on another addict. He tied her up, ripped off her clothes and raped her several times, thrilled by his power over her. It was a profound moment in his fantasy life and he hungered for more.
At this time, Richard started reading about Anton LaVey, the founder of the Church of Satan in San Francisco. He felt compelled to join their rituals, but eventually shunned the organized cult and preferred to be what he termed a "lone practitioner." This belief in Satan was not just a whimsy, but a deep-seated belief in the power of Lucifer to protect and empower his disciples.
He tried to explain it to his sister when she visited him in L.A. and was alarmed at the changes in him. "Why Satan, Richie?" she wanted to know. "Because Satan represents what I feel. I'm not like other people. I'm different...I've got a trade. I'm a thief, Ruth...and a good one...I'm not going to any jail. I'm protected."
At the end of August, Richard was buying some coffee at a liquor store. He became aware of a couple of elderly Mexican women pointing at him. "El Matador," he heard one say -- "the killer."
Then he saw his face in the newspaper and ran out of the store, but the store owner had notified the police and cruisers were arriving from every direction. Everywhere he went, people recognized him immediately.
He tried to pull a woman out of her car, but was stopped by Carmello Robles and Arthur Benavedes. Richard jumped a fence and landed in the backyard of Luis Munoz who was grilling meat. Luis hit Richard and Richard went over the fence again. This time into the yard of Faustino Pinon, whose daughter's car was sitting in the driveway with the engine running. "Get away, I'm taking the car. I have a gun and I'll kill you!" Faustino grabbed Richard by the neck. "You are not taking this car." He grabbed the wheel of the car and steered it into the chimney.
Richard ran off and tried to take the car of Angela De La Torre, whose car was parked in front of her home. She saw him running at her and recognized him from the newspapers. When she refused to give him her keys, he punched her in the stomach. "El Matador!" she screamed.
Her husband Manuel heard her screams and understood immediately what was happening. He picked up a metal bar from his front gate, opened the door to the car and whacked Richard on the head. Richard escaped from the car and ran up the street with Manuel and others chasing him.
Manuel struck out at Richard again and missed, but the next time he was dead on and Richard went down. They held him there until the sheriff's deputies and LAPD arrived. The Night Stalker had been captured by the Mexican community.
 Later, when he they put him in jail, Richard said to Sgt. George Thomas: "I want the electric chair. They should have shot me on the street. I did it, you know. You guys got me -- the Night Stalker. Hey, let me have a gun to play Russian roulette. I'd rather die than spend the rest of my life in prison."
Salerno and Carrillo were exceptionally relieved to have Richard in custody, but then another break came their way. Richard's leather bag had been found at the bus terminal. Inside were the special .25-caliber shells that he had used on several of his victims.
The jury began deliberations on July 26, but had been interrupted when one of the jurors had been murdered by her boyfriend. They reached a unanimous decision on September 20: Richard Ramirez was guilty on every one of the forty-six counts. On October 3, they had voted for the death penalty.
On the day of sentencing, Richard insisted reading a statement he had prepared. His voice was loud and angry: "You don't understand me. You are not expected to. You are not capable. I am beyond your experience. I am beyond good and evil. I will be avenged. Lucifer dwells in all of us...I don't believe in the hypocritical, moralistic dogma of this so-called civilized society....You maggots make me sick! Hypocrites one and all...I don't need to hear all of society's rationalizations. I've heard them all before...legions of the night, night breed, repeat not the errors of the night prowler and show no mercy."
Judge Tynan responded by giving Richard the death sentence nineteen times.
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