Richard Ramirez brutally murdered at least 14 people in the 1980s — then died quietly of B-cell lymphoma while awaiting execution in 2013.
Los Angeles Herald Examiner Photo CollectionRichard Ramirez kick the bucket in 2013 , more than two decade after the serial killer was sentenced to end .
Richard Ramirez ’s death was suppose to happen in an execution bedchamber . The California sequential killer eff as the “ Night Stalker ” had been sentenced to death for his execution spree , which lasted between 1984 and 1985 . Ramirez ’s offence were roughshod , and many agreed he ’d more than earned his sentence . But that ’s not how Richard Ramirez die .
By 2013 , the year of his end , Ramirez had spend about half his life behind bars . He ’d been catch at the age of 25 in 1985 and then put on trial for a horrifying series of murders , rape , and violation across California . The Night Stalker was ultimately found guilty of 43 charge — 13 counts of execution , five counts of attempted murder , 11 intimate ravishment armorial bearing , and 14 burglary charges — and sentenced to die in the gas chamber .
Los Angeles Herald Examiner Photo CollectionRichard Ramirez died in 2013, more than two decades after the serial killer was sentenced to death.
But instead of go flat to his planned slaying , Ramirez fade on decease row for days as he render to appeal his sentence and the state struggled to take in the macabre , complicated facts of his slip . He lived batch of living while incarcerated — Ramirez even got married to a female admirer in 1996 — but he fall soberly inauspicious at the old age of 53 in 2013 .
Richard Ramirez was brought from San Quentin State Prison to Marin General Hospital for handling . There , he die on June 7 , 2013 from complications refer to B complex - cadre lymphoma , a type of blood genus Cancer .
This is the story of Richard Ramirez ’s destruction , from his final days to how his family and outlast victim reacted to his sudden demise .
Getty ImagesRichard Ramirez’s mug shot from an arrest in 1984, the same year when his killing spree began.
How The Night Stalker Terrorized California
yield on February 29 , 1960,Richard Ramirezgrew up in a volatile household in El Paso , Texas . Not only did Ramirez ’s Fatherhood supposedly pose him , but the young Ramirez also suffered multiple serious head injuries — including one from a toilet table diminish on him and one from getting gain by a swing — which conduct him to develop epileptic seizures by the age of five .
He was also greatly regulate by his first cousin , Miguel , who showed Ramirez pictorial photo of the cleaning woman he ’d outrage and tortured while serving in Vietnam . When Ramirez was 13 , he also find Miguel toss off his married woman .
Richard Ramirez ’s murder spree is trust to have set forth in April 1984 , when a nine - yr - old girl was find murdered in San Francisco ( DNA grounds did not link Ramirez to this law-breaking until 2009 , so this case was n’t part of his original test ) . From there , he escalated quickly . And , chillingly , he was far more unpredictable than otherCalifornia serial killers .
Los Angeles Herald Examiner Photo CollectionRichard Ramirez after his arrest in 1985.
Getty ImagesRichard Ramirez ’s mug shot from an arrest in 1984 , the same yr when his killing spree get .
He did n’t have just one case of victim : Ramirez drink down men and women , children and senior citizen , couples and people know alone . He did n’t have just one localisation that he used as his hunting reason : Ramirez kill victims in both northerly California and Southern California . And Ramirez did n’t stick to just one method of fire : He used guns , knives , or his own bestial strength to overcome people . He killed some victim , and assaulted others . Ramirez made some of his victims “ affirm to Satan ” and later postulate that they call him the “ Night Stalker . ” He even force out out one victim ’s eyes .
By August 1985 , law had gather good deal of evidence about the Night Stalker , include witness testimonies aboutRamirez ’s terrible teeth . at long last , Ramirez was pick up in Los Angeles after a vigilante mob recognize him . They get him and detained him until the police force arrived .
X (Formerly Twitter)Doreen Lioy with Richard Ramirez in an undated photo.
Los Angeles Herald Examiner Photo CollectionRichard Ramirez after his arrest in 1985 .
Ramirez was put on trial in 1989 , where he was finally found shamed on 43 counts . After a jury recommended that Ramirez be condemn to dying for his fearful crime , the serial killer breezily replied : “ Hey , big batch , last always come with the territory . I ’ll see you in Disneyland . ”
Of naturally , “ Disneyland ” was not where Richard Ramirez died .
San Quentin State Prison, California Department of Corrections and RehabilitationRichard Ramirez in 2007, six years before he died in 2013 at age 53.
Richard Ramirez’s Death: How The Serial Killer Died After Decades On Death Row
After his sentencing , Richard Ramirez was post to San Quentin State Prison , north of San Francisco . His time behind bars was eventful : He repeatedly tried to appeal his sentence and , in 1996 , he marrieda female admirernamedDoreen Lioy , a former editor forTiger Beatwho had become infatuated with the consecutive killer after seeing his mug shot .
X ( Formerly Twitter)Doreen Lioy with Richard Ramirez in an undated photo .
“ This is a feeling that began for me as long ago as that Friday , Aug. 30 , 1985 , the night before he was arrested and constabulary broke into the television show I was see to send his picture , ” she tell apart theLos Angeles Timesin 1996 . “ Looking back , I see it was a turning point for me . They showed his smiler shot in the middle ofDallas , and I visualise something in his eyes . Something that charm me . It was n’t as if I have a go at it him . But there was something in his optic … maybe the exposure , I do n’t really have intercourse . ”
Los Angeles Herald Examiner Photo CollectionRichard Ramirez reacted to his death sentence by saying: “Big deal.” Since he ultimately spent the rest of his life in prison, many of his surviving victims felt that he wasn’t properly punished for what he’d done.
However , Lioy ’s infatuation did n’t last constantly — the couple purportedly were not in striking at all during Ramirez ’s last class , possibly due to the 2009 deoxyribonucleic acid grounds that linked Ramirez to the murder of nine - year - honest-to-goodness Mei Leung . And when Ramirez fall ill in 2013 , Lioy was nowhere to be found .
In June of that year , Ramirez was brought from San Quentin to Marin General Hospital to be treated for liver nonstarter . As his postmortem later give away , Ramirez was ache from multiple wellness conditions , including chronic substance insult and hepatitis C. Ramirez was supposedly in such bad shape that a source after tell apart theNew York Postthat his skin had turned dark-green .
“ He looked like a green highlighter pen , ” the source said .
Though the Night Stalker had languished on death dustup for years , Richard Ramirez ’s death in the end did not take long . At 9:10 a.m. on June 7 , 2013 , Richard Ramirez die at the eld of 53 . Ramirez ’s suit of death was ultimately chalked up to complicatedness of atomic number 5 - cell lymphoma .
San Quentin State Prison , California Department of Corrections and RehabilitationRichard Ramirez in 2007 , six years before he died in 2013 at age 53 .
But for his subsist victim , and the loved I of the hoi polloi he killed , Richard Ramirez ’s death did not play much satisfaction or closing .
The Reactions To Richard Ramirez’s Death
In the backwash of Richard Ramirez ’s death , many of his surviving victims reacted to the news with ire about his macabre law-breaking .
“ It ’s about time , ” Bill Carns , who was allow for part paralyzed after Ramirez broke into his household in August 1985 , shoot him three time , and rap his girl , told theLos Angeles Timesafter Richard Ramirez ’s expiry . “ He should have been put to death an awful long time ago . ”
Carns , who had been an electrical locomotive engineer at the sentence of the onrush and was living off Social Security and disability payments by the time Richard Ramirez died , added : “ Sometimes I get demented and say , ‘ Why did this bump to me ? ’ affair were really start to happen for me , and thing got cut short . ”
Another surviving Ramirez victim , Sakina Abowath , expressed a similar mix of relief and gall . In August 1985 , Ramirez had bound and assaulted her and bump off her hubby while their two Son were at home .
Los Angeles Herald Examiner Photo CollectionRichard Ramirez reacted to his dying sentence by saying : “ Big deal . ” Since he at last spent the residuum of his biography in prison , many of his surviving victims felt that he was n’t properly punished for what he ’d done .
“ I ’ve been waiting for this newsworthiness for the long time , ” Abowath said , grant to theLos Angeles Daily News . “ I wish that they would have hanged him or they would have given him the electrical hot seat so he could find pain like he inflicted on us … I never forget . It ’s been exactly 28 years . ”
That said , some prosecutors argue that Richard Ramirez had been punish because of his lengthy imprisonment .
“ This someone hurt many people , and our thoughts should be with the next of kin and survivor of these senseless attacks , ” L.A. Deputy Dist . Atty . Alan Yochelson , who pursue Ramirez , told theLos Angeles Times . Though Ramirez had not been executed , Yochelson allege that “ some measure of justice has been achieved ” because Ramirez had been immure .
For Ramirez ’s kinfolk , the issue was more complex . His niece enjoin theLos Angeles Timesthat she feel “ benumbed , ” but hope “ a lot of people are at respite now . ” She also added , “ I do n’t consider what he did to anyone was ripe . ”
For their part , Ramirez ’s family reacted as any home might to a roll in the hay one ’s overtaking . They told theEl Paso Times : “ We are mourning the red of our son and brother , Richard Ramirez . The world judged him , whether jolly or below the belt , it no longer matters . He is now before the true judge , the judge that sees and knows all thing . We enquire that you respect our sorrow and grief . ”
After reading about the last of Richard Ramirez , get a line the story ofChristopher Scarver , the man who killed serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer in prison house . Or , divulge the history of some ofhistory ’s worst serial killers .
