The following article includes discussions of sexual assault.
Of all the serial killers operating in America, Richard Ramirez is one of the most notorious. The murderer earned himself the title “The Night Stalker” for his brief time of operation.
But however brief it was compared to other killers with long cooling-off periods, his viciousness was incomparable. He earned his reputation because of his cold-blooded lack of remorse upon capture. Ramirez was born into an immigrant family in El Paso, Texas, one of five children. He ran the risk of birth defects like his siblings because his mother worked in a factory during her pregnancy, where she was exposed to hazardous materials.
Though Ramirez did not have defects upon birth, his upbringing was chaotic nonetheless. At age five, he was hit in the head with a swing, and became one of the many future serial killers with a head injury. In addition to epileptic seizures, he was also prone to interests leading into the extreme. When he was an adolescent, his cousin returned from Vietnam and showed him violent pictures of women getting tortured. Many experts theorize this is where his obsession with death began. This occurrence was followed by Ramirez witnessing his cousin kill his wife at only age of 13. After moving to California, Ramirez started a career in burglary, which quickly graduated to aggravated murder.
How many people did The Night Stalker kill?
Ramirez’s true crime career in California started to escalate quickly. He earned the name “The Night Stalker” because he would sneak into victims’ homes before sexually assaulting and killing them. His first official victim was 79-year-old Jennie Vincow in 1984, and he would go on to kill at least 13 more times before eventually getting caught. These 14 murders are the ones that he has been officially connected with. The others he left alive caught the attention of the police, who created a sketch of his likeness.
This sketch is eventually what would lead to Ramirez being caught. On August 31, 1985, he spotted his police sketch posted, and tried to rob a bystander. This led to a chase through Boyle Heights, a traditionally working-class and predominantly Latinx East Los Angeles neighborhood, where Angelenos recognized, pursued and apprehended Ramirez, and started to beat him until police arrived. His ultimate capture was a sensational part of the case, and added to the Satan-loving figure he portrayed. He has been portrayed many times in pop culture, because he is such a personification of senseless evil. From documentaries to Ti West’s upcoming horror film MaXXXine, The Night Stalker still is one of the most heinous criminals in recent memory.
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