67 Facts About Richard Ramirez

Richard Ramirez was convicted and sentenced to death in 1989.

Frequently abused by his father, Ramirez began developing gruesome and macabre interests in his early and mid-teens from his older cousin, Miguel Ramirez, who taught him some of the military skills that he would go on to use during his year-long killing spree.

Richard Ramirez cultivated a strong interest in Satanism and the occult.

Richard Ramirez's highly publicized home invasion and murder spree terrorized the residents of the Greater Los Angeles area and later the San Francisco Bay Area over the course of fourteen months.

However, his first known murder occurred as early as April 1984; this crime was not connected to Richard Ramirez, nor was it known to be his doing, until 2009.

Richard Ramirez used a wide variety of weapons and different murder methods, including handguns, various types of knives, a machete, a tire iron, and a claw hammer.

Richard Ramirez punched, pistol whipped, and strangled many of his victims, both with his hands and in one instance a ligature, stomped at least one victim to death in her sleep, and tortured another victim by shocking her with a live electrical cord.

Richard Ramirez frequently enjoyed degrading and humiliating his victims, especially those who survived his attacks or whom he explicitly decided not to kill, by forcing them to profess that they loved Satan, or telling them to "swear on Satan" that there were no more valuables left in their homes he had broken into and burglarized.

Richard Ramirez died on June 7,2013, of complications from B-cell lymphoma while awaiting execution on California's death row.

Richard Ramirez's father Julian, a Mexican national and former Ciudad Juarez policeman who later became a laborer on the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway, was an alcoholic who was prone to fits of anger that often resulted in physical abuse towards his wife and children.

Richard Ramirez began smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol at the age of 10.

Around this time, Richard Ramirez began to seek escape from his father's violent temper by sleeping in a local cemetery.

Richard Ramirez was present on May 4,1973, when Mike fatally shot his wife, Jessie, in the face with a handgun during a domestic argument.

Shortly after the shooting, Richard Ramirez moved in with his older sister, Ruth, and her husband, Roberto, an obsessive "peeping tom" who took Richard Ramirez along on his nocturnal exploits.

Richard Ramirez dropped out of Jefferson High School in the ninth grade.

Richard Ramirez lived nomadically between San Francisco and Los Angeles County during this time prior to his incarceration.

Richard Ramirez frequently traveled between the northern and southern areas of California both before and during his yearlong crime spree.

Leung was with her 8-year-old brother and looking for a lost one-dollar bill when Richard Ramirez approached the girl and told her to follow him into the basement to find it.

Richard Ramirez had been stabbed repeatedly in the head, neck, and chest while asleep in her bed, and her throat slashed so deeply that she was nearly decapitated.

Richard Ramirez's fingerprint was found on a mesh screen he removed to gain access through an open window.

This, Richard Ramirez's second known murder, established his pattern of breaking into homes, committing particularly vicious murders, and frequently burglarizing his victims either before or after killing them, which was mainly to support his cocaine addiction and pay his rent.

Richard Ramirez survived when the bullet ricocheted off the keys she held in her hands as she lifted them to protect herself.

Inside the house, her roommate, Dayle Yoshie Okazaki, age 34, heard the gunshot and ducked behind a counter when she saw Richard Ramirez enter the kitchen.

Richard Ramirez was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.

Zazzara's wife, Maxine Levenia Zazzara, age 44, was awakened by the gunshot, and Richard Ramirez beat her and bound her hands while demanding to know where her valuables were.

Richard Ramirez pulled the trigger just after he turned around and saw her.

Richard Ramirez mutilated her body by cutting an inverted cross into her chest, then removed her eyes with the knife and placed them in a jewelry box.

Richard Ramirez took the jewelry box with her eyes when he left and kept it at his apartment as a souvenir until his arrest.

Richard Ramirez left footprints from a pair of Avia sneakers in the flower beds, which the police photographed and cast.

On May 14,1985, Richard Ramirez returned to Monterey Park and entered the home of Bill Doi, age 66, and his disabled wife, Lillian, age 56.

The next day, Richard Ramirez drove the same car to Burbank, and sneaked into the home of Carol Kyle, age 42.

Richard Ramirez repeatedly ordered her not to look at him, telling her at one point that he would "cut her eyes out".

Richard Ramirez fled the scene after retrieving the child from the closet and binding the two together again with the handcuffs.

Richard Ramirez bludgeoned her into unconsciousness with a lamp and then stabbed her to death using a 10-inch butcher knife from her kitchen.

Richard Ramirez repeatedly stabbed Cannon's body after she was already dead.

On July 5,1985, Richard Ramirez broke into a home in Sierra Madre and bludgeoned 16-year-old Whitney Bennett with a tire iron as she slept in her bedroom.

Richard Ramirez stated that he was startled to see electrical sparks emanate from the cord, and when his victim began to breathe, he fled the house believing that Jesus Christ had intervened and saved her.

On July 7,1985, Richard Ramirez burglarized the home of Joyce Lucille Nelson, age 60, in Monterey Park.

On July 20,1985, Richard Ramirez purchased a machete before driving a stolen Toyota to Glendale, California.

Richard Ramirez chose the home of Lela Kneiding, age 66, and her husband Maxon, age 68.

Richard Ramirez further mutilated their bodies with the machete before robbing the house of valuables.

Richard Ramirez bound the couple's 8-year-old son before dragging Somkid around the house to reveal the location of any valuable items, which he stole.

Richard Ramirez then shot Chris in the neck and attempted to flee; Chris fought back while avoiding being hit by two more shots during the struggle before Ramirez managed to escape.

Richard Ramirez repeatedly demanded that she "swear on Satan" that she would not scream during his assaults.

Richard Ramirez, who had been following the media coverage of his crimes, left Los Angeles and headed to San Francisco.

At the crime scene, Richard Ramirez used lipstick to scrawl a pentagram and the phrase "Jack the Knife" on the bedroom wall.

Richard Ramirez again left a shoe print at the scene that detectives discovered and matched to a specific pair of Avia shoes that was not common at the time.

Richard Ramirez remained in the area for a few more days before heading back to the Los Angeles area.

Richard Ramirez entered the sleeping couple's bedroom and awakened Carns when he cocked his.

Richard Ramirez shot Carns three times in the head before turning his attention to Erickson.

Richard Ramirez told her that he was the "Night Stalker" and forced her to swear she loved Satan as he beat her with his fists and bound her with neckties from the closet.

Richard Ramirez then demanded cash and more jewelry, and made her "swear on Satan" there was no more.

The print was positively identified as belonging to Richard Ramirez, who was described as a 25-year-old drifter from Texas, with a long rap sheet that included many arrests for traffic and illegal drug violations.

The identification of Richard Ramirez's print was described as a "near miracle" as the system used to identify him was recently installed, as well as the fact that the system contained the fingerprints of criminals born after January 1,1960, only a month before Richard Ramirez was born.

Richard Ramirez's attacker had sodomized her, strangled her, and slashed her throat.

Richard Ramirez was charged with murder and burglary in relation to Higgins' murder.

Richard Ramirez walked past police officers, who were staking out the bus terminal in hopes of catching the killer should he attempt to flee on an outbound bus, and into a convenience store in East Los Angeles.

Richard Ramirez ran across the street and attempted to take car keys from Angelina De La Torre.

Police quickly arrived at the 3700 block of Hubbard and found that Richard Ramirez was severely beaten and unarmed and took him into custody.

The jury was terrified, wondering if Richard Ramirez had somehow directed this event from inside his prison cell, and whether or not he could reach other jurors.

However, it was ultimately determined that Richard Ramirez was not responsible for Singletary's death, as she was shot and killed by her boyfriend, who later committed suicide with the same weapon in a hotel.

In 1988, Richard Ramirez proposed to Lioy, and on October 3,1996, they were married in California's San Quentin State Prison.

Richard Ramirez had additional appeals pending until the time of his death.

Psychiatrist Michael H Stone describes Ramirez as a 'made' psychopath as opposed to a 'born' psychopath.

Richard Ramirez says that Ramirez's schizoid personality disorder contributed to his indifference to the suffering of his victims and his untreatability.

Richard Ramirez died of complications secondary to B-cell lymphoma at Marin General Hospital in Greenbrae, California, on June 7,2013.

Richard Ramirez had been affected by "chronic substance abuse and chronic hepatitis C viral infection".