Richard Ramirez - The Night Stalker

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Nurse Kristen Gilbert murdered four of her patients at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Massachusetts, and she suspected of killing dozens more. On Mind of a Monster, a podcast from I.D. Criminal psychologist Dr. Michelle Ward dives into Kristen Gilbert's twisted mind to try and find out why she killed her patients and how she was able to do it in front of her colleagues.

She speaks with detectives, journalists, nurses, and victims' families to unpack Gilbert's life and crimes on Ward C. Listen to Mind of a Monster, The Killer Nurse. wherever you get your podcasts. This call is being recorded. To accept the call, press 3. John Gate. If I found a body in your trunk, do I assume that you kidnapped him, tortured him, raped him, and threw him in the trunk?

Welcome to Killer's Vault. I'm Elizabeth Rome. Join Eric Roberts and me as we take you inside the brutal minds of the most prolific serial killers the world has ever known. Through never-before-seen or heard letters and phone calls between Rob Webb and Richie and Barbara Dickstein, these personal accounts of murder and mayhem will be unleashed for the first time as we open the Killer's Vault. Richard Ramirez, the night stalker.

On April 10th, 1984, one of California's most infamous serial killers began a bloody crusade of rape, torture, sodomy, dismemberment, and murder. Richard Ramirez, later known as the Night Stalker, raped, tortured, and murdered a nine-year-old girl named Mi Linda Luing in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco. She was found hanging from a water spigot in the basement of the dreary residential hotel she resided at with her family.

The little girl's battered, stabbed, and raped remains had been carefully posed in a ritualistic manner depicting crucifixion. Upon discovery, the shocked and horrified police had no clues or suspects, and the case eventually went cold. However, a 2009 DNA test revealed that Richard Ramirez was the child's killer. It took 25 years, but a 14th murder was attributed to him. The question remains How many more horrific rapes and murders did he get away with?

Ramirez, a drug-fueled, devil-worshiping psychopath, would continue terrorizing the residents of California for another 16 months and 14 days. In that short period of time, his unparalleled violence scorched earth from Los Angeles to San Francisco, California. In Ramirez's bloody wake, men were strangled, shot, bludgeoned, stabbed, or hacked to death.

Indiscriminate of age, women and children were murdered only after Ramirez had horrifically tortured, sodomized, and raped them. They were then stabbed. hacked up with a machete bludgeoned with pipes and hammers strangled and shot ramirez also carved inverted pentagrams into some of these women ramirez murdered one woman using only his fists and feet

He had stomped her head, face, neck, and chest so hard that he left a full impression of the sole of his sneaker on her face and chest. Another woman's hands and feet were bound with neckties. Ramirez then forced her to sit in front of her dead husband who Ramirez had just shot three times in the head. While Ramirez ransacked her home for valuables this incredibly brave and determined woman was able to escape from her bindings.

Scurrying on her hands and knees, she was able to grab hold of her husband's shotgun hidden below their bed. The moment Ramirez stepped into the doorframe, she leveled the gun at his chest. Unfortunately, when she pulled back hard on the trigger, the gun simply dry-fired. It was empty. Ramirez became so incensed that he gouged out her eyes with a spoon, keeping her eyes as a trophy.

It all ended on August 31st, 1985, as the uber-cool Ramirez strode through an East Los Angeles neighborhood like he owned it. His slow, casual gait gave him the appearance of a man of leisure without a care in the world. That all changed when a group of older Hispanic women began screaming, El Matador, El Matador, meaning the killer, the killer. When Ramirez turned to see what all the fuss was, his body went cold.

They were pointing at him. The neighborhood grandmothers had recognized Ramirez from his police mugshot, which had been plastered across the front pages of virtually every California newspaper that very morning. Screams intensified, which drew a crowd of much younger people. When they realized who the skinny guy wearing the cool Elvis shades was, they began chasing him.

Ramirez was caught a block away by the infuriated mob. They'd all been affected by the Night Stalker. Each of them living in fear for the past year and a half. Fathers. Mothers, grandparents, hardcore street guys, and store clerks. Every one of them and their family members. All potential victims. Ramirez had made it clear. No one was safe.

and they wanted the terror to end. Now it was their turn. The frustration, anger, and searing hatred was palpable. En masse, they stomped and kicked and punched and clawed. For them, the poetic street justice was warranted and long overdue. The insane violence that Richard Ramirez had perpetrated for the past 16 months was now visiting him. And he was going to die violently.

Had the police not shown up when they did, Ramirez would have been torn to pieces. The Night Stalker case had become the most expensive prosecution the state of California had ever tried. It had also become a circus, revealing the American media's ugly fascination with murder and mayhem. Overnight, it had transformed Richard Ramirez, one of America's most violent psychopathic killers. into a pop culture icon. The media had played right into Ramirez's hand.

He ate up the attention he had so desperately craved behind the cryptic clues he'd leave at crime scenes including pentagrams carved into his victim's skin. The words... Jack the Knife scrawled in lipstick on their walls and mirrors, inverted five-point satanic stars and other symbols of the occult strategically placed around their homes. All at a dreadful attempt at infamy.

Ramirez wanted the world to know that a dark disciple of Lucifer had evolved and he now walked amongst them. He wanted to inject fear and terror into their hearts and minds and he wanted the press to acknowledge his dark presence. But most of all, Richard Ramirez wanted his evil message to be heard by all. No one is safe. And behind the randomness of his inhuman attacks, young and old,

men and women and children in discriminative class or age, Ramirez had accomplished that goal. The people of California were terrorized.

Stephen Giangelo is the author of two books on serial killers, including Real Life Monsters, a psychological examination of the serial murderer. He's a former Illinois state criminal investigator and was assigned to the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force.

Currently, Steve is an adjunct professor in the Criminology and Criminal Justice Department at the University of Illinois Springfield, where he's taught for the last 22 years. Thank you for joining us, Steve. We're thrilled to get your perspective on Killer's Vault. Ramirez showed absolutely no remorse ever about any of his killings. Is that a sign of his being the ultimate crazy or less crazy because he seemed to be cognizant of what he did and just had...

simply no remorse about it. He was just a flat-out psychopath who didn't care what you thought. The idea is that if he got his... face on the news that night, then he'd wear his black sunglasses. Good for him. He'd get a new suit bought by his girlfriend so he'd look good in the courtroom. He'd wave to people in the back of the room, and he enjoyed his celebrity. This is one of those serious...

killers who really embraced his level of celebrity and glorification. And he enjoyed every bit of it. I always thought of Richard Ramirez as being a bit... almost childlike kind of arrested development as almost a teenager and he acted like a teenager. He acted like a teenager who was getting on TV because he stole a car and this was the kind of guy he was.

Richard Ramirez's mother had been working at a boot factory throughout most of her pregnancy. In her third trimester, she became gravely ill, nearly miscarrying. The doctors surmised that her sudden illness was due to a buildup of toxicity in her lungs, which came about over time as she inhaled the noxious fumes used to make the boots. It's unclear whether Ramirez suffered brain damage while in utero.

He was, however, extremely detached and isolated throughout his childhood. Ramirez also had two serious head injuries when he was two and five years old, both of those injuries rendering him unconscious for more than an hour. Soon after, he began having epileptic fits, grand mal seizures which affected him until he was a teenager. The head trauma endured may have damaged Ramirez's orbital cortex, leaving him incapable of ethical decision-making and unable to control his impulses.

Dr. Katherine Ramsland is a world-renowned expert on serial killers, a professor of forensic psychology and criminal justice. She has five graduate degrees, three of which are forensic psychology, clinical psychology, and criminal justice. She's the author of How to Catch a Killer, Confession of a Serial Killer, and 66 other books, in addition to hundreds of articles and short stories. It's wonderful to have you on the show, Dr. Ramsland.

Ramirez apparently suffered some major... head injuries when he was a child i think he had been beaten pretty badly by his father he also fell off a swing at five years old and he had epileptic seizures into his teen years for a very long time do you think that these brain injuries have anything to do with him becoming a serial killer.

We have no evidence that brain injuries cause somebody to become a serial killer, but they can certainly be factors in that person's development in terms of organic damage that becomes part of their ability to make decisions. to process their environment, especially to process moral decision-making. They might be born with a psychopathic predisposition and a head injury could just make that worse.

But we don't know. As far as I know, Ramirez never had a brain scan to check that out. And nothing about brain injuries necessarily causes someone to become a serial killer. His childhood was also completely devoid of love, compassion or affection. His father an intensely violent man brutally beat his wife and children behind his own life failures. When Ramirez's four older siblings moved out of the house to get away from their abusive father, he became the sole object of his father's rage.

Ramirez's mother, a devout Catholic woman, had been so beaten down and defeated by her husband that by the time her youngest son Richard was born, she had already grown cold, bitter, and distant. Her religious faith deepening, she prayed day and night while filling her tiny shabby home with religious statues and icons, crucifixes, rosaries and red prayer candles.

Richard Ramirez's horrible upbringing coupled with the wrong genes and an abnormal brain, possibly behind the two head injuries, was the perfect incubator to breed a serial killer. And it only got worse. Growing up, Ramirez had some horrible role models. His father, Julian, had anger issues and was extremely abusive physically. His cousin, Miguel, was a Vietnam vet in Green Beret who bragged about torturing and killing Vietnamese women.

later killed his wife pleading insanity and getting out after four years only after that murder. And then Ramirez moved in with his older sister, whose husband was a peeping Tom who took Ramirez on some of his. his nocturnal adventures. So discussing all of these male role models in his life, what's the nurture aspect in the serial killer that Ramirez became?

And how did these men have a deep impact on him? Because I'm sure you would think that they did. Well, for Richard Ramirez, we have somebody who's... almost effeminate in his appearance. He's smallish. He's kind of girly. He doesn't like that. It humiliates him. He looks around for strong role models and all of them essentially. are abusive, aggressive, dominating, and denigrate women completely. So as Richard is growing up...

He's seeing that this is how you treat women if you're going to be bigger and stronger, which is something he craves to be because he doesn't like his own physiology. We have both nature and nurture in this one coming together. His physiology had a lot to do with how he perceived.

these male role models and how he looked at them as hero figures, people he wanted to be like. Because he could have very easily thought, these are awful people. I don't want to be like them. But he didn't, because he himself... was looking for a way to also be strong and dominant, and they gave him plenty of reason to think aggression and violence against women is the way to go.

In this episode of Killer's Vault, we will journey inside the mind of Richard Ramirez. In all of his letters, Ramirez never drifts far from what he is most interested in. Sex. degradation of women, sexual fantasies and fetishes, which are Asian women, S&M, shoes, feet, and legs. His letters also reveal his interest in serial killers, pop culture and violent serial killer films.

In this very first letter to Richie Dickstein, dated June 11, 1994, Ramirez sets the tone and precedence for any and all future correspondences. Hey, Richie, what's up? Got your letter. To answer your question, yes, a few women do visit me. So, tell me what New York is like. I hear some places are damn wild there. You ever hear of a club called Nutcracker?

I read an article on it. It's a place where men go to get their asses whipped by chicks. Dominatrix, S&M and all that. I love that shit. You see that movie, The Crow? It's killer, I hear. Do you know any Asian chicks? I could use photos of them. I dig them. Send me some naked photos of Asian chicks if you can get them for me. For future reference, it doesn't matter what you write. Not only am I not easily offended, I'm actually not offended by anything at all. Hey, if I can't kill it.

I ignore it. Can you explain in some detail what Ramirez's particular sexual fantasies were in regards to his killings? wanted to dominate and be scary. And his actual fetishes, which were about Asian women and feet, he had a big thing about feet and legs, really weren't part of his serial killing because He didn't see his victims before he would select a house to go in.

So as far as I know, we have no evidence that he stalked any particular residence and knew who was in a house. And his victimology, while female, went from children, he had a few children that he raped and at least one or two that he killed, to older women. But it really was about entering a house. He loved... the idea that once he was in someone's house, he owned it. He owned them.

Richard Ramirez was always looking to escape from someone or something. His father's savage beatings, his mother's blank, cold stare, the house that had become a symbol of her religion and her lost soul. And he knew he had to get out. The only problem was he had no friends to take him in, which was cool by him because he didn't like or trust anyone.

Ramirez had always known by the time he was 17 years old, he was getting the fuck out of El Paso, Texas. And he was never coming back. His older brothers had done it that way. and his older sisters were out of the house the moment they had hooked up with their first dudes. And it was all because of their prick father. You could hear it in his contemptuous voice, that little bit of volume he'd add when he spoke to his mother, and as soon as Ramirez heard it, he knew it was time.

to slip out of the bedroom window and get as far the fuck away as he could all it would take was a short sigh or a misperceived side glance from his mother to set him off and when that happened There was nothing anyone could do except wait for it to end. He'd go right for the religious shit his mother had spent the better part of the day cleaning, rearranging, and praying in front of.

When he was through tearing her religious shit apart and then the rest of the house, that's when the real fun would begin. he dragged ramirez out of his room beat his ass and made both him and his mother clean up the mess he'd just made ramirez decided it was time to make other night-time arrangements

He began sleeping in the cemetery when he was nine years old. He loved it there. It was dark, quiet, and his father would never think to look for him there on the off chance that he really gave a fuck where he was. The cemetery was one of only two places where Ramirez was comfortable and he truly felt safe. The other was at his cousin Miguel's house.

Miguel was older than Ramirez by 12 years. He was married to a smoking hot chick named Jessie, and he was a fucking Vietnam War hero. Ramirez loved his older cousin because ever since he could remember... Miguel was the only adult that had ever treated him like a person and not a thing or a possession. He regarded Miguel as an older brother, a best friend, and a teacher.

So when Miguel offered his 10-year-old cousin weed for the first time, Ramirez didn't think twice about getting high with him. When Miguel showed his cousin how to get high with rubber cement or spray paint with a paper bag, Ramirez got high with him. In between deployments, the cousins, mentor and student, were inseparable, and getting high had become a daily event.

Miguel would tell his wife he was driving his cousin to school, and then she wouldn't hear from him or see him for the rest of the day and night, sometimes two days and nights. He would pick Ramirez up. but instead of driving him to school, he'd cop a bag of weed, and then the two of them would drive around day and night getting high. With each trip home from a deployment, Miguel seemed more and more intent on sharing his wartime experiences as well as his dark philosophies with his cousin.

Richard Ramirez loved hearing Miguel's war stories, but what he really enjoyed was seeing the pictures that accompanied these stories. What Ramirez couldn't do, or refused to do, was processed just how disturbed his cousin Miguel really was. And in Miguel's impaired and broken mind, it was just as impossible. For him to realize the damage as well as the horrors he was imprinting in the mind and psyche of his young and impressionable cousin. I think for Ramirez, the reason...

women became his targets, was sort of multi-layered. First, he was kind of feminine, and he despised that aspect of himself. So in a way, he'd target the female part of himself. But also, the men around him that he saw as role models targeted women, aggressed against women. He had a cousin. who as Richard was coming into puberty, his cousin was showing him pictures of slaughtered and butchered women, women he was raping when he was in Vietnam.

This sense that this is all they're good for, and this is what makes you into a man. Miguel recounted his gory and criminal wartime experiences with astonishing detail. Ramirez was mystified by the stories, listening in a trance-like state of bliss. Miguel told him about the hit-and-run patrol he and a very small group of elite soldiers were tasked with.

How they would use a cover of darkness to hide, and then with speed and incredible violence, they'd kill all the men in the village. Then they would round up all the Vietnamese women, which, as he said, was when the fun would begin. Miguel took his time describing the horrors he had perpetrated against these women, which he professed loudly was his duty as a soldier.

Miguel was wild-eyed as he recounted the many rapes he committed, mimicking the tone and horror of each victim's screams. He then produced Polaroid photos that revealed him in the commission of those rapes. Ramirez was excited by the photos, asking his cousin if he could borrow some, which Miguel allowed him to do.

Miguel revealed more photos of the same women, their eyes now wide-eyed with terror, their faces streaked in blood. When Ramirez looked at the photos closely, he realized where the blood had come from as well. as a terror in their eyes. Some of these women had their noses hacked off, others their lips or ears. Some had their hands or feet hacked off. Some of the more unfortunate women

had all of those body parts hacked off. In other photos, Miguel is shown holding up some of his victims' decapitated heads. In one of those photos, He is captured simulating oral sex with a decapitated head. These were the photos that Ramirez got the biggest jolt from. He loved them. Miguel explained his reasoning for torturing and decapitating these women. Besides the sheer pleasure of hearing them scream, a Vietnamese superstition dictates that if someone was buried,

and they were missing a body part, they would not go to heaven. Miguel said he didn't want them to die thinking they were going to some paradise. Ramirez...

began failing out of school. When he was 13 years old, while visiting his cousin's apartment, Miguel and his wife, Jessie, began arguing. The argument got heated, and without warning, or much provocation, Miguel calmly pulled a .38 caliber revolver out of his waistband, raised it to Jesse's face, and shot her at point-blank range, killing her instantly.

miguel calmly turned to ramirez told him he had to leave and that he couldn't tell anyone he saw what happened otherwise the cops would make him a witness ramirez did what he was told he didn't tell a soul about the murder. Because Miguel was a war hero, and he had been deployed so many times in active combat zones, the court believed that his mind had been affected and traumatized.

He was found guilty by reason of insanity. He was sentenced to five years in a mental institution, which he served without incident.

Ramirez is somebody that you're very familiar with. What are the factors that entered into Ramirez's development as a serial killer? And is there anything unusual about his particular development?

The topic of Ramirez and his uniqueness is the fact that this is a serial killer who has things that have gone into creating him that are sort of... laundry list of all the other serial killers when I teach my class I talk about Richard Ramirez last because it seems like he ticks the boxes that go all the way down the column he has he starts out with it with a mother who was exposed to toxic fumes and probably inhaled that prenatally when she was carrying Richard. This was something that did...

result in birth defects at that point in time. Later on, he had his own bouts with epilepsy and seizures and things that would separate him from the crowd and being a normal kid. He couldn't play football. He couldn't play with the other kids. So this is something that affected him. He was injured, brain injuries, a number of different brain injuries, a number of different reports along the way. So we had the brain injuries after he was born.

Then there was his dad who was a violent alcoholic beat him like a Crash test dummy really and you have to understand the damage that happened to him along the way with that You also look at the fact that his father was violent, so were there genetics involved there? Did he bring genetics from a violent father? Then you can move on to him meeting, well, before that, he was... reportedly molested in his home, him and his brother. Who molested Ramirez? I believe it was a tutor.

that was known as a child molester in the neighborhood, somebody that tutored different children, and he was found to be a child molester. Then he comes in contact with his cousin. His cousin has come back from Vietnam completely damaged, completely mentally ill, who is completely obsessed with violent... torture and attacks and murders of individuals, showing him pictures, graphic pictures of such a thing, and Richard completely bought into it as being a hero. He thought his...

Cousin was it was his his own personal hero that culminated in Richard Witnessing his cousin shooting his wife in the head in his in his own presence Now, with everything else that leads up to Richard Ramirez, and then you tack on watching somebody shoot somebody in the head and describing it as like a slow motion film, I don't know how this kid doesn't end up broken at the end of the day. Finally, naturally, he starts.

doing drugs. Didn't help him a bit. And then he wraps it all up by devoting his life to Satan, which really writes off. all of the different things that he committed. The more violence, the more evil, the more extreme that he committed, it was all to please Satan. So if Richard Ramirez wasn't the ultimate serial killer, I can't think of one.

Was Ramirez's cousin Miguel the catalyst for his bizarre fetishes and sexual addictions, or was he born that way? In either case, those fetishes and sexual proclivities had evolved into much darker territory. When corresponding with serial killers, Richie Dickstein knew he needed to tap into their psyche or their insanity. He also knew there was always a quid pro quo involved to keep these killers engaged.

Money for their commissary, stamps and other writing material, or photos of himself or girls, depending on the killer's sexual predisposition. He would adopt a certain behavior for each serial killer that he wrote to. Ramirez was a sexual deviant, a behavior that Richie leaned into with hopes of furthering their relationship. Behind Dickstein's knowledge of the case and Ramirez's sexual perversions, he convinces the Night Stalker that he works as a bouncer at a New York City strip club.

He lures him in with photos of the girls he claims to work with and convinces Ramirez that he shares many of those same fetishes. To accept charges press 5 now. To deny charges... Your call is being connected. Thank you for using MCI. Hey, Rich. Rick. What's up, buddy? Yo, man, I'm psyched to hear from you, bro. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

I'm happy you called, man. I've been waiting for like years for you to call, bro. Yeah, I hear you. Well, what's up? Hey, Rich, you know what I wanted to ask you? Could I send you Polaroid pictures of like nude girls? I don't mean little girls, I'm saying Polaroid. Yeah, they're cool. Oh, okay, cool. You're talking about the clothes at the car, right? Yeah. So what's up, brother? oh man work is cool man you know most of them bitches they're like they're just like i don't know they're like hoes

So, you know, I don't like to let them play me too much. But sometimes, you know, I got to let them. That I get. There's tons of people that want to meet me, so... I'm not supposed to. I saw this other real pretty one from LA. My man. I know you were having some fun with him, Robert. Well, they're both pretty sick. You know, my sister got hit by a drunk driver years ago.

So her mind is fucked up. And then her mind is fucked up, you know. She got brain damage, you know. And then my father died, you know, you know about that. And then my mother, she's just, she's, you know, really overweight and she got asthma. a lot you know trying to help them out yeah you know get up get up a service from mexico they're cheap man they'll do everything wipe your ass but about a dollar an hour right

Let me tell you this so you know, man. You know, you're my real friend. You like that girl, Barbara? You like that girl, Barbara? Did she send you any photos? She's cute as could be, man. I'll tell her to send you photos. man she's a little man it's cool talking to you yeah this is this is a good time and drop me a note or something you know Thanks a lot, bro. You need anything, Rich? All right. Thanks. Thanks, bro. Okay, bye. Bye.

Sexually aroused by Richie's job and the photos he sent, Ramirez attempts to dig deeper into Richie's fantasies. Rich, greetings. Thanks for the 20, and especially... For the three photos. Seems we got something in common, huh? Man, I like the freckles on her legs. They have a club in L.A. that has a night devoted strictly to this fetish. Legs and Thigh magazine just recently got canceled, though. Pumps are cool. Sounds are cooler. I can get X-rated photos in here.

Magazines I have to order myself and magazine pages. Well, they're allowed in sometimes and sometimes they're sent back. If you bounce at clubs, you must be kind of healthy, huh? Do you work clubs where chicks dance? How far do you live away from New York City? Not far, I would guess, since you work in Manhattan now and then. Ever gotten into a real tough brawl? Does stun guns work?

Kick their ass. Ha! Yeah, I think OJ did it. Or it had something to do with it. Are you into bondage? A lot of people are into a lot of things, but they're still... In the closet. Yeah, I got some foot fetish. So, pictures of women's feet would be cool. And I dig Asian babes. So. See what you can do in that department. I'd appreciate it. Send whatever photos you can get and I'll send one of myself soon. Maybe a month or two.

Take it easy, rock and roll, Richard. After Ramirez's cousin is institutionalized, he becomes increasingly withdrawn and depressed. still trying to escape his life in el paso texas he turns to hallucinogenic drugs dropping acid and taking copious amounts of lsd his favorite place to get high is the cemetery which is where he spends most of his days and nights During this period of time, he begins soul-searching, trying to put together a path for his future. He comes up empty.

Richard Ramirez had unlike many serial killers, his victims, they ranged in age and their sex. So let's get further into this victimology that we've been talking about now about Ramirez. Richard Ramirez's victimology was scattered. It was indeterminate. And that was because the point was to enter the homes and to kill somebody. He would also commit...

sexual assaults against the women sometimes, if he felt like it, and sometimes not. Sometimes he would commit sexual assaults against the children. He would shoot the man to pretty much... neutralize the threat pretty quickly and sometimes he would shoot the female, sometimes he would rape the female, sometimes he would just let her go. His behaviors were inconsistent, they're all over the map. Some people wanted to describe him as a disorganized because his victimology and his

His signature was so scattered, but he still had, in my opinion, he had an organized disorganization. It was something that was consistent from one night to another in the way he went about his business. And then it hit him like a bolt of lightning. The world suddenly opened up to Ramirez after reading the book The Satanic Bible by Anton LaVey. The book detailed the teachings and rituals of the church of Satan.

which was a counterculture movement created by LaVey to empower self-assertion, undefiled wisdom, power, dominance, and rebellion against authority. He loved everything it stood for, which in his mind was, fuck my mother's Catholic church and fuck the police all at once. Everything had crystallized for Ramirez. He finally knew who he was, what he was, and where he was headed. I am Richard Ramirez, a Satanist.

in the service of the Prince of Darkness. I believe in the powers and stabilizing forces provided to me by the Sorcerer. the high priest, the prince of darkness, Satan. I now and forever in the afterlife Pledge my black allegiance to the dark brotherhood of the Church of Satan. My pilgrimage to the Church of Satan in San Francisco, California is my blood oath.

Ramirez did in fact make that pilgrimage to the Church of Satan in 1983. When he was noticed walking in slow circles around the church for three hours, a member and security guard of the church armed himself with a pistol and went outside to confront him. In a recent interview, Anton LaVey's grandson recounted their meeting. Ramirez told the security man he just wanted to meet Dr. LaVey to say hello and shake his hand. The security man told him to leave, which he did.

half an hour later he was back this time a number of unnerved church of satan members commented why is this creepy guy in black just standing there staring at the church LeVay then armed himself with two pistols and went outside to confront him. When he did, Ramirez stuck his shaking hand out, saying, I just wanted to meet you, Dr. LeVay.

LeVay, not accepting his hand nor taking kindly to strangers, said, Well, now you have, so now you can go. I don't take unexpected visitors. Next time, make an appointment. Ramirez then said, Thank you for everything you're doing for Satanists. He then turned and walked away. This pilgrimage occurred less than one year before Ramirez's alleged first murder of nine-year-old Mei Liang.

That murder also took place very near the Church of Satan in San Francisco. Here is a questionnaire that Richard Ramirez submitted to Answer Me magazine in 1994 while he was housed at San Quentin's death row. It is an indication of his bizarre and unchanged mindset. Favorite actress? Samantha Strong, the porn star. Favorite vacation spot? Uranus. Favorite food. Women's feet. Favorite color. Red. Pastimes and hobbies.

Traveling and measuring coffins. Biggest like. Cooking. Biggest dislike. Hypocrites and authority. Make a wish. I have my finger on a nuclear trigger. How do you get a girl to notice you? I pull my gun out. What's one thing you change about yourself? Not a damn thing except where I am at. Nobody knows. I'm more depraved than they think I am. Childhood Heroes. Jack the Ripper. And Frankenstein.

In this next series of letters, Ramirez begins to open up about his fetishes and his creepy fascination with celebrity, pop culture, and Hollywood making reference to him. Richard. Feels weird writing to my own name. If you know what I mean. Thanks to the 25 and the pictures. Greatly appreciated. I used to go to downtown LA to take pictures like that. There was a place where I would go into the street. It was at a stoplight.

I'd be able to look up the cunts' dresses as they wait for the walk sign to change. I'd take pictures. You'd be surprised at how many chicks walk around with no panties. Swimming pools and beaches are excellent places too. I got a catalog that sells all kinds of different high pumps and stuff. Let me know if you want the address. So.

It took almost 24 days to get my letter, huh? Fucking figures. Those fuckers like to fuck with my mail. That's why they're called fuckers. I'll send the photos soon. You see Madonna at the MTV Awards? I was with Sean Penn at the L.A. County Jail. He was in jail for 30 days for punching out a cameraman. She came to visit him and I saw her. She's tiny. Something about Hillary Clinton that I dig. Her calves and ankles are definitely healthy, I think you'd agree.

Have you seen that movie, Natural Born Killers? They got a picture of me in it. So what do you think of that airplane that went down? Shit. I'm sure there were a few severed feet still in their pumps out there. And I say, girl, what? And proud of it. Till we meet again. The beast from the east. Rich. His own story was the most important thing to him. I mean...

It was one thing to satisfy Satan, but the status that he got in the world, his level of celebrity was critical to him. I mean, it just became more and more important. Absolutely. And it was the kind of thing that that that. I'm sure he would love to have gone out and continued more crimes and been on TV more often. If you watch the way he behaved in the courtroom, this is somebody who craved the camera. He craved everybody to be looking at him. It was definitely his high point in his life.

In December of 1994, Ramirez looks to further his relationship with Richie, ideally in a face-to-face meeting, which he can't do while incarcerated at San Quentin Prison. The letter also reveals his ability to easily compartmentalize his murders when he writes about a pending case in San Francisco, which he completely blows off as insignificant. Rich, greetings.

Yeah, I'll be the beast from the west, you from the east. Thanks for the 20. As usual here, nothing changes. Just here doing his dreary time. And for no reason, really. I just wasn't a bootlick and kiss ass is all. Ha! You better get here pretty quick. If I'm at San Francisco, when you come to California, you can ride or visit me there. It's not good to visit me here, I...

Can't use a phone here, but at San Francisco, I can. And I give you a ring. Soon as I get drawing, I'll send you some of my demonic visions. Fact is, I've been busy. With this stupid case I got pending in Frisco. Should be going to trial there next year. You been with any hot chicks lately? What's your New Year's resolution? What do you think of X-rated films? Think the chicks fake it. Send pictures. Take a sleazy. Rich.

The sexual kinship between Richie Dickstein and Ramirez continues throughout 1995, and Ramirez's twisted sense of humor comes out as well. Richard, got your 1227 letter. Along with the picture, that's one big breasted woman you're with. She's fine. When you're with a woman like that, take pictures of her from me. I'm sure she won't mind. And if she does... Wait till she goes to sleep. Ha! Same shit here. Executed a retarded guy in Texas today. Also, earthquake in Japan.

Here are two jokes. What did Jeffrey Dahmer say to Lorraine and Bobbitt? You gonna eat that? What do you have when you got two green balls in your hand? Kermit the Frog's full attention. They just disallowed the majority of porn magazines from coming in here. So, pictures are going to have to be it, I guess. I'm counting on you to get me some flicks or some of those hot cunts you know, even if you have to.

Hide the camera. It's raining cats and frogs here. Or is it cats and dogs? Or pussies and tits? I hear you there in New York have the death penalty. The Republicans are taking over for sure. When you send a large batch of photos, it's best to send them certified. That way, I'll have to sign for them. Remember to dismember. Rich. As their relationship builds, Richie Dickstein convinces Ramirez that women at the club are truly interested in him and hope to meet him one day.

In fact, Richie is also laying the groundwork to eventually introduce Ramirez to his wife, Barbara. Rich, greetings. Yeah, show my pictures to that chick who wants her is thinking of riding. Does she know what I look like? Put an ad in the paper for me. Death Row Demon. Looking for petite Asian broad. Well, guess I'll end it there. Take care. Give them hell. You're a bud in the dungeon.

and your fiendish pal, Richard. On October 31st, 1995, Ramirez sends a macabre Halloween-inspired letter to Richie. Richie, what's going on with you? I've been down with a cold lately. What's the name of the place you work at? Jeez. I know what you mean about chicks with crooked toes. I was going to do a fine chick back in 84. She took off her shoes. Forget it. How many chicks do you do on average? Shit, look at me. Sound like a goddamn baseball analyst. Speaking of which...

Did you watch the World Series? Ever thought of ripping toenails off? Yikes! I've been reading too many Clyde Barker books. I hear seven Jade and Coffee Cat are good serial killer movies. Seen them yet? So when you have girls over to your house, try and take pictures of them if they let you. When Richie started to write Barbara, he hoped...

It seems that she didn't know the crimes that he'd been committed for, that it was this or that. Why would he play that game with her? Why would he not want her to know about his... so to speak, since he loved the fame aspect of his reputation as a serial killer. Ramirez would bait his correspondence. so that he could watch for things that were to his advantage as he's writing to them and they're writing to him. So until he knows Barbara.

He's not sure if she'll have any real advantage for him, but he needs her to stay on the line. He's hooked her in, and he wants to be sure. He doesn't lose her before he gets something from her if there's something to be had. Right. He doesn't want to risk... saying something about crimes that might make her say, whoa, I don't think I want to get too involved in this. He's in it for himself. He's a predator. He's watching her reaction.

in terms of the things that he's saying, and he is not going to put any relationship at risk before he's minded for what he can get from it.

In December of 1996, Richie Dickstein introduces Ramirez to his wife, Barbara. Having written many other serial killers Barbara was also aware that she needed to offer the same quid pro quo to Ramirez. She adopted the personality of an exotic dancer to keep Ramirez engaged.

What's especially interesting in this next series of letters between Barbara Dickstein and Ramirez is that he is able to control his sexual impulses and his insanity in the beginning of this relationship. Though once he's comfortable with Barbara... That all changes. Barbara, hi. It was nice hearing from you. Thank you for the card. Happy New Year. Did you celebrate?

Richard told me you were going to write. Tell him I said hi. Dreams are my interest also. I try to look at my hands and turn to try and control them. Yes, I like animals. I used to have a Doberman. She was intelligent. I'll always write back even if it takes me a while. Take care. Write soon. And send pictures. Rich. In his next two letters to Barbara, Ramirez begins his flirtation and even plays down his bad boy image. He hopes she's not fully aware of his crimes or so he says. Hi, Barbara.

Always good hearing from you. Lately, dreams are of being in jail, and that tells me I've been in jail too long. But when I dream of being free, usually they are excellent dreams. Send me pictures of you at the beach, okay? Do you know a lot about me? Hope not. Dear Barbara, hi. Thank you for the Valentine card. Wishing you the love of space and best wishes. I've been sick. I'm always sick it seems. I also got your pictures. You.

are very beautiful and have a great body. I watch the nanny sometimes. I like Fran. Did you know she was raped twice? Well... In 85, I was arrested for this and that. It's all in the past. Doesn't matter. In fact, the less you know about me, the better it is, I think. Where did you take the pictures you sent me? Is that New York? What kind of trouble would you get into if work didn't keep you out of it? Good question. You are very pretty. Anyway.

Keep in touch. My B-Day is soon. Your friend, Richard. As Barbara writes back quickly, Ramirez's confidence builds and his sexual flirtation increases. Hi Barbara, how you been? Same old stuff here. My immune system. is getting better. I'm eating all my vegetables. I had some bad dreams last night. Indians believe these prison walls hold bad spirits. I wouldn't doubt it. So much grief and executions here. Yeah, the guys who raped the nanny, Fran, are serving 99 years each.

in a prison here in California. Yeah, I'm sweet, but can be an asshole too. Have you seen Rich? I heard he had a car accident. My B-Day is February 28th, 1960. I'm an old pervert. So tell me of your life, high school days, etc. You look great in that picture. Thank you. Oh, you think I'm sweet? Yeah, well, thank you. I bet you dance real nice, huh? Will you send me sexy pictures of yourself barefoot? My innermost thoughts? Yikes. That's deep space in the universe, other planets. Reincarnation?

Hell? Heaven? Oblivion? Who knows? Bottom line is, I don't. I don't count anything out or in. Make love to five women? You? Five times. Why on a field of gold? Because he's so rich? Hmm. You like Jimmy Carter, huh? I take it you like older men. Seen any good movies? Your friend, Richard. In her next correspondences, Barbara sends sexy photographs of an exotic dancer that she claims is herself.

which drives the Night Stalker wild. She even offers him a lap dance. Dear Barbara, hi, how you been? Rich D said to say hi to you. No, my wife doesn't care who I write. Yeah, I'd like to have you dance for me. I bet you can make me cum without even touching me. Can I write you vulgar gross stuff? Would that offend you? You know I'm a perv. please send me more sexy pictures of yourself i'll send you a drawing in exchange i'd like to suck your toes seen any movies read any books

You have a phone. Another Thanksgiving day in the slammer. What did you do on this day? Hope you have a great new year. You watch any TV? Right soon. Take care Richard a few months later in february of nineteen ninety eight barbara toys with ramirez by taking the sexual relationship up a notch and like most celebrity serial killers he's playing her as well Dear Barbara, hi. Long time, I know. Yeah, you can write me dirty, too. My B-Day is 228. This year, I'll be 38.

Send me sexy pics as a present. Don't be stingy with that hot body of yours. You suck my dick, huh? How are your parents doing in Jersey? I call Richard, but he's never home. I did get a card from him. Send me 20 if you can, and I'll send you a drawing right soon. Still unaware that she's married to Richie Dickstein while being married himself, Ramirez's letters get more sexual as the summer of 1998 nears. He believes that Barbara's in love with him.

and he uses his perceived sexual prowess to get her to send money. He also tries to convince Barbara that he's the jealous type. Dear Barbara, I'll always like you. You know that. If you're sitting here next to me, I lick your toes and every inch of your body. Send me lingerie or naked photos of yourself. Please, thanks for thinking of me when you dance.

Have you heard from Richie? I'd like to give it to you hard in the butt. Make you beg for more. Are you working? They execute someone here July 14th. I can't use the phone because... I'm in the hole. Hey, would you really put me over your knee? When was the last time you were spanked or had sex? I saw this movie last night called Chained Heat 2 starring Brigitte Nielsen.

It showed S&M stuff. What do you do for sexual release? Thank you for the money order. If you do send it, any amount would help and be greatly appreciated. Do you make good money? Why don't you go whip men for money? After all, I hear New York is the kinky place in the USA. Well, can you have a friend with a camera get some photos of you for me?

you're so fine with your gorgeous legs and feet and body and you're depriving your friend me in prison for 14 years of seeing you in your full beauty I might have had one or two lap dances in my life. I didn't go to clubs that often. Are there fights often where you work? Are the men ugly? Do they try to grope you? Do you ever wonder if there are... Killers in the crowd. I'm sure there are, huh? Do you write anyone besides me? How's Rich? Say hi for me. I haven't heard from him in a while.

He hasn't been the same since the accident. Don't you agree? Well, take care, beautiful. See you later, Richard. Undeterred by Ramirez's sexual advances, Barbara leads him on even further. Hi, babe. I got your 8-9 letter. Yep, I get hard and stiff after a spanking from you. So, are you still seeing that guy who likes kinky sex? How long did the sex you had last time last for? An hour or a whole night? How's work?

Has Rudy Giuliani shut you down? What do you think of Bill Clinton? Would you have sex with him? Ha! Well, if you have killers in the crowd. It might be a turn-on, but always be careful. I saw a movie. It was about a killer who stalks a dance club girl. Doreen is my wife's name. She's laid back and, no, we can't have sex. We visit an hour a week only behind glass. Tell me of your family. Have any?

Send stamps and pictures, okay? Love, Richard. The letters between Barbara and Ramirez stopped at the end of 1998. Barbara got tired of playing the game. But Richie's correspondences with Ramirez continued for another two years, through October of 2000. In his last letter to Richie, Ramirez asks about her. Richie.

Thanks for the photos of the chick's feet. Much appreciated. Enclosed is a pic of a chick I used to write. She's from Sweden. I haven't heard from her in a long time. You can throw it away. Just add it for your amusement. So, the chicks you have sex with sound ready and willing. Never knew chicks to be that easy. What's your secret? What's Barb doing these days? She's still dancing?

On April 10th, 1984, Richard Ramirez had completely broken from what little reality was left of his mind. Ramirez had committed his first murder in a spectacular, look at me, look at me, please look at me manner. The way in which he arranged the broken, stabbed, strangled, and raped body of nine-year-old May Linda Luang, and the time and the effort it took for him to create the image of Christ's crucifixion, hanging her from a pipe.

indicated that he wanted the police to know that a serial killer had emerged. But not just any serial killer. This serial killer was special. He was a disciple of Satan. ramirez wanted the world to know that the prince of darkness was speaking through his son and the little display that he left was just the beginning of a dark apocalypse Ramirez wanted the people of California to know that a terrifying revelation was upon them. One that would turn their streets into rivers of blood.

Unlike many serial killers, Ramirez's victims ranged in age and gender. Can you talk about his victimology just a little bit further? Okay, his victimology was female. He wanted to harm. and carve up women, even female children. He did not specifically go after males, even though he had male victims. Mostly he just wanted to get the men out of the way. His targets were women, for sure. He wanted to hurt them, rape them, dominate them, and murder them.

it's unclear whether may linda luang was his first victim however many homicide detectives along the san francisco and los angeles corridor speculate two very different though equally plausible scenarios Because the crime scene was so elaborately set up, many detectives, including investigators from the FBI's behavioral science unit, believed other murders had preceded this one.

There was a high level of comfort and defiance built into the crime scene, therefore they believed the murderer was a practiced killer. Other detectives disagreed. Because there was a gap of two months and 18 days between Mei Luang's murder and his second murder, 79-year-old Jenny Vincal, Ramirez used the time to build the confidence needed to continue his murder mission.

It's also believed that Ramirez wanted to be sure that the murder wasn't somehow tied back to him before beginning his kill spree. Both scenarios are valid, however the one certainty Ramirez displayed for the next 13 months and 11 days was an escalation of violence and torture. In that space of time, Ramirez was feeding his insanity with hallucinogenic drugs, PCP, cocaine, and speed. His initial proclamation to the world, no one was safe.

had in fact come true. No one, including Richard Ramirez was safe as his mind slowly deteriorated. He allowed some of his victims to live so that they could broadcast his ferocity and anger to the world. A lesson he had learned from his cousin Miguel, who had explained to him how to maximize terror.

after thoroughly beating raping sodomizing and torturing one of his victims miguel would hack off a body part usually a hand or an ear he would then let them free to seek medical attention in the nearby villages His message was clear and the profound terror reverberated throughout North Vietnam. What are your final thoughts on somebody having... Absolutely no empathy whatsoever like Ramirez. I think Ramirez, like any other...

serial killer that you would consider to be a psychopath doesn't have the physical ability to feel empathy. I don't want to give them a break. or I don't want to give them any kind of an excuse or something like that. But these are people that when they've been interviewed a few thousand times and they know what people want them to say, they try to act like they have empathy. They try to pretend like they have remorse.

great for that, for his interview just before he was executed, where he tried to act like a human being who has remorse for other human beings, and they just can't do it. They don't have that capacity. It's not something they own. Ramirez used many other guerrilla warfare tactics taught him by his cousin Miguel, such as using the cover of darkness to hide and stalk his prey.

And then, with speed and incredible violence, he would blitz into a home, immediately kill any perceived threat, always a man, regardless of age, and then proceed to rob and terrorize his female target and her children. After Ramirez was captured, he used the newspapers and the television news to acquire what he had desired his entire life to be noticed. Every one of his victims had been stand-ins or substitutes for his vengeance.

Every man he murdered in the most cowardly and cold-blooded of ways while they slept was his father. The brutalization, psychological and physical torture, and murders he committed against helpless... unsuspecting, sometimes invalid women were composites of his mother.

By adopting the dark and evil personality of the devil while personifying his crime scenes with occult imagery was his vengeance against his mother's faith and beliefs in the Catholic religion and the symbolic Christian icon she had devoted herself to. For his heinous crimes, Richard Ramirez was sentenced to death 19 times. However, before he was executed, Ramirez died in prison on June 7, 2013, from complications due to lymphoma. He was 53 years old.

The Killers Vault podcast is based on the serial killer collection owned by Dr. David Adamovich and Lynn Wheat and collected by Richie and Barbara Dickstein. The Killers Vault podcast is also based on the serial killer collection owned and collected by Rob Webb.

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