SERIAL KILLER: Richard Ramirez (PART 2)

 “Killing is killing, whether done for duty, profit or fun”

― Richard Ramirez

Richard Ramirez is one of the most prolific and horrible serial killers of our history. His crimes are not only atrocious, but numerous. 

In Part 1, we looked at his early life and influences on how he ended up as one of the worst serial killers in America. We also had a look at his crimes that included rapes, beatings, robbery and killings.

Richard Ramirez's mug shot

CAPTURE

Ramirez caught a bus to Tucson, Arizona on August 30, 1985. He was unaware that his face was the major story of every news outlet in California. He returned to Los Angeles in the early morning of the next day after failing to meet his brother in Tucson. He managed to evade the police that was stalking the bus station, hoping that they could catch the killer if he tried to flee. 

Richard went in a convenience store and saw his face plastered all over the newspaper stand. Two Mexican elderly ladies nervously identified him as ''el matador'' or the killer in Spanish.

He attempted to flee, and in the process, tried to carjack a woman on the Santa Ana Freeway. He was chased away by bystanders. They followed in pursuit. He tried to get away by hopping over a few fences and attempting to carjack a few more cars, but finally was overcome when a group of local residents lynched him.

One local managed to hit him over the head with a crowbar. The group held him down and beat the living daylights out of him, until the police came to arrest him. It was reported that Richard Ramirez thanked the policemen who saved him from the mob.

Richard Ramirez turned up at his trial with a pentagram carved in the skin of his palm 

TRIAL

On July 22, 1988, the jury selection for the trail began. Richard was waiting in jail for the court date. On his first appearance, he came out with a pentagram carved in his palm. He was also heard yelling, ''Hail Satan!''

On August 3, 1988, the Los Angeles Times reported that Ramirez was overheard by jail employees bragging that he will shoot a juror and smuggle a gun in the court room. For that reason, a metal detector was installed outside the court, and rigorous searches were made of all court attendees.

On August 14, 1988, the trial was interrupted as one of the jurors did not arrive for that day. Phyllis Singletary was found shot in her apartment and pronounced deceased at the scene. The other jurors were scared, as they thought that Ramirez somehow arranged her death from inside his prison cell. However, it was determined that it was her boyfriend that was responsible for her death, and he was later found dead from suicide, committed with the same weapon, at a hotel.

On September 20,1989 Richard Ramirez was found guilty of all charges, and sent to die by gas chamber on November 7, 1989 during the penalty phase of the trial. His convictions included thirteen counts of murder, five counts of attempted murder, eleven sexual assaults, and fourteen burglaries.

PRISON AND DEATH

While rotting away in jail, as one of America's most prolific killers, Richard amassed a huge number of fans. Among them was Doreen Lioy. She began writing letters to Richard in 1985, and wrote him about 75 letters during his incarceration. 

In 1988, he proposed to Doreen, and the couple eventually got married in San Quentin State Prison on October 3, 1996. 

Doreen Lioy and Ramirez getting married in 1996 at San Quentin State Prison

She continually said that if he were to die, she would kill herself. However, Doreen ended up leaving Ramirez in 2009, when DNA evidence confirmed that he raped and killed the young Mei Lieung, who was nine-years-old. By 2013, when he died, he was engaged to 23-year-old Christine Lee.

    Mother of two children, Christina Lee, on the The Geraldo Rivera Show.

He spent more than 23 years on death row, and died at 53 years of age due to complications secondary from B-cell lymphoma. He was also affected by years of substance abuse and chronic hepatitis C infection.

CONCLUSION

Richard Ramirez was one of the worst people that have existed. His crimes and depravity affected a lot of people, and families. He did not deserve to be branded the ''Night Stalker'', which yes he was, but it was such a catchy name, that I feel like it glorifies his acts. He was a legitimate boogeyman!