Richard Leyva Munoz Research Paper

Richard Leyva Muñoz Ramirez was an American serial killer, rapist and burglar. He committed home invasions that later escalated to a rampage of sexual assaults and murder that generated widespread fear in the greater Los Angeles area from June 1984 to August 1985. Those who hunted and feared him considered him to be the embodiment of the mythical ‘boogeyman.’ The news media dubbed the name the “Night Stalker” for him, prior to his capture. He claimed to have been a Satanist, never showing remorse for his crimes after being arrested for thirteen murders, five attempted murders, six sexual assaults, three lewd acts on children, two kidnappings, three acts of forced oral copulation, four counts of sodomy, five robberies and fourteen burglaries.

As he tried to hit on her, she told him she was not interested and her rejection absolutely infuriated him. He paid the young girl a visit in the middle of the night, snuck in her window and proceeded to sexually assault her multiple times. He had finally made his fantasies a reality and felt like he found his true calling. Most of the crimes he committed would take place in Los Angeles in the summer of 1985. At this time, Richard had already honed his craft of raping and killing women while avoiding law enforcement. When it came to how he chose his victims, Richard showed no signs of ageism within his crimes. He robbed, raped and murdered victims from 6 to 83 years old (Schechter & Everitt, 1997). Some he raped and stabbed while other ones, he just robbed them and shot them. He used a wide variety of weapons, including handguns, knives, a machete, a tire iron and a hammer. For the duration of his crime series, Richard seemed to be very meticulous when it came to covering his tracks. On one occasion he dropped his black AC/DC hat on the floor of one of his victim’s garage, giving police a piece of evidence from the “Night

In August 1985, Richard shot and wounded a man in the head, raped his fiancée, and stole their vehicle. He told the fiancée while raping her that he was the Night Stalker and made her say she swore she loved Satan. He left the house and made sure to tell the wounded couple to “Tell [the police] the Night Stalker was here.” The vehicle was found on August 28th complete with Richard’s fingerprints inside; despite his careful efforts to wipe the car clean (Lewis, 2009; Newton, 2000) and police were able to obtain a cast of his footprint from the house as well. The print was positively identified as belonging to Richard Muñoz Ramirez, who was described as a 25-year-old drifter from El Paso, Texas with a lengthy criminal record that included arrests for illegal drug and traffic violations. Law enforcement officials decided to release to the media his mug shot from a December 12, 1984 arrest and "The Night Stalker" finally had a face. At the police press conference it was announced: "We know who you are now, and soon everyone else will. There will be no place you can