Richard Ramirez, also known as the “Night Stalker”, was a murderer, rapist, and burglar based in Southern California. As a serial killer, his crimes spanned from 1984 to 1985. Richard was the youngest of 5 children. He was physically abused by his father, who tended to lose his temper easily. He also withstood two serious head injuries, one by a dresser that fell on him, and the other by a swing that knocked him out. The latter caused him to have seizures as a teenager. He spent a lot of time with his cousin Miguel “Mike” Ramirez, who was a veteran of the Vietnam War. Mike raped and killed women in Vietnam, and posed with their severed heads in photos. Mike shared marijuana and war stories with Richard since he was 10 years old. Richard was …show more content…
His cousin taught him how to kill people quickly and stealthily. When he was 13, he watched Mike shoot his wife in the face after an argument. He used LSD in addition to his marijuana, and had abnormal sleeping patterns around 15 years old. Richard dropped out of Jefferson High School in ninth grade, and moved to California when he was 22. He didn’t pay much attention in school, and did not go to college. He worked many different entry-level jobs, such as a staff member at Holiday Inn, a construction worker, and a laborer, He married in 1996 to Doreen Lioy, and divorced in 2013 before he died of B-cell lymphoma. He had no children, and got most of his money from stealing. He was never diagnosed with any mental disorders, but did suffer from epilepsy as a teenager. Ramirez didn’t have any specific means for his murders; he used guns, knives, blunt objects, and even his own fists to violently kill his victims. His main motive was burglary. He went on a crime spree from April 10, 1984 to August 24, 1985, killing 14 people. He selected random victims, infiltrating their houses and killing them. He did not know any of his