California is the state where summer is evergreen, beaches and skies are blue, and every street screams opulence. In a serene state like this, the thought of serial killers terrorizing might be a distant dream for holiday planners. However, it became a terrifying reality for the residents in 1985. We were cold-blooded serial killer Richard Ramirez!
The man who cast his demonic hands on the peacefully sleeping residence to the residences. Mentally and physically debilitating them in their final moments. He committed crimes that could easily be considered more bone-chilling than your worst nightmares.
Not just to the living family members of the victims, but his name still strikes fear in people who weren’t even born during the time. Ramirez’s intentions and crimes were so heinous & demonic (literally) that the media and law gave him the moniker of “night stalker.”
Therefore, before we proceed with our deep dive, it is important to give a fair trigger warning. If stories of sexual assault, rape, and murder trigger you heavily, we suggest you click out of this article.
Now, for the ones with a twisted curiosity like mine, let’s begin.
Who Was Richard Ramirez?
Before we begin discussing his criminal, let’s first demystify the man himself. We can do so with the help of understanding the accounts of his early life, his childhood, and the beginning of his killing spree.
His Childhood
Like every other sociopath, Richard Ramirez also suffered a troubled childhood, which amplified his mental problems. He was the fifth child of Mexican immigrant parents. Like textbook, he had an abusive father who was a chronic alcoholic and often lashed out physically at his wife and his childhood.
However, there is a big misconception that someone with a violent childhood automatically becomes some form of offender. But that is not the case.
There must be other contributing factors throughout the developmental years which blur the line between sanity & insanity. Thus, almost normalizing these acts. Unfortunately, there were such instances when it came to Ramirez’s past.
The Beginning
When Ramirez was five, he received a blow to his head from a lash-out episode of his father.
Psychiatrists, upon analyzing Ramirez’s neurological condition, later discovered that this blew on his temporal lobe. At the age of 6, he again got a swing injury, gushing his head open once more. Through these injuries, he developed epilepsy and was diagnosed at 11.
Since his temporal lobe was heavily affected, this could also be a reason behind his uneven processing of emotions and hypersexuality.
Since the temporal lobe is also responsible for processing emotions and disinclination between him and other serial killers, unlike Ted Bundy or Denis Rader, BTK killer, Ramirez was a “made” killer, not a “born” one.
The Disorganized Crime Theory
Why wasn’t he a psychopath? (Source)
If you take his comparison between killers like Ted Bundy and the BTK Killer, there is one stark contrast.
Unlike the other two major serial killers with notoriety in psychopathy, Ramirez’s criminal history was much more disorganized.
There was no record of him stalking the premises of the houses he was going to break into. Or whether he stalked the victims beforehand to understand them.
Unlike a psychopath like Ted Bundy, who had an affinity towards charming his way into their victim’s personal space. He was not inclined towards making them vulnerable.
He was simply a peeping Tom who also became an offender. Ramirez used to break into a random suburban house in the greater Los Angeles and then the San Fransico Bay area.
Even while entering, he didn’t know how he would find potential victims. Whether they would be sleeping or awake, whether there would even be a woman in the house, he didn’t know whether he would rape, shoot, or mutilate his victims and decided everything on impulse.
Many psychologists also describe this form of killing as “rush killing.” Where killers often get an adrenaline rush from going on a killing spree. They are random, disorganized, and often end up getting caught.
As usual, he was also caught by the law enforcement after finding fingerprints on a crime scene. His photo and identification were circulated in Los Angeles town, later leading to his arrest and trial.
So Why Was He Made Not Born?
Post his traumatic head injury in the bilateral temporal lobe (Source), getting affected by hypersexuality was common. But every physiological trauma requires an environmental trigger. That came in the form of other very suspicious characterized relatives Ramirez had.
It was mind-boggling to see one family having so many questionable and mentally unstable characters in one place.
After leaving his family, Ramirez went to stay with his cousin Mike and his wife. If his father was not a good role model, then his cousin was far worse. He was a green Beret who had served time in Vietnam during the war. Although it is difficult to say whether he had any history of PTSD, he did recount tales of his war days.
At times, it took an atrocious and violent turn. Mike told tales of his days in Vietnam and how he used to rape and kill women in the most brutal manner. In fact, he even used to click pictures of his victims and paraded these pictures to Ramirez. These were his first exposure to such sexual violence and a form of normalization of these matters.
This could also have been one of the earliest triggers of his hypersexuality. When he was in his late teens, he witnessed his cousin Mike shoot his wife right through the head.
For someone normal, that would be a traumatic experience that would create a tremendous phobia of guns or any fire weapons. But Ramirez’s attraction towards violence grew more.
The Further Triggers
After leaving his cousin’s house, he went and joined his sister and her husband. Another low life with the worst influence on Ramirez. If cousin Mike was the one who triggered his subsided hypersexuality, it was his sister’s husband Roberto who was a classified peeping-tom that gave him his beginning to criminal activities.
He used to take Richard on his nightly escapades of voyeurism. Plus, Roberto also took him for his small robbing stunts. Richard was learning the ‘art’ of breaking into houses, and other criminal tricks without even knowing it.
Law enforcement officers later mentioned this is how he became so good at silently breaking it, despite the security systems. He was already aware of the internal security systems of most of the houses.
Shocking Factors of Richard Ramirez
His crimes had not bounded when it came to violence. He acted with such tremendous ferocity that one could only imagine the mental terror and the physical pain his victims went through before their final breath.
These are shocking crimes and facts about Richard Ramirez.
The Fear in His Victim’s Eyes
While he carried on with his assault, he always ensured that his victims kept their eyes open. His sadistic inclination made him want to investigate their horror-filled eyes as they begged.
He was never the kind to attack from behind. In one of his earliest kills, he even knocked the hood of his victim before shooting her. This is to see the fear in her eyes that she was approaching her final moments.
He Was an Enraged Killer
When it came to his violent tendencies, law enforcement officers were often shocked by the way he killed his victims.
The law enforcement often called him the enraged killer. There have been instances where he violently slashed his victim’s throat or even beat them up with a hammer.
He was very Comfortable Afterwards
He never rushed to flee the space once he was done killing his victims. In fact, once he was done with his crimes, he used to scout around the house. There have been instances where he looked inside the refrigerator to get some food.
Ramirez sat at the table comfortably and finished the meal.
In one account, he broke into the house of an accountant. He first killed the man and then raped his wife. After that, he ate the leftovers from the fridge, threw up, masturbated in the living area, and then drew a stannic symbol on the wall.
His History of Schizoid
Most of his terrible crimes were influenced by his schizoid personality. In fact, he even started having LSD at a very young age. This constant exposure to drugs could also trigger his hallucinations further.
His Satanic Beliefs
Many believed Richard Ramirez wanted to create a satanic scene of terror in California. He was a believer in Satan’s preaching and justified his killings on that.
On the other hand, many strict Christians had a conspiracy that he was possessed by a demon himself.
To End the Discussion!
Richard Ramirez terrorized California before he was finally arrested and charged with the thirteen murders he committed.
But we cannot help but pose one important question to all. How sick and twisted does one’s mind need to be to completely isolate oneself from the idea of sanity and give up one’s consciousness of what is right and what is wrong?
While psychology can answer a few, can it answer all our curiosities?
What are your thoughts? Do let us know in the comment section below!
Read Also:
