So, I went into this one knowing only a little bit about Richard Ramirez, and this documentary on Netflix caught my eye, so I gave it a shot tonight while eating my Taco Bell.
The confusing thing about The Night Stalker is that he evaded police for some amount of time that is honestly way too long for the violent crimes he was committing.
Episode 1: Devil in the City of Angels
This documentary is artfully done for such a difficult subject. Keeping the respect for the fear that ripped through California for all of that time (April 1984 - August 1985), over a year of terror that The Night Stalker reigned in LA.
Episode 1 really focuses on the history and the baseline Cali that was unknowingly about to be crushed by Ramirez's particular flavor of violence.
"I was in alliance with the evil that is inherent in human nature. And that was who I was; Walking death."
I know now that Ramirez was killing people long before he ended up on the LAPD radar, but thirteen young women and little girls and senior citizens and adults, that we know of, died before he was caught. I'm going to be honest - I don't think the PD should be too proud about how this case was handled. It could have been handled better, but I know that they were working with the resources that they had at the time, and the 80's was the heyday of the Serial Killer, tbh. I just don't think that any murderer should be getting away with becoming a serial killer that hard, that fast, and getting caught only because he got sloppy and comfortable over a year after his first encounter with a survivor who told police about him. I think we can do better as a society to catch these fuckers, whether they have one victim, or way more than that. And in 2024, we may have no excuses, but 1984 was a different time.
Basically, if you see something, say something, and if someone makes you feel weird it's probably because they ARE weird.
The thing that really startles police about this unknown killer, towards the beginning at least, is the unnecessary violence upon the bodies.
Gouging out eyes, hanging the bodies from the ceiling, raping children, using thumb-cuffs (no, really), wielding a machete or a hammer or a gun or a lamp or a tire iron, and drawing pentagrams at the scenes: the long list of just some of the crazy shit this guy wanted to perpetrate upon literally anybody (he had no specific victim), and it seemed the more innocent the individual, the more violent the crime.
So the spree has started and we're sitting in April 1985. The investigators and detectives begin to believe that a series of kidnappings are connected to the murders and burglaries.
The new detective in the Homicide Unit had a hard time gaining the trust of his fellow detectives. He thinks one person was, in fact, behind all of the crazy violent things that started to happen in spring of 1985 in LA.
They do a lineup for a survivor, and she can't pick the suspect they had in mind out of the group of suspicious men.
No dice.
Skip forward to May, and they get a shoeprint match at multiple scenes. Circumstantial evidence has been officially recorded, but we need a suspect.
June 28, 1985, we learn about another murder. And then a few days later? Another.
Even a few days after that last murder: another one. Three within two weeks.
No fingerprints, but they have proven that he was wearing gloves.
This next woman? She lives. This is another lucky opportunity to collect more information.
There's another shoe print - it matches the other two crime scenes. It's the same individual. The new investigator was right on the money.
Episode 2: Anyone Could Be Next
Stepping back to 1977, we take a look at an earlier set of slayings of ten young women found to be killed by the Hillside Strangler.
The former detectives recall how THAT case led the detectives to approach the killings in the 80's by Ramirez.
Summer of 1985 is where we pick up. The detectives discuss that there was no pattern to the killings, and that keeping up was VERY difficult.
We finally get to hear from some Night Stalker survivors. They explain how the person who broke in was very quiet the entire time. He came in through a window. The survivors look around and find footprints. Bingo.
Finally, after so many footprints, the team was able to match the print to a shoe. It had a specific look, and the team was ooooh so lucky with this shoe.
The shoe had just been distributed to retail sellers, and that there were only a few black 11.5 sized shoes, and only one was sent to LA. Incredible. Sadly? Unable to follow that link any further. They were unable to find any more information than that.
Mabel Bell and Florence Lang. How incredibly sad. Elderly sisters that lived together were attacked by Ramirez in the summer of 1985. Lang was barely alive, but this guys stuck around the house to have a banana.
A pentagram was written on one of the victims and on the wall.
So this Pentagram opens up a new can of worms - obviously it has something to do with the motive. Right?
"Satan is a stabilizing force in my life. It gives me a reason to be. It is a driving force that motivates me into doing things. I dream about this shit."
So there are more assaults and crimes that are committed. He attempted to kidnap a young girl. Stole a car. Etc. They want to process the car. Find prints. It was left outside and the evidence was lost for sure. The investigators were pissed.
More people die. He still isn't caught.
July 7th - yet again, more shoeprints after a murder and rape in the same night.
Five cases in ten days. This is beyond out of control.
After 113 days of the police doing their hardest work, the media starts snooping into the investigation.
Investigators and Reporters finally chatted about things, only to keep the details about the shoe quiet. That was kind of their smoking gun at this point.
"Serial Killers have one thing in common...they don't stop killing..."
So the pressure is not only on, but its like Instant Pot ON. The investigators are having personal problems because of how intense this investigation has become. Families at home are frustrated, and the community is becoming increasingly concerned.
So then in the car that they couldn't get any prints off of - they find out that this guy had a dentist appointment from a business card that was left there. They get the dental records from the dentist, and they're SURE that he'll come back for his impacted tooth. So they stake out the dentist office. They are sure that they'll get him this time.
Episode 3: Lock. Your. Doors.
Cut forward to Chinatown Dentist office. Somehow the department pulled the officers off of the stakeout, and they missed the fucker AGAIN in July of 1985.
Because of that failure, more people end up dead. The Glendale and Sun Valley Murders take place, and he still manages to get away with all of this. Again - two crimes in the same night.
Yet again, the fucking shoe print is found at the Sun Valley scene, and the victims who survived give an amazing description and the infamous composite sketch is released.
"...they need to get inside the mind of a serial killer."
The people of LA start buying more guns and guard dogs, or even start investing in personal self-defense classes. The Media takes a name and runs with it - The Night Stalker. Personal opinion? Great name - instills a lot of fear, and I'm sad to say he deserved it.
August 8 - another family is destroyed. Husband killed, wife raped and beaten, and their child bound. Then he steals their valuables, eats some food, and leaves.
The Sheriff's Office does a PSA for every media station, and sent it out so that every team was on the same page with police.
San Francisco - ten days later on August 18th, Ramirez moves and attacks in the Bay Area instead of his usual stomping grounds.
The Pan crime scene was extra disgusting, and it was absolutely on purpose, and at the same time utterly confusing. Vomit, semen, and a pentagram on the wall.
The LA Sheriff's Office and San Fran's Office call each other and boom - the link is made. The media catches wind, they hop on the same plane as the investigators, and all together they fly 500 miles down to the new crime scene.
The Media THEN finds out that there was the Pentagram trend at some of the Crime Scenes. The Media spreads this information and Jesus H Christ is the fear-mongering real. The Media's nose, in this case, was so far up the Investigator's asses that the officers were doing their literal best to keep vital information close to their chest. You can only share so much evidence before you show all of your cards.
So, the San Fran PD decide to issue a reward, and get the Mayor on their side to support this. The Mayor does a Press Conference, and she tells the public EVERYTHING. EV-ER-EY-THINGGGGGGGG. EVEN ABOUT THE SHOE PRINTS.
Sure enough, the shoes disappeared. He found a new pair, it seems. The prints were never found at another scene, and the shoes were never recovered from Ramirez.
SO the LA cops decide to do their own Press Conference, and they discuss how the case has now been jeopardized in an irrecoverable way. The investigators are back on the case the next morning, back in LA, and sure enough on August 24th he strikes again, but this one would be his downfall.
He stole a car and drove to Mission Viejo, and the car was identified early in the night; he went to a second location, committed a rape and murder, and then fled.
They find the car and boom - they have a fingerprint on the car.
Finally, SOMETHING.
A woman calls in, saying her dad has befriended a man who has confessed a murder to him. With this man, the police recover a stolen radio, and, believe it or not, the .22. The MURDER WEAPON. The man said this guy called himself "Rick."
Back in San Francisco, they have another connection to this weird "Rick." Another man, Armando, was part of this connection, and avoids helping the police as much as he possibly can. Armando fights with the police, not wanting to cooperate.
He finally gives up the name, while an investigator is beating the shit out of him.
"Richard Ramirez. Richard Ramirez."
Episode 4: Manhunt
We finally learn about who this fucker Ramirez is. And its not looking good. Awful childhood, drugs, poor influences. He was set up for failure.
Richard Ramirez.
This guy, man. He was fucked from the beginning, and it led to him being more fucking evil than anybody else.
He had a small criminal record. So they matched the fingerprint from the car, and confirmed his 1984 booking photo with the original informant and boom. They're looking at the Night Stalker. Let's share it with the Media.
The Police obtain the Murder Warrant. They share this info with the media, and by the next afternoon, they had him in custody.
On the morning of August 31, 1985, 167 days of investigation later, Ramirez leaves a bus depot, and into a Liquor Store. His face is on every single newspaper front page. He hops another bus, and a passenger recognized him on the bus. He gets off the bus, as someone calls the cops, and the chase is on. He runs across a freeway, continues into a neighborhood, attempting a carjacking, which fails. He keeps running, but he can't outrun the police any longer.
Nor the citizens. A bunch of residents attacked him, after he attempted a second carjacking, and Ramirez surrendered himself to the police as the crowd hustled him. Someone grabs a newspaper and the crowd gets upset again. This is the guy. This HAD to be the guy.
And it was. The investigators are notified that he was in custody, and the crowds knew it too. Word spreads like crazy. The crowds come to the Police Station, and clamor to see the killer.
The Investigators successfully remove him to the jail, and people were so incredibly happy that Ramirez's reign of terror was over. We get to hear that the survivors and the families of the victims were thrilled to hear that he was finally captured.
The investigators played to Ramirez's interests (other serial killers), and left him in Kenneth Bianchi's old cell. Ramirez was so excited. Gross.
The investigators re-connect with family and loved ones who are all relieved that Ramirez is finally behind bars.
The police do a line-up, and Ramirez is identified as the culprit.
The show takes some time to look over the courtroom footage, and we get some interviews from the attorneys on how they ended up on the case, and their professional histories.
Partway through the trial, the documentary looks at how Ramirez shows off a pentagram drawn onto his palm to the cameras, and then pled Not Guilty, leaving the courtroom announcing, "Hail Satan!"
Ok honey, we get it, you want to be the center of attention.
We also look at the abnormal "groupies," as they are referred to, who are very into Ramirez in a sexual way (???) - confusing. These women are experiencing a parasocial relationship. Just because he is famous makes him interesting. Also Gross.
Some years go by, and the prosecutors decide to not follow through on the child-abuse cases for Ramirez, to protect the children from unnecessary re-living of their trauma. The prosecutors are confident that they can get the death penalty without trying them.
A few years later, the trial officially begins.
I'm sure there was a long list of witnesses that were brought to the stand during this trial. And the re-living of all of those events was, as I'm sure, incredibly difficult.
The Verdicts were read.
43 Counts.
Every. Single. One.
Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty.
He was sentenced to death in the gas chamber.
He made a final statement at his sentencing hearing.
'It's nothing for you to understand, but I do have something to say. I have a lot to say, but now is not the time or the place.
'I don't know even why I'm wasting my breath, but what the hell.
'For so what is said of my life, there have been lies in the past and there will be lies in the future. I don't believe in the hypocritical, moralistic dogma of this so-called civilized society.
'I need not look beyond this room to see all the liars, the haters, the killers, the crooks, the paranoid cowards. Truly the trematodes of the earth, each one of his own legal profession.
'You maggots, hypocrites one and all. We are all expendable for a cause. No one knows that better than those who kill for policy, clandestinely or openly as to the governments of the world which kill in the name of God and country and for whatever else they deem appropriate.
'I don't need to hear all of society's rationalizations. I've heard them before, and the fact remains that what is, is. You don't understand me. You are not expected to. You are not capable of it.
'I am beyond your experience. I am beyond good and evil. Legions of the night, nightbreed, repeat not the errors of night prowler and show no mercy. I will be avenged. Lucifer dwells in us all. That's it.'
And then, after the sentencing and his incredibly lackluster statement, he began to be linked to other crimes. Fingerprints were found, he admitted things, and the investigators state that it was quite likely there are many more crimes that were committed that were not yet linked to him.
2013 - June - Ramirez dies from cancer. He got lucky and died early.
In the end: the timeline shows this. Ramirez had likely started long long before these sprees that put him on the map for the investigators.
Nobody just randomly starts this hardcore. So what made him evil in the first place?
We don't really know, honestly. Something about nature and nurture, or a fucked up combination of the two.
This documentary series was very well put together, and honestly quite heart-wrenching.
I was impressed, and I loved the way it was composed.
-B
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