Richard Ramirez brutally murdered at least 14 people in the 1980s — then died quietly of B-cell lymphoma while awaiting execution in 2013.
Richard Ramirez’s death was supposed to happen in an execution chamber. The California serial killer known as the “Night Stalker” had been sentenced to death for his murder spree, which lasted between 1984 and 1985. Ramirez’s crimes were brutal, and many agreed he’d more than earned his sentence. But that’s not how Richard Ramirez died.
By 2013, the year of his death, Ramirez had spent about half his life behind bars. He’d been arrested at the age of 25 in 1985 and then put on trial for a horrifying series of murders, rapes, and assaults across California. The Night Stalker was ultimately found guilty of 43 charges — 13 counts of murder, five counts of attempted murder, 11 sexual assault charges, and 14 burglary charges — and sentenced to die in the gas chamber.
But instead of going straight to his planned execution, Ramirez languished on death row for years as he tried to appeal his sentence and the state struggled to absorb the gruesome, complicated facts of his case. He lived plenty of life while incarcerated — Ramirez even got married to a female admirer in 1996 — but he fell gravely ill at the age of 53 in 2013.
Richard Ramirez was brought from San Quentin State Prison to Marin General Hospital for treatment. There, he died on June 7, 2013 from complications related to B-cell lymphoma, a type of blood cancer.
This is the story of Richard Ramirez’s death, from his final days to how his family and surviving victims reacted to his sudden demise.
How The Night Stalker Terrorized California
Born on February 29, 1960, Richard Ramirez grew up in a volatile household in El Paso, Texas. Not only did Ramirez’s father purportedly beat him, but the young Ramirez also suffered multiple serious head injuries — including one from a dresser falling on him and one from getting hit by a swing — which led him to develop epileptic seizures by the age of five.
He was also greatly influenced by his cousin, Miguel, who showed Ramirez graphic photos of the women he’d raped and tortured while serving in Vietnam. When Ramirez was 13, he also witnessed Miguel killing his wife.
Richard Ramirez’s murder spree is believed to have started in April 1984, when a nine-year-old girl was found murdered in San Francisco (DNA evidence did not link Ramirez to this crime until 2009, so this case wasn’t part of his original trial). From there, he escalated quickly. And, chillingly, he was far more unpredictable than other California serial killers.
He didn’t have just one type of victim: Ramirez killed men and women, children and senior citizens, couples and people living alone. He didn’t have just one location that he used as his hunting grounds: Ramirez killed victims in both Northern California and Southern California. And Ramirez didn’t stick to just one method of attack: He used guns, knives, or his own brute strength to overpower people. He killed some victims, and assaulted others. Ramirez made some of his victims “swear to Satan” and later demanded that they call him the “Night Stalker.” He even gouged out one victim’s eyes.
By August 1985, police had gathered plenty of evidence about the Night Stalker, including witness testimonies about Ramirez’s terrible teeth. Ultimately, Ramirez was arrested in Los Angeles after a vigilante mob recognized him. They beat him and detained him until the police arrived.
Ramirez was put on trial in 1989, where he was ultimately found guilty on 43 counts. After a jury recommended that Ramirez be sentenced to death for his horrific crimes, the serial killer breezily replied: “Hey, big deal, death always comes with the territory. I’ll see you in Disneyland.”
Of course, “Disneyland” was not where Richard Ramirez died.
Richard Ramirez’s Death: How The Serial Killer Died After Decades On Death Row
After his sentencing, Richard Ramirez was sent to San Quentin State Prison, north of San Francisco. His time behind bars was eventful: He repeatedly tried to appeal his sentence and, in 1996, he married a female admirer named Doreen Lioy, a former editor for Tiger Beat who had become infatuated with the serial killer after seeing his mug shot.
“This is a feeling that began for me as long ago as that Friday, Aug. 30, 1985, the night before he was arrested and police broke into the television show I was watching to broadcast his picture,” she told the Los Angeles Times in 1996. “Looking back, I see it was a turning point for me. They showed his mug shot in the middle of Dallas, and I saw something in his eyes. Something that captivated me. It wasn’t as if I knew him. But there was something in his eyes… maybe the vulnerability, I don’t really know.”
However, Lioy’s infatuation didn’t last forever — the couple purportedly were not in contact at all during Ramirez’s final years, possibly due to the 2009 DNA evidence that linked Ramirez to the murder of nine-year-old Mei Leung. And when Ramirez fell ill in 2013, Lioy was nowhere to be found.
In June of that year, Ramirez was brought from San Quentin to Marin General Hospital to be treated for liver failure. As his autopsy later revealed, Ramirez was suffering from multiple health conditions, including chronic substance abuse and hepatitis C. Ramirez was purportedly in such bad shape that a source later told the New York Post that his skin had turned green.
“He looked like a green highlighter pen,” the source said.
Though the Night Stalker had languished on death row for years, Richard Ramirez’s death ultimately did not take long. At 9:10 a.m. on June 7, 2013, Richard Ramirez died at the age of 53. Ramirez’s cause of death was ultimately chalked up to complications of B-cell lymphoma.
But for his surviving victims, and the loved ones of the people he killed, Richard Ramirez’s death did not bring much satisfaction or closure.
The Reactions To Richard Ramirez’s Death
In the aftermath of Richard Ramirez’s death, many of his surviving victims reacted to the news with anger about his gruesome crimes.
“It’s about time,” Bill Carns, who was left partially paralyzed after Ramirez broke into his house in August 1985, shot him three times, and raped his girlfriend, told the Los Angeles Times after Richard Ramirez’s death. “He should have been put to death an awful long time ago.”
Carns, who had been an electrical engineer at the time of the attack and was living off Social Security and disability payments by the time Richard Ramirez died, added: “Sometimes I get mad and say, ‘Why did this happen to me?’ Things were really starting to happen for me, and things got cut short.”
Another surviving Ramirez victim, Sakina Abowath, expressed a similar mix of relief and resentment. In August 1985, Ramirez had bound and assaulted her and murdered her husband while their two sons were at home.
“I’ve been waiting for this news for the longest time,” Abowath said, according to the Los Angeles Daily News. “I wish that they would have hanged him or they would have given him the electric chair so he could feel pain like he inflicted on us… I never forget. It’s been exactly 28 years.”
That said, some prosecutors argued that Richard Ramirez had been punished because of his lengthy imprisonment.
“This person hurt many people, and our thoughts should be with the next of kin and survivors of these senseless attacks,” L.A. Deputy Dist. Atty. Alan Yochelson, who prosecuted Ramirez, told the Los Angeles Times. Though Ramirez had not been executed, Yochelson said that “some measure of justice has been achieved” because Ramirez had been incarcerated.
For Ramirez’s family, the matter was more complex. His niece told the Los Angeles Times that she felt “numb,” but hoped “a lot of people are at rest now.” She also added, “I don’t think what he did to anyone was right.”
For their part, Ramirez’s family reacted as any family might to a loved one’s passing. They told the El Paso Times: “We are mourning the loss of our son and brother, Richard Ramirez. The world judged him, whether fairly or unfairly, it no longer matters. He is now before the true judge, the judge that sees and knows all things. We ask that you respect our sorrow and grief.”
After reading about the death of Richard Ramirez, discover the story of Christopher Scarver, the man who killed serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer in prison. Or, discover the stories of some of history’s worst serial killers.