Richard Ramirez
Ricardo "Richard" Leyva Muñoz Ramírez (; February 29, 1960 – June 7, 2013), dubbed the Valley Intruder (as his attacks were first clustered in the San Gabriel Valley) and the Night Stalker, was an American serial killer, serial rapist, kidnapper, child abuser, and burglar, convicted in 1989.

Born in El Paso, Texas, Ramirez's childhood is considered an influence on his crimes. His father, Julián, was prone to fits of anger that often resulted in physical abuse, causing Ramirez to seek escape by sleeping in a local cemetery. As a 12-year-old, Ramirez was strongly influenced by his older cousin, Miguel ("Mike") Ramirez, a decorated Green Beret combat veteran who showed Richard Ramirez polaroid photos of his gruesome atrocities during the Vietnam War, such as raping Vietcong women and Vietnamese women and girls suspected of being loyal to the communist forces in the region, and murdering them by decapitating them with a machete afterwards when he was done with them, and he taught Ramirez some of his military skills that he would go on to use during his year long killing spree. In 1973, after his cousin Mike was incarcerated for murdering his wife during an argument, which the then 13 year old Richard was in the room to witness, Ramirez moved in with his older sister, Ruth, and her husband, Roberto, an obsessive "peeping Tom" who took Ramirez along on his nocturnal exploits. Ramirez also began using LSD and cultivated an interest in Satanism.

Ramirez's highly publicized home invasion and murder crime spree terrorized the residents of the Greater Los Angeles area and later the residents of the San Francisco Bay Area from June 1984 until August 1985. He used a wide variety of weapons, including handguns, knives, a machete, a tire iron, and a claw hammer. In 1989, Ramirez was convicted of thirteen counts of murder, five attempted murders, eleven sexual assaults, and fourteen burglaries. The judge who upheld Ramirez's nineteen death sentences remarked that his deeds exhibited "cruelty, callousness, and viciousness beyond any human understanding". Ramirez, who never expressed any remorse for his crimes, died on June 7, 2013 of complications from B-cell lymphoma while awaiting execution on California's death row. Richard Ramirez had spent roughly 24 years on death row before his death from cancer in prison.
Q2363753
San Gabriel Valley
LOC
Q484188
serial killer
Concept
Q26267537
serial rapist
Concept
Q318296
kidnapper
Concept
Q167191
child abuse
Concept
Q329425
burglar
Concept
Q16562
El Paso, Texas
LOC
Q2827132
physical abuse
Concept
Q482421
Green Beret
Concept
Q8740
Vietnam War
EVE
Q174423
Vietcong
ORG
Q183548
"peeping Tom"
Concept
Q23118
LSD
Concept
Q133363
Satanism
Concept
Q3560381
home invasion
Concept
Q1050826
Greater Los Angeles
LOC
Q213205
San Francisco Bay Area
LOC
Q230711
machete
Concept
Q733887
tire iron
Concept
Q81672
attempted murder
Concept
Q2858821
death sentences
Concept
Q4833719
B-cell lymphoma
Concept
Q1083686
death row
Concept
Q382035
Richard Ramirez
PER
Q382035
Richard Ramirez
PER
1960-02-29T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
February 29, 1960
DATE
2013-06-07T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
June 7, 2013
DATE
1989-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1989
DATE
1973-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1973
DATE
1984-06-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
June 1984
DATE
1985-08-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
August 1985
DATE
1989-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1989
DATE
2013-06-07T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
June 7, 2013
DATE
+12^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
12
NUMBER
+13^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
13
NUMBER
+24^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
24
NUMBER
convicted of
date of death
participant