Richard Ramirez: podcast appearances and interviews

Richard Ramirez, born Ricardo Leyva Muñoz Ramirez on February 29, 1960, was an American serial killer, sex offender, and burglar known for a killing spree in the Greater Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay Area regions of California. His crimes, which occurred between April 1984 and August 1985, involved the murders of at least fifteen individuals during various break-ins. Ramirez's attacks often took place after dark, earning him nicknames such as the Night Stalker, the Walk-In Killer, and the Valley Intruder. His criminal activities included murder, attempted murder, rape, attempted rape, and burglary, and he employed a variety of weapons in his assaults. Ramirez's early life was marked by a troubled childhood characterized by frequent abuse by his father, brain damage, and early drug use beginning at age 10. His interests in the macabre, Satanism, and the occult were influenced by his older cousin, a Vietnam War veteran with schizophrenia and PTSD, who also committed murder in front of Ramirez when he was 15. Ramirez learned military skills from his cousin and later used them during his crimes. After moving to California at age 22, Ramirez engaged in burglaries to support his drug addiction. In 1989, he was convicted of 13 murders, five attempted murders, 11 sexual assaults, and 14 burglaries, receiving multiple death sentences. Despite eventual conviction, Ramirez did not show remorse for his actions and died in 2013 from complications related to B-cell lymphoma while awaiting execution in San Quentin State Prison.