Dubbed the Night Stalker by the media, serial murderer Richard Ramirez instilled fear throughout California in the mid-1980s.
His horrifying method of operation, which also made him incredibly elusive, involved breaking into seemingly random houses and brutally attacking any occupants he discovered inside.
Ramirez was responsible for the deaths of up to 20 individuals before his eventual capture. However, a former jailer claims that the serial killer bragged about potentially doubling his victim count if he had so desired.
Sheriff’s Deputy Jim Ellis informed the court that Ramirez had spoken for approximately half an hour, calmly recounting the series of shootings, stabbings, and mutilations he had committed.
Ellis stated that Ramirez took pleasure in the brutality of his deeds and even professed to have derived enjoyment from observing his victims’ struggles. He also revealed a collection of eerie photographs he had taken and confessed to gouging out a woman’s eyes when she failed to provide him with money.
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Reportedly, Ramirez also claimed that his capture was solely due to inadvertently leaving a fingerprint at one of the crime scenes, expressing regret for not eliminating the police officers who discovered it.
During this unsettling soliloquy, Ramirez succinctly summarised his motive in five bone-chilling words. According to Ellis, the serial killer declared: “I love to kill people.”
Ramirez reportedly said: “I love watching people die. I would shoot them in the head, and then they would wiggle and squirm all over the place, and then just stop, or cut them with a knife, and watch the face turn really white.
The statement was subsequently deemed admissible by a judge, despite Ramirez denying through his lawyer that he ever made such remarks. He proceeded to be found guilty of 13 murders and numerous other violent crimes committed during his campaign of terror across California.
Ramirez was convicted of 13 counts of murder, five attempted murders, 11 sexual assaults, and 14 burglaries, and received a death sentence.
Throughout his trial, observers noted that Ramirez appeared to smirk continuously, as though entertained by proceedings.
He died of natural causes while on death row.