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Netflix knows that true crime sells. Their documentary American Murder: The Family Next Door depicting the Watts family murders did incredibly well. Now, there is a new Netflix special on Richard Ramirez, the Night Stalker. Night Stalker: The Hunt For a Serial Killer debuted on January 13, 2021, and is now available for subscribers to view.
You can catch the trailer here:
The Night Stalker Influenced American Horror Story Writers
Richard Ramirez terrorized Californians from 1984-1985 through a string of home invasions, burglaries, rapes, and murders. Even until the very end, he never truly expressed remorse for his crimes or reign of terror.
While most true crime fans are already familiar with Ramirez’s crimes, many more first learned about him through American Horror Story: 1984. Zach Villa played the Night Stalker in this season.
“I mean, I just hate it,” Villa’s AHS co-star Angelia Ross said to Cinema Blend in 2019. “Honestly, it’s hard to say, because I love Zach. Zach is great, but I hated his character. I hated Richard Ramirez. I felt just a lot of different feelings about serial killers, and he’s a real serial killer, and…there’s just a lot of things going on. But I realized that I like to look at the world with rose-colored glasses. And as a Black trans woman, I’ve kind of had to settle with the fact that I can’t walk alone a lot. I have to check the backseat. I have to do these things in order to stay safe in today’s society, in this world. You don’t want to think that these things exist, but there are boogeymen out there.”
Californians Were Terrified. And For Good Reason.
Many found it so chilling that he didn’t seem to target any sort of particular person. Ramirez attacked men, women, children, and the elderly. It felt like no one was safe. He also didn’t seem to rely on one specific type of weapon and was instead known to use guns, knives, a tire iron, a machete, and even a hammer.
Inez Erickson, one of the Night Stalker’s victims, survived the attack and gave his description to the police. At a press conference, authorities announced, “We know who you are now, and soon everyone else will. There will be no place you can hide.”
Not long after, law enforcement officials apprehended Richard Ramirez on August 31, 1985. Authorities placed his total body count at 14 people. His youngest victim was a 9-year-old girl, Mei Leung.
After authorities caught up with Ramirez, courts convicted him of 13 counts of murder, 5 counts of attempted murder, 11 counts of sexual assault, and 14 counts of burglary. He received 19 death sentences.
Ramirez died from lymphoma complications while awaiting execution on death row on June 7, 2013. He was 53 years old and had been on death row for more than 20 years. At long last, an end came to the Night Stalker nightmare.
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