The little boy captured in this haunting photograph grew up to become one of the most infamous and evil men the world has ever known.
He was born on February 29, 1960, in El Paso, Texas, the youngest of five children in a family of Mexican immigrants. His father worked on the railroads, and the family followed strict Catholic traditions. On the surface, it seemed like a typical working-class upbringing in the American Southwest, but behind closed doors, the reality was far darker and more disturbing.
From a very young age, he suffered physical abuse from his father, a violent alcoholic prone to sudden, uncontrollable outbursts. By the time he was six, he had already endured multiple head injuries, leaving him with lasting damage and eventually developing temporal lobe epilepsy. Punishments were cruel and extreme; on some nights, his father tied him to a crucifix in a cemetery, leaving the terrified child alone among tombstones, shivering in fear and darkness.
By the age of ten, he had begun experimenting with marijuana and alcohol, seeking an escape from the constant violence at home. His adolescence was scarred by trauma that few could comprehend. On May 4, 1975, at just 15, he witnessed a horrifying event that would leave a permanent mark on his mind: his older cousin Miguel shot and killed Miguel’s wife, Jesse, in the face during a domestic dispute, right in front of him. Most children would have been traumatized; he became withdrawn, silent, and strangely detached. Miguel was later found not guilty by reason of insanity, and the boy dropped out of Jefferson High School in the ninth grade.
After that, he went to live with his sister and her husband, Roberto, an obsessive voyeur who involved him in spying on women at night through their windows. When Miguel was released from the mental hospital in 1977, he sometimes joined these disturbing nighttime activities, reinforcing a life steeped in abnormal and predatory behavior.
By 1982, at age 22, he moved permanently to California. During this time, he began heavily using cocaine, which quickly became his drug of choice. To support his addiction, he turned to theft and burglary, living a nomadic and unstable life between San Francisco and Los Angeles, without steady work or a permanent home. His criminal behavior escalated, laying the foundation for what would become a reign of terror.
Reign of Terror
On April 10, 1984, he committed his first known murder: nine-year-old Mei Leung in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district. He lured her into a basement, then brutally beat, strangled, sexually assaulted, and stabbed her before hanging her partially nude body from a pipe. This crime remained unsolved for 25 years until DNA evidence connected him in 2009.
Just two months later, on June 28, 1984, he murdered 79-year-old Jennie Vincow in her apartment, stabbing her repeatedly while she slept and nearly decapitating her. After a nine-month break, he went on a killing spree from March to August 1985, spreading terror across California. His attacks were random and unpredictable—breaking into homes at night, targeting anyone inside, from young women to elderly couples. He used guns, hammers, tire irons, knives, and in many cases, sexually assaulted his victims.
Satanic Signature
A chilling aspect of his crimes was his use of Satanic imagery. He drew pentagrams in lipstick on walls and victims’ bodies, forced survivors to swear on Satan that they were not hiding valuables, and often declared his devotion: “I love Satan,” demanding that his victims say the same. In one particularly horrifying attack, he killed 64-year-old Vincent Zazzara and his 44-year-old wife, Maxine. After murdering Maxine, he mutilated her body by carving an inverted cross into her chest and gouging out her eyes, which he kept in a jewelry box as a grotesque trophy.
Other victims suffered similarly horrific fates. He bludgeoned 83-year-old Mabel Bell and her 81-year-old sister Florence Lang with a hammer, electrocuted one of them, drew pentagrams on their bodies, and left them dead from their injuries. He stomped 60-year-old Joyce Lucille Nelson to death, leaving the imprint of his sneaker across her face.
The Hunt
The press quickly dubbed him the ‘Night Stalker,’ the ‘Walk-In Killer,’ and the ‘Valley Intruder.’ One of the largest police manhunts in California history unfolded, led by Detectives Frank Salerno and Gil Carrillo, who painstakingly connected crimes across multiple jurisdictions. The breakthrough came when 13-year-old James Romero III spotted him near his home and memorized details of the vehicle he was driving—a key piece of information. The abandoned stolen Toyota was found days later, with a single fingerprint on the rearview mirror, leading authorities to a 25-year-old drifter with a long criminal record.
On August 29, 1985, police released his mugshot to the public, announcing: “We know who you are now, and soon everyone else will. There will be no place you can hide.” The next day, he traveled to Tucson, Arizona, unaware that his face was plastered across newspapers and TV screens in California. Upon returning to Los Angeles, he was recognized by residents at a convenience store and chased down the street until police arrived.
Identity Revealed
His name was Richard Ramirez. During his trial, Ramirez displayed bizarre, cult-like behavior, raising a hand with a pentagram drawn on it and shouting: “Hail Satan!” He attracted followers who attended proceedings in support of his twisted ideology.
On September 20, 1989, the jury convicted him of 13 murders, five attempted murders, 11 sexual assaults, and 14 burglaries. He was sentenced to death on November 7, 1989. When informed of the verdict, he chillingly remarked, “Big deal. Death always went with the territory. See you in Disneyland.” The judge described his actions as showing “cruelty, callousness, and viciousness beyond any human understanding.”
Ramirez spent nearly 24 years on death row at San Quentin State Prison, where he married a 41-year-old supporter, Doreen Lioy, in 1996. Even while incarcerated, he boasted to officers of killing more than 20 people. On June 7, 2013, at age 53, Ramirez died from complications related to B-cell lymphoma, likely alone in a secure hospital room; his body went unclaimed and was later cremated.
Looking back at the photograph of the young boy, it’s almost impossible to reconcile that innocent, vulnerable face with the monstrous man he became—a chilling reminder of how trauma, neglect, and dark impulses can converge to create unimaginable evil.