How Was Night Stalker Richard Ramirez Caught? All About the Angry Mob That Captured the Serial Killer in 1985

Mar. 15, 2025

Richard Ramirez, accused of being the serial killer called the “Night Stalker” appears in court on October 9, 1985 in Los Angeles, CA.Photo:Bettmann/ Getty

Bettmann/ Getty

For over a year, a serial killer terrorized Los Angeles — until its residents took him down.

The Peacock docuseriesRichard Ramirez: The Night Stalker Tapes, out Dec. 10, explores the life and crimes of the notorious killer. It even includes recorded interviews with Ramirez, who died in 2013.

“We were saying that if he got caught around here in East L.A. he’d probably get his butt beat up because all the guys around here all know about him,” neighbor Eloise Cabral told theLos Angeles Timesin 1985. “They would just love to get their hands on him. And now we wake up the next morning and find him across the street.”

So how was the Night Stalker caught? Here’s everything to know about Richard Ramirez and the mob that captured him.

Who was the Night Stalker?

AP Photo/Doug Pizac

In the 1980s, a serial killer who local media named the Night Stalker, terrorized cities across L.A. County. Police eventually identified this violent criminal asRichard Ramirez, a drifter from El Paso, Texas, with a history of drug abuse and auto theft.

According to his obituary inThe New York Times, Ramirez was exposed to extreme violence from a young age. When he was 12, his older cousin Miguel Ramirez showed him photos of women he raped and killed during the Vietnam War. A year later, he witnessed that same family member shoot and kill his wife — Miguel was later sentenced to seven years for the crime.

Ramirez moved to L.A. when he was 15 and learned burglary techniques from an older brother. He reportedly sold stolen goods to pay for his cocaine addiction and was jailed for several months for auto theft before the murders began.

Who were the Night Stalker’s victims?

Anastasia Hronas, a 6 year old survivor of Richard Ramirez aka the ‘Night Stalker’.Netflix

Netflix

Ramirez committed his first known murder on April 10, 1984 — though he wasn’t linked to the crime until years later.

Nine-year-old Mei “Linda” Leung was found dead in the basement of her apartment building after she went looking for a lost dollar bill. She had been beaten, raped and stabbed. Police revived the case in 2009 and matched DNA evidence from the scene with a sample from Ramirez.

He then killed 14 people between June 1984 and August 1985: Vincow, Dayle Okazaki, Veronica Yu, Vincent Zazzara, Macine Zazzara, Bill Doi, Mable “Ma Bell” Bell, Florence “Nettie” Lang, Mary Louise Cannon, Joyce Lucille Nelson, Max Kneiding, Lela Kneiding, Chainarong Khovananth and Elyas Abowath.

During his spree, he also robbed, beat, raped and attempted to murder others who managed to survive. One survivor told former Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department detective Frank Salerno that Ramirez made her invoke the name of Satan during the attack. InRichard Ramirez: The Night Stalker Tapes,the convicted murderer said that he was introduced to Satanism when he was 21.

“Satan is a stabilizing force in my life,” he said in recorded tapes featured in the docuseries. “It gives me a reason to be. It gives me an excuse to rationalize. I was in alliance with the evil that is inherent in human nature and that was who I was.”

TheLos Angeles Timesreported in 1986 that Ramirez bragged about killing 20 people to a prison staffer. In addition to the later confirmed killing of Leung, he’s also suspected of murdering Peter Pan in San Francisco.

How was the Night Stalker caught?

Color composite of police sketches of the LA Nightstalker Killer.Getty

Getty

Thanks to reports from witnesses and survivors, police were able to track down a stolen station wagon Ramirez had been driving and pull a fingerprint from the back of the rearview mirror. In 2017,Los Angeles Magazinereported that after excluding 100 similar prints from their database, the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department made a conclusive match:Richard Ramirez.

“We went through an agonizing, soul-searching discussion as to whether to proceed on this identification,” L.A. County Sheriff Sherman Block told reporters after they decided to release his name and mug shot from a previous car theft arrest to the public.

Witnesses told theLos Angeles Timesthat at least four people grabbed him before he could flee and held him until police arrived. When Ramirez tried to escape the mob of residents, they chased after him and hit him repeatedly with a steel rod.

“Once he stopped, everyone just got him,” Jaime Burgoin, one of the residents who caught Ramirez, told the newspaper in 1985. “The guy was hitting him with the bar–he just kind of stopped and looked back. I guess he was tired.”

What was the Night Stalker charged with?

A mug shot of the “Night Stalker” serial killer, who perpetrated a series of brutal murders in the Los Angeles area in 1984 and 1985.Bettmann/Getty

Bettmann/Getty

On Sept. 20, 1989, Ramirez was charged with 13 counts of murder, five counts of attempted murder, 11 counts of sexual assault and 14 counts of burglaries. He was given a total of 13 death sentences.

“He never showed any remorse for what he had done,” Detective Salerno said in a 2015 episode ofMurder Made Me Famous. “He was pure evil.”

While awaiting execution, Ramirez died of B-cell lymphoma in 2013 at the age of 53.

source: people.com