Richard Ramirez: From Childhood Shadows to the Night Stalker
He looked like any other boy—dark eyes, shy smile, a face full of innocence. Born in El Paso, Texas, in 1960, no one could have imagined this child would one day terrify California and earn the nickname “Night Stalker.”
The youngest of five in a working-class Mexican-American family, his early life was marked by fear and instability. His mother worked long hours at a shoe factory, while his father, an army veteran, ruled the household with explosive anger. Friends described him as quiet, withdrawn, and solitary—but behind closed doors, life was brutal.
By age six, he had already suffered severe head injuries from beatings, resulting in temporal lobe epilepsy. Punishments were extreme: on one occasion, his father tied him to a cemetery cross overnight, leaving him alone among the graves. Trauma became routine.
By ten, he had begun self-medicating with alcohol and drugs. As a teenager, he wandered the desert with his father’s .22 rifle, hunting animals—sometimes mutilating them and feeding their remains to his dog. Witnessing horrific violence, including the murder of a relative’s wife, further eroded his sense of morality and safety.
By fifteen, he dropped out of school, isolating himself from peers and society. He spent time with relatives obsessed with voyeurism, prowling neighborhoods at night. By his early twenties, he had drifted to California, surviving on theft, burglary, and cocaine addiction. Psychologists later described him as a “made” psychopath, a product of trauma and environment rather than inheritance.
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