The Night Stalker: The Life and Crimes of Richard Ramirez

A complete biography of one of the most famous American serial killers—Richard Ramirez, nicknamed “Night Stalker”! Based on the author’s personal meetings with the maniac. Brutal murders, a harsh childhood, devotion to Satanism, and an exciting police investigation. The phenomenon of the killer’s fan girls who dedicated themselves to him, became his friends, and even his wives.

In 2021, a documentary series was released based on the book by Netflix. From 1984 to 1985, Los Angeles was shaken by a ruthless serial murderer. An experienced burglar and cruel, dangerous Richard Ramirez would enter homes silently at night, robbing, raping, and killing everyone who stood in his way—and he did it in the name of Satan. Called the Night Stalker, he struck fear into every resident of the city, and for many years his name became synonymous with Satanism, torture, and sadistic killings.

Detectives hunting for the killer worked at the limit of their strength under incredible pressure from the press and society in a metropolis where the maniac could carry out several attacks in one night. After Ramirez was caught, society faced another phenomenon: crowds of female fans came to court to see the charming and mysterious maniac, wrote letters, and stood for long hours waiting in prison just to meet him in person.

Based on the author’s personal conversations with Ramirez himself, the detectives, the killer’s family, and his admirers, the book tells a complex story of a maniac whose image still draws women as moths to a flame. This astonishing and grim immersion into the dark core of human nature evokes, in some, adoration and sexual desire, and in others, hatred and superstitious fear.

Richard Ramirez, nicknamed the Night Stalker (1960–2013), was a serial killer responsible for more than thirteen murders in Los Angeles and San Francisco committed in 1984–1985. Despite a sentence passed in 1989, in 2009 DNA analysis made it possible to prove Ramirez’s involvement in another murder and the rape of a nine-year-old girl in San Francisco. In Netflix’s documentary film “Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer,” it is also mentioned that a six-year-old girl identified Ramirez as her attacker—but it was decided to drop those (and two similar) charges to avoid traumatizing minors during the court proceedings.

Detectives Frank Salerno and Gil Carrillo, who worked on the Night Stalker case, are convinced he was involved in a series of kidnappings and rapes of children that occurred in the county at the same time as the murders. Until the day he died, Ramirez was the “most popular” serial killer, receiving huge numbers of letters and visits. The bassist of Marilyn Manson’s band took the pseudonym Twiggy Ramirez—after the Night Stalker.

In the series “American Horror Story,” Richard Ramirez appears twice: in the fifth and ninth seasons.

“Every one of us has read books where the author tries to immerse you in the mind of a serial killer, but I can’t recall any book with such a level of physical and psychological unity between writer and killer.” — New York Press

“A phenomenally well-told true-crime story.” — Publishers Weekly

“Philip Carlo paints a compelling portrait of serial killer Richard Ramirez. He tells this terrifying story convincingly from multiple viewpoints, including that of the killer himself and two brilliant detectives who managed to crack his case.” — People Magazine