The Psychology of Richard Ramirez
By: Caleb Harder
Tags: Rape, True Crime, Murder, Richard Ramirez, Serial Killers

The Psychology of Richard Ramirez

Convicted killer Richard Ramirez appears in a Los Angeles, Ca. court.

In the sweltering nights between June 1984 and August 1985, a serial killer slithered his way through residents’ windows and doors in the Los Angeles and Bay Area of California. This individual would break into homes, murdering males who resided there before proceeding to rape and torture his female victims to death. The homes would be burglarized and pentagrams were left on occasion. Richard Ramirez, also known as the Night Stalker, amassed thirteen confirmed victims throughout a 14-month crime spree. This paper will study the psychological motives of Ramirez’s crimes through his psychosexual development and affirm this in the application of social learning theory.

Summary of Crimes

Richard Ramirez would kill over a dozen people, torture 25, and burglarize scores of homes. His criminal pattern never suggested a preference toward a particular demographic. Females in California aged nine to 79-years-old fell victim to the murderer. His first official victim was an elderly woman who was sexually assaulted, violently stabbed, and nearly decapitated in her own home. (Carlo, 1996) The terror continued with Ramirez targeting two roommates, Angela Barrios and Dayle Okazaki, nearly nine months after the first murder. Barrios managed to escape after a bullet ricocheted off her car keys. He entered the apartment and shot Okazaki dead. (Vanderborg, 2013) (Crime+Investigation UK, 2017) Later that evening, 30-year-old Tsai-Lian Yu was dragged out of her car and shot multiple times. She later died after first responders arrived on scene.

For an entire summer, Ramirez would rape and murder many more people while all of Los Angeles County feared for their lives. He would eventually be caught after a teenager saw him get away in a stolen Toyota station wagon. A fingerprint was lifted from the inside mirror and linked Ramirez from a previous misdemeanor. He was then arrested after being spotted and chased down by a mob of bystanders. Ramirez was found guilty for “13 counts of murder, five attempted murders, 11 sexual assaults and 14 burglaries.” (Vanderborg, 2013) He sat on death row for his crimes at San Quentin Prison until his death from B-cell Lymphoma in 2013.

Psychodynamic Theory of Sexual Pleasure Derived From Violence

Not only were the murders committed by Richard Ramirez heinous in their execution, they were overtly sexual and deviant in nature. He would rape and torture women before eventually killing them. In 1985, victims like Diamond Bar, were bound and forced to “swear upon Satan” prior to his acts of violence. (Feldman, 1986) A 63-year-old victim was sodomized and raped by Ramirez, meanwhile in another attack on a woman, he gouged out her eyes, then shot her several times. (Chen, 1989)

This perverse deviance towards women and tendencies to mutilate human bodies in the act of murder with a sexual overtone suggests a psychological corruption of Ramirez. It can be considered Ramirez became predatory due to a paraphilic response during his psychosexual development.

Paraphilia is considered to be “any of a group of disorders in which unusual or bizarre fantasies or behavior are necessary for sexual excitement.” (American Psychological Association) This disorder would include pleasure gained from imposing physical and psychological torture on a victim, falling under the sub-category of sexual sadism.

Why Paraphilic Individuals Can Become Offenders

Research suggests most sadistic and sexual offenders, as well as sexual murderers, are subject to a combination of their own fantasies and classical conditioning to explain why they offend. Fantasies can form as a relief from tragic reality and a shield from any traumas the perpetrators may have faced in their developmental stages. The perpetrator’s only true gratification is by committing acts their inner conscience craves. Their fantasies can include power, domination, humiliation, revenge, and molestation. (Arrigo, 2007) This stimulus, when provoked, establishes true liberation for the individual.

The Influence of Miguel “Mike” Ramirez

When Ramirez was 12-years-old, his cousin, Miguel “Mike” Ramirez, came back from serving in Vietnam. Upon arrival, Mike became a heavy influence on Richard’s behaviour. He would tell the young boy stories about raping and murdering Vietnamese women for the sake of pure entertainment. Mike produced photographs of the acts to show how graphic his escapades were. The final photo presented a “rape victim’s severed head, held by [Miguel] in his hand, positioned so that the victim’s mouth was placed around his penis.” (Grise, 2000) The introduction of these pictures awakened something in Richard, and he would frequently look upon them to masturbate.

The glorification of sadistic behaviour toward a young and impressionable Richard Ramirez sparked the catalyst moment for when his mind was corrupted. Eventually, the mere act of looking at violent images would not be enough.

Priming at Holiday Inn

During his teenage years, Ramirez took a position at his local Holiday Inn. It was at this job he began to act on his sexual urges. As an employee, he had access to a master key, which allowed him to enter a woman’s room while she was alone. Ramirez then proceeded to attempt to rape her before the woman’s husband entered back into the room. He beat Ramirez and the couple left the hotel. The victim opted not to press charges as she was on vacation. (Penn State, 2019) At this point, Richard Ramirez had been working up the courage to fully brutalize someone for sexual pleasure. If he were not caught in the act, he may have been able to follow through.

Murder of Mei Leung

On April 10, 1984, Richard Ramirez took his first presumptive victim. Nine-year-old Mei Leung was beaten and raped before she was stabbed to death. The child was then hung over a pipe in the basement of her apartment in San Francisco. (Van Derbeken, 2012) This initial case sees Ramirez living out his sexual deviant fantasies of sodomy and mutilation to the human body. It was a killing which would mark the beginning of a spree that fed a paraphilic urge which could never be satisfied by the next sexual murder.

Social Learning Theory

In order for Richard Ramirez to progress beyond his deviant adolescent urges, he had to learn how to act on them. He was molded and primed through a psychological process known as social learning. This theory proposes that behaviours and actions are learned through the process of observational learning. It complements the ideas of both classical and operant conditioning. (McLeod, 2016) A child, while at their most formative stage of life may pick up the habits and traits of their parents or older figures who are present around them.

Male Influences in Ramirez’s Childhood

While under the influence of his older cousin Mike, young Richard was taught how to shoot a gun and wield a knife. Mike had already encroached into the boy’s mind with the deviancy of sadism, something which was kept as a secret between the two of them. The training of weaponry ended up becoming the second step to molding what would later on create a killer. (Grise, 2000)

When he was thirteen, he would travel to Los Angeles to visit his older brother Ruben, who introduced him to prostitution corners and adult stores. Richard would join him in committing burglaries. He would be taught how to get through locks, “how to open windows, the things to look out for — dogs, alarms, motion detectors.” (Carlo, 1996)

Later that year, Ramirez would move in with his older sister, Ruth, and her husband, Roberto, who brought Richard along on Peeping Tom nights. The two would lurk in backyards to watch couples have intercourse or catch a glimpse of a nude woman. Ramirez would find the situations sexually stimulating and continued the practice of voyeurism alone after the two were caught by his disapproving sister. (Carlo, 1996)

All three of these men ended up having an impact on Ramirez and his social learning in one way or another. Mike would initially introduce Richard to the idea of sexual violence and normalize the concept for the child. His weapons training for Ramirez taught him how to overpower his victims, while brutalizing and violating bodies.

The art of burglary, taught by his brother Ruben, equipped him with the ability to gain entry into his victims’ residences without notice. Through this, he could silently approach unsuspecting individuals and begin a violent assault.

Roberto’s influence perpetuated Richard’s infatuation with deviancy and affirmed the notion of stalking and observing one’s prey. This combined with the knowledge gained from Ruben would later help him create the identity of the Night Stalker.

Conclusion

It can never be known what kind of person Richard Ramirez would have grown up to be had he not encountered the experiences he faced in his adolescence. Social learning through the male influences in his life solidified the idea of a tolerance for sexual deviancy and projecting violence towards one’s own erotic desires. If he had more positive influences in his life, we may have seen a different outcome for Ramirez. However, his mind was perverted to the point he felt murder and mutilation were to the only ways to satisfy his cravings for release from the bounds of mundane reality. They were killings which would achieve a sense of euphoria, temporarily fulfilling his urges.

References

Arrigo, B. A., Ph.D. (2007). Research Reports. Retrieved July 08, 2020, from https://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/research/shp2007-paraphil06-eng.shtml

Carlo, P. (1996). 1. In Night Stalker: The Life and Crimes of Richard Ramirez (pp. 5–10). New York, NY: Citadel Press.

Carlo, P. (1996). 23. In The night stalker: The Life and Crimes of Richard Ramirez (pp. 158–159). New York, NY: Citadel Press.

Carlo, P. (1996). 23. In The night stalker: The Life and Crimes of Richard Ramirez (pp. 161–162). New York, NY: Citadel Press.

Chen, E. (1989, January 31). Jurors begin to hear grim tale of alleged ‘Night Stalker’ crimes. Retrieved from https://documents.latimes.com/jurors-begin-hear-grim-tale-alleged-night-stalker-crimes/

Crime+Investigation UK. (2017, July 31). Richard Ramirez: The Night Stalker. Retrieved July 08, 2020, from https://www.crimeandinvestigation.co.uk/crime-files/richard-ramirez-the-night-stalker/crimes

Feldman, P. (1986, April 16). Ramirez Ordered Her to ‘Swear Upon Satan,’ Rape Victim Testifies. Retrieved July 08, 2020, from https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-04-16-me-138-story.html

Grise, J. (2000, December). Richard Ramirez. Retrieved July 08, 2020, from https://www.nyu.edu/classes/keefer/ww1/grise.html

McLeod, S. (2016). Albert Bandura — Social Learning Theory. Retrieved July 08, 2020, from https://www.simplypsychology.org/bandura.html

Penn State. (2019, November 07). Richard Ramirez: Head Injuries Galore. Retrieved July 08, 2020, from https://sites.psu.edu/kcruzpassionblog/2019/11/07/richard-ramirez-head-injuries-galore/

Van Derbeken, J. (2012, February 10). ‘Night Stalker’ tied to slaying of S.F. girl. Retrieved July 08, 2020, from https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Night-Stalker-tied-to-slaying-of-S-F-girl-3213197.php

Vanderborg, C. (2013, June 07). Richard Ramirez Dies: Complete List and Timeline Of ‘Night Stalker’ Victims. Retrieved July 08, 2020, from https://www.ibtimes.com/richard-ramirez-dies-complete-list-timeline-night-stalker-victims-photo-1296861