Posted on 08/25/2012 3:43:56 PM PDT by South40
The killer crept into the backyard.
The single-story house was on Via Zaragosa in Mission Viejo. It was about 1:30 a.m. on Sunday, Aug. 25, 1985 – 27 years ago.
Inside the house, a 13-year-old boy couldn't sleep. His family had come home from Rosarito Beach several hours earlier, and James Romero III wanted to retrieve a pillow he had left in his family's camper. His parents and sister were asleep.
The boy left his house through a side door.
Romero had no idea, in that dark moment, how close he was to Richard Ramirez, who was about to become known as "The Night Stalker."
(Excerpt) Read more at ocregister.com ...
Yes, ‘El Diablo’ - I was very nervous that summer, still am very careful to close windows and lock doors, always - because of the NS.
They were beating him with a fence post that they pulled out of the ground. An LA Sheriff’s Deputy rolled up, and (sadly) saved his life. LAPD found out; swarmed the area, and in the chaos, took custody. Chief Gates proudly took credit for the apprehension, at the press conference. I am not a Gates detractor (generally), but that move P’d me off (LASD + LAPD are different departments).
LAPD put a police artist drawing of Ramirez on the front page of the Times. That's why the neighborhood folk recognized and chased him down. Shame that sheriff saved him.
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He was in line at a liquor store to buy a pack of cigs. The guy in front of him turned around to make conversation. He looked at Ramirez, looked back at the newsstand, repeated the process. He ID’d the perp, and all “L” broke loose.
Yeah I can’t belive its been 27 years it was a very eerie time in So Cal
As I recall, he tried to carjack a Latino woman who called out for help. The neighbors orginally thought it was a woman being assaulted which is not exactly a guarantee of popularity in Latino neighborhoods. Once her screams got their attention, they made the connection. The police had to rescue him from the crowd.
I also seem to remember that he’d just gotten off a bus from an out of town trip.
Sick sick sick
Hmm. There’s about half a dozen versions of the arrest. The one involving a car which, now, sounds familiar, involved him trying to steal it while the owner was underneath working on it. He’d already been spotted by a liquor store owner when he stopped to buy cigarettes after getting off the bus. She’d alerted several folks who were following him when he attempted the car theft. Probably somewhere in the various versions there’s something about a yelling female because I do remember that from the original reporting.
He had just returned from Phoenix, where he was buying cocaine.
Thanks! Clifford Linedecker’s book Night Stalker has a detailed chapter on the capture. He had actually run over two miles from the liquor store, had been confronted by a number of citizens, struggled with the owner of the car he was trying to steal, then attempted to carjack a woman’s vehicle. An interesting piece of trivia is that the Sheriff’s deputy who first got “hands on” was also named Ramirez.
Ramirez was well named El Diablo
I won't go into details but we heard testimony from the ME and CSI investigators regarding his murders in the Lakeshore district. It was horrific. Meanwhile between Rickies’ hot prowls he supplemented his income with burglaries.
There was at least one B/E he screwed up where he entered a residence in an upscale neighborhood and ransacked the downstairs for loot for 30-45min. The owners either daughter or niece was asleep in an upstairs bedroom all during this time. He never went upstairs and and missed her. She surely would have been killed or injured. LE was pretty sure it was Ramirez.
The jewelery he took was distinctive and when he fenced it to his fence in El Sobrante it was traced to the fence who gave LE a name “Ricky”. This started his downfall.
In the meantime our great Mayor DIFI decided to do a PSA advising the public on his MO and his “equipment” which he promptly disposed of.
It was a real look into the “Pit” on how evil walks the earth and you can have no idea who the devil is next to you.
Oh yeah during his reign of terror I slept with a loaded gun/flashlight close at hand. A very scary time.
I won't go into details but we heard testimony from the ME and CSI investigators regarding his murders in the Lakeshore district. It was horrific. Meanwhile between Rickies’ hot prowls he supplemented his income with burglaries.
There was at least one B/E he screwed up where he entered a residence in an upscale neighborhood and ransacked the downstairs for loot for 30-45min. The owners either daughter or niece was asleep in an upstairs bedroom all during this time. He never went upstairs and and missed her. She surely would have been killed or injured. LE was pretty sure it was Ramirez.
The jewelery he took was distinctive and when he fenced it to his fence in El Sobrante it was traced to the fence who gave LE a name “Ricky”. This started his downfall.
In the meantime our great Mayor DIFI decided to do a PSA advising the public on his MO and his “equipment” which he promptly disposed of.
It was a real look into the “Pit” on how evil walks the earth and you can have no idea who the devil is next to you.
Oh yeah during his reign of terror I slept with a loaded gun/flashlight close at hand. A very scary time.
Holy moly, close call! Brave boy.
I remember that hot summer very well. There we were, in a light colored house by a freeway exit. The home had a billion sliding glass doors that often were left open or didn’t lock properly. I was convinced we were his next target.
I remember cheering for those folks in east la who caught him and beat him and held him for the cops!
I didn’t know difi did that! Omg!
Yes, Feinstein blew it big time. You can read about it here: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=82d_1234581570
Thanks. What an idiot. If a republican had done it, there would have been hell to pay. She’d be directly responsible for murder. But dems can say anything. Ask joe Biden.
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