Anton LaVey about the Ramirez case: "Anything can
be misused. When I was a kid, every time there was a murder, the murderer would say something like 'God made me do it'
There are crazies, and there will always be crazies. And whatever is around that they can lay the blame on, they will do it."
Ramirez is known as the Night Stalker, for his fondness for the heavy metal band AC/DC,
Richard
Ramirez confined
his two year killing spree to one single area; the city of Los Angeles,
California.
Ramirez targeted middle class homes in suburban neighborhoods,
with robbery supposedly being his main intention, however he seemed to seek a confrontation.
He killed or incapacitated the males first, and then
he raped, attacked, and abused the females
in the house. In one case he carved out the eyes of a woman and carried them as trophies.
Ramirez claimed to be a Satanist. Pentagrams and other occult symbols
commonly associated with Satanism was found scrawled on
the bodies of some of the victims and on the walls of the homes where
they were killed.
Ramirez was finally caught in a quite dramatic way. While
attempting to steal a car in a heavy gang neighborhood, people
recognized him from a police composite sketch published in the
newspaper and starting chasing him down the street. More
people joined in the chase, and they eventually hunted
Ramirez down for the cops to arrest him.
Ramirez was sentenced to die in
the gas chamber for the murders of thirteen men and women. When he was handed the death penalty he told reporters escorting him out of court. "Death becomes with the territory. See you in Disneyland" and waved a pentagram drawn on the palm of his hand. According to himself he was responsible to even more murders. In prison he told a fellow inmate. "I´ve killed twenty people, man. I love all that blood."
Ed Kemper (10)
When Ed was a kid he enjoyed playing execution with his sister. He also enjoyed cutting the heads and hands off his sisters dolls. At the age of fourteen he killed his grandparents. And later he did the same to 8 women including his mother and her best friend.
Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono (10)
The Hillside Strangler was originally thought to be
the work of one man, but turned out to be the twisted
alliance of Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono. The two
of them were particularly vicious, experimenting with
electrocution, asphyxiation, and lethal injections of
Windex on their victims. They killed ten women in
California then
they got fed up with each other, and Kenneth
Bianchi moved up to Washington. He continued killing
without Buono, promptly got caught, and starting
confessing to the Hillside Strangler murders. Bianchi
also tried to fake insanity he claimed that he had multiple
personalities, but it didn't work. In another ill-fated
ruse to avoid prison he convinced a female friend to
fake a copycat killing in Washington, now they are both serving life terms in prison. Buono
is also serving nine life sentences back to back.
Peter Kurten (9)
While leading a seemingly normal married life, Kurten became known as the "Vampire of Dusseldorf." Not only was he a rapist and a serial killer, he also enjoyed drinking blood and had a taste for cannibalism.
Myra Hindley and Ian Brady (9)
They both enjoyed Nazi paraphernalia, pornography, sadism and serial slaying. Their victims of choice were children whom they abducted, molested and murdered. They became known as the Moors Murderers because they left several of their victims buried in the Saddleworth Moor near Manchester. Myra, amused by their media moniker, wrote a letter to Ian asking: "I didn't kill any moors, did you"?
David Berkowitz (6)
David Berkowitz claimed that the neighbor's dog, "Sam",
was possessed by the evil soul of a 6000 year old man.
This "Sam" ordered David to go out and murder people.
In New York State in the late 70s, Berkowitz had everyone in a state of
panic after the bizarre slaying of six strangers, with
seven severely traumatized. His signature was his cryptic messages left with his victims,
which would show up the next day in the newspapers.
Berkowitz courted publicity, even writing letters to
journalists. When he was finally caught, he pleaded
guilty to six murders and was sentenced to 315 years! in
prison. Some believe Berkowitz was the fall guy for a killing spree perpetrated by a satanic sect.
Ed Gein (2)
Gein was something
of a loner and when his mother died he went
crazy. After the disappearance of a women named Bernice Worden in 1957,
the police were led to Gein's house, and discovered partial
remains of at least fifteen women. It turns out, Gein was
killing women, skinning then, and making woman-outfits
for him to wear, in his overwhelming desire to become a
woman. He had a large variety of female body parts,
including a vest made from the skin stripped from a woman's
torso, leggings fashioned from skin from human legs,
and several face masks made from the well-preserved
skin from the faces of women. After he was caught, he
pled guilty and spent the rest of his life in an insane
asylum. It is believed that the townspeople torched his
house in disgust over the whole episode. No other cannibal or necrophile has had more films made based on their exploits. Gein is the genius behind such classics as Psycho, Deranged , The Texas Chainsaw Massacres I, II & III and Three on a Meat Hook.
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