This was a fascinating book, mostly because the author has described everything as it happened, which I deem to be a very hard thing to do considering a) the subject and b) how much research he has put into this.įirst, Richard Ramirez is a serial killer seldom witnessed. And in an exclusive death row interview, the killer himself gives his thoughts on the 'Ramirez Groupies'-and what he thinks they really want.

Carlo interviewed them and here presents their disturbing stories and the dark sexual desires that would drive them towards a brutal murderer. Incredibly, after The Night Stalker was first published, thousands of women from all over the world contacted Carlo, begging to be put in touch with the killer. From watching his cousin commit murder at age eleven to his nineteen death sentences to the juror who fell in love with him, the story of Ramirez is a bizarre and spellbinding descent into the very heart of human evil.

Philip Carlo's classic The Night Stalker, based on years of meticulous research and extensive interviews with Ramirez, revealed the killer and his horrifying crimes to be even more chilling than anyone could have imagined. Photos not seen by PW.Decades after Richard Ramirez left thirteen dead and paralyzed the city of Los Angeles, his name is still synonymous with fear, torture, and sadistic murder. An exceptionally well-told true-crime tale. Carlo speculates on the psyche of this chilling killer and introduces an intriguing supporting cast, from the prosecutor, who saw the case as good versus evil, to the alternate juror who ''fell in love with'' the defendant. Found guilty in 1989, Ramirez was given 19 death sentences plus six years for each of 33 other charges. Stubborn and with a vicious temper, he insisted on being represented by two young lawyers who had never been involved in a capital case. He saw himself as committing his crimes in the service of Satan and expressed contempt for conventional morality. While robbery was one of his motives, his main objective, according to Carlo (Stolen Flowers), was to achieve power over the women in the houses he entered, to rape, torture and humiliate them. Richard Ramirez, a Mexican American from El Paso, committed perhaps 14 murders in the Los Angeles area during 19 and wounded several people.

Night Stalker by Philip Carlo