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[solemn music plays]

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[Tony] He was always the kid
who would never quite fit in with anybody.

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[man]
Richard was a thief since he was a kid.

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[Tony]
Five-finger Richie.

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There are these horrible stories
about the way he was treated

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by members of his family.

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[man]
His father was trying to reprimand him

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and he would tie him to a cross
in the cemetery overnight.

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[Laurel]
He had a lot of bad influences.

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[man] The cousin that killed the wife
in front of him.

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[Tony]
He was telling him when he was a boy

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horror stories about things they'd done
while in the Army in Vietnam.

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[man] Not to mention
the cocaine and heroin

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and all the habits that he had.

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[Tony] Practically all of the things
that could poison a child

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were part of his life.

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[folk song playing]

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[singer vocalizing]

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♪ All through my days ♪

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♪ I have been coming up with ways ♪

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♪ To make you mine ♪

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♪ Even my hands
They have been coming up with plans ♪

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♪ To take their time ♪

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[man]
In the 1980s,

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the reference desks
at Central Library were very busy,

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and you were dealing
with one patron after another.

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Rotary phones ringing all the time.

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Different faces are popping up,
lots of interesting people

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and lots of people
that you never want to see again.

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On one of those days,

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I looked up and there was this gaunt…

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disheveled-looking man

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Dirty black T-shirt,

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said "Jack Daniels" on it.

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Dirty hair.

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Absolutely disgusting, rotted teeth.

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He had a very strong body odor.

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Almost like… almost like a goat.

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And he had these dead eyes.

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It was kind of like, uh…

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an animal that meant you harm.

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He wanted to know where the books
on horoscope and torture were.

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[low, disorienting music plays]

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And, luckily for me,

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they're both in another department.

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♪ I'll find a way ♪

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♪ Under your skin, under your skin ♪

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[brooding music plays]

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[clock ticking]

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[Gil]
We go back to the office.

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The captain comes up and says…

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"We got a name."

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"What do you mean, 'we got a name'?"

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He says, "San Francisco came up
with the name Richard Ramirez."

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If we had a name, we could match that

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to that single print
off the rear-view mirror

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of that car used down in Orange County.

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They came up with eight Richard Ramirezes.

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[Frank] And that print
was manually compared

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against various Richard Ramirez prints…

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One of which matched the fingerprint.

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[Frank]
He had a lightweight criminal record.

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Some petty thievery, grand theft auto,

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but nothing of any violence whatsoever.

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[Gil]
They also found a booking photo of him.

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On Friday, August 30th,
we took that booking photo,

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took it over to the informant.

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The informant looked and said,
"That's him."

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And that's when they identified
the Richard Ramirez

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who was in fact the Night Stalker.

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[tense music crescendoes]

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[Gil]
We had a name,

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we had an identification,
we had a picture,

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we knew what area he hung out in,
and things are falling into place.

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[Gil]
Friday night, August 30th.

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Sheriff Block…

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Brad Gates from Orange County,

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and Daryl Gates from LAPD
are meeting in the sheriff's office,

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and they're going to conference call
the chief of police from San Francisco…

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to decide whether they release
Richard's name and identification today…

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or wait until we get him in custody.

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[Falzon]
By this time we had a warrant

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for Richard Ramirez, the Night Stalker,

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for the murder of Peter Pan…

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for the attempted murder of his wife.

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My chief made it perfectly clear
that we were proceeding

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with alerting everybody in the community

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who Richard Ramirez was.

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We said, "Please, give us 24 hours.
We'll have him."

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"We'll have this SOB in custody."

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[Falzon]
Sit on this?

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Sit on a murder warrant?

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We've identified this vicious killer.

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I said, "Can you imagine what the media
would do to us if they found out,

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and they will find out,

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that we were in possession
of a murder warrant

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and we sat on it…

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and somebody else is killed this weekend?"

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I said, "We'd have blood on our hands."

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[trolley bell rings]

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[Gil] I could understand
why they thought it was wrong…

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but we thought if he finds out
he's wanted, the chase is on,

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it'll be more difficult to find him.

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Ten o'clock news, eleven o'clock news.

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Los Angeles, San Francisco.

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We're going with a media blitz.

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[dramatic, sinuous music plays]

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[Frank]
We were pissed.

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There's no two ways about it,
we wanted a shot at this guy.

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We asked for the media
to meet with us this evening.

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We are satisfied that we now have…

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…the identity of the Night Stalker.

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-Man by the name of Richard Ramirez.
-Richard Ramirez.

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This photograph was taken
about eight months ago

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right here in Los Angeles.

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There he is. There's the face.

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Still didn't know
where Richard Ramirez was,

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but we had a picture and a name.

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[clock ticking]

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[Glen] Saturday mornings,
we would go over to the Yorkshire Grill,

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and the different library departments,
we'd sit there and have breakfast.

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So, I grabbed a Herald paper…

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and I looked at the cover,
and here's a picture of that man

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who came up to the desk at the library,

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and it says "Night Stalker."

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And the temperature of my blood changed.

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[Colleen]
Seeing his face

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was really one of
the hardest moments for me.

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And I just remember

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crying so much, like, just uncontrollably,

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because I kept thinking that was
the last face my grandmother ever saw.

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[brooding music playing]

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[Frank]
We were looking for him

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to leave Los Angeles
once this information came out.

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Our information at that point

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was that Richard Ramirez
used the Greyhound bus depot.

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He used it to travel in and out.
He had a locker there.

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We requested that LAPD's SIS team
handle the surveillance.

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To be quite frank with you,
they had a history.

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They generally followed felons

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that committed violent crimes,

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and when confronted,

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a lot of times there was

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an officer-involved shooting
and the felon was killed.

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If he was going to go down,
if he wanted to go down the hard way,

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then he was going to go down.

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That's why we picked that team.

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[Gil]
I was hoping that if he pulled a gun,

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he'd be dead, the problem's over.

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But the other side of me
wanted to know the man,

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wanted to interview him.

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I'd spent an awful lot of time
on this case,

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and I wanted the opportunity
to talk to him, to meet my foe.

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[clock ticking]

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[Frank]
So we set up the surveillance there

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around the Greyhound Bus depot.

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And what happens is,

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Ramirez is out of town.
He's actually in Arizona.

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He wanted to go to visit a brother.

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So, on Friday evening, he left Arizona

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to come back to LA.

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We're looking for Richard
to come in from the outside.

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Richard came inside
through the back door,

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through where passengers enter.

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He recognized the cops right away

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because cops wear ugly clothing,
wore dirty clothing,

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but their teeth are clean,
they don't smell bad,

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and their hair is clean.

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He doesn't know it's specifically for him,

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but he makes them.

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So, he walks out
the exit out onto the street,

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walks down the block,

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and he goes into a liquor store.

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And on the front page
of every newspaper…

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is his picture.

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Yeah, he looked at the picture
of the newspaper.

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He looked and he looks really scared,
you know?

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He sees that and he panics.

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[Gil] Walked out of there real quick,
got on a bus,

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and the bus went down Olympic.

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All he had to do was make it eight miles
to east Los Angeles.

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He had a brother there.

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He saw some passenger on the bus
had a morning paper, looking at it,

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then looked over at him

185
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and his eyes got big,

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put the newspaper down,
pulled the cord.

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[bell rings]

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There happened to be a phone booth there.

189
00:11:00,076 --> 00:11:01,911
Richard could see him dialing right away.

190
00:11:02,495 --> 00:11:04,538
Ramirez knew he had been made.

191
00:11:04,622 --> 00:11:09,168
People are starting to turn around
and look and point and talk.

192
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"It's him, it's him."

193
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So, he jumps off the bus…

194
00:11:13,422 --> 00:11:15,383
[Gil]
And what he didn't know was,

195
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the gentleman that phoned in

196
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had flagged down a truck
from the gas company

197
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and said, "The killer's on that bus.
Follow that bus."

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The chase was on.

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[fast-paced music playing]

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00:11:31,941 --> 00:11:33,192
[Frank]
He's being tracked

201
00:11:34,235 --> 00:11:36,028
by people calling in.

202
00:11:38,948 --> 00:11:41,575
He runs into the I-5 freeway.

203
00:11:44,286 --> 00:11:47,540
And ran across all lanes of the freeway.

204
00:11:47,623 --> 00:11:49,250
[car horn honks]

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00:11:49,834 --> 00:11:52,503
[Gil] He continued running
in the northeast direction,

206
00:11:52,586 --> 00:11:53,671
ending up on Indiana.

207
00:11:53,754 --> 00:11:55,214
[siren blares, squawks]

208
00:11:58,342 --> 00:12:00,553
And he tried to carjack one gentleman.

209
00:12:00,636 --> 00:12:02,930
[reporter]
Faustino Pinon wrestled with Ramirez

210
00:12:03,013 --> 00:12:04,724
as the suspect tried to steal his car.

211
00:12:04,807 --> 00:12:07,893
I got him by the neck.
We struggled back and forth for the car.

212
00:12:07,977 --> 00:12:10,855
-He couldn't get the car.
-Then he ran across the street.

213
00:12:12,440 --> 00:12:14,692
[Gil]
He then turned right on Hubbard Street.

214
00:12:15,025 --> 00:12:16,527
[speaking in Spanish]

215
00:12:16,610 --> 00:12:18,612
[translator]
He said, "Give me the keys."

216
00:12:18,696 --> 00:12:21,115
I looked up at his face
and I saw his eyes,

217
00:12:21,198 --> 00:12:23,868
and I recognized
that he was the one who killed.

218
00:12:23,951 --> 00:12:27,204
[reporter 1] In Spanish, he hollered
to give him the keys or he would kill me.

219
00:12:27,288 --> 00:12:29,457
[reporter 2]
Manuel de la Torre got involved.

220
00:12:29,540 --> 00:12:30,624
Manuel ran out front…

221
00:12:30,708 --> 00:12:33,669
He got a metal stick from the gate.
Hit him in the head.

222
00:12:33,753 --> 00:12:36,380
[translator]
I gave him one by the car. The man fell.

223
00:12:36,464 --> 00:12:39,550
He started running away.
I chased him, gave him another hit.

224
00:12:40,634 --> 00:12:42,970
[man] The neighbors
chased him down the street.

225
00:12:43,053 --> 00:12:45,681
You know, I say,
"My God, that's the guy."

226
00:12:46,766 --> 00:12:49,143
[Ramirez speaking]

227
00:12:49,226 --> 00:12:51,061
[tense music playing]

228
00:12:59,487 --> 00:13:01,864
[sirens wailing]

229
00:13:01,947 --> 00:13:03,199
Call came up.

230
00:13:03,282 --> 00:13:06,952
22-415, possible fight,

231
00:13:07,036 --> 00:13:08,370
possible man with a gun.

232
00:13:08,454 --> 00:13:12,458
I could see maybe three or four people
on one side of the street.

233
00:13:12,541 --> 00:13:13,709
The closer I got,

234
00:13:13,793 --> 00:13:15,711
I could see they were moving around,

235
00:13:15,795 --> 00:13:18,130
they were yelling,
waving around, screaming,

236
00:13:18,214 --> 00:13:21,175
and I could see one person
sitting on the sidewalk.

237
00:13:21,258 --> 00:13:23,636
He said something in Spanish about,

238
00:13:23,719 --> 00:13:26,263
"I'm lucky the cops are coming,"
or something,

239
00:13:26,347 --> 00:13:28,849
because he knew
everybody was going to finish him.

240
00:13:28,933 --> 00:13:30,976
The neighbors hung together
and got him.

241
00:13:31,060 --> 00:13:34,188
There's one guy
holding him at bay with this metal bar.

242
00:13:34,271 --> 00:13:35,815
I could tell he had been hit.

243
00:13:35,898 --> 00:13:37,900
The crowd had detained him, had beat him.

244
00:13:37,983 --> 00:13:41,320
He had blood all on his head,
on his hands, on his shirt.

245
00:13:41,403 --> 00:13:44,156
He was tired of running.
He was really exhausted.

246
00:13:44,240 --> 00:13:45,825
I just told him, "Stand up."

247
00:13:45,908 --> 00:13:47,868
He stood up. I handcuffed him.

248
00:13:47,952 --> 00:13:49,787
I put him in the police car,
in the back seat.

249
00:13:49,870 --> 00:13:51,622
And takes him into custody.

250
00:13:54,750 --> 00:13:57,127
The crowd was getting bigger,
getting louder.

251
00:14:01,340 --> 00:14:04,760
[Andy] They were starting to circle,
getting closer and closer.

252
00:14:05,427 --> 00:14:06,554
Pointing to a newspaper.

253
00:14:06,637 --> 00:14:08,556
I could even hear people saying,

254
00:14:08,639 --> 00:14:10,975
"Ese es el matón, the killer.

255
00:14:11,058 --> 00:14:12,601
Let's get him."

256
00:14:12,685 --> 00:14:15,437
I'm like, "Oh, no, I gotta control this."

257
00:14:16,355 --> 00:14:18,357
[Ramirez speaking]

258
00:14:38,502 --> 00:14:40,296
[officer]
Police, move back!

259
00:14:43,382 --> 00:14:47,428
[officer] What have you been arrested for?
You ever been arrested before?

260
00:14:47,511 --> 00:14:50,180
Danny? Where's your car?

261
00:14:50,264 --> 00:14:52,099
Sit up. How long ago?

262
00:14:53,225 --> 00:14:54,768
It's me. It's me, man?

263
00:14:54,852 --> 00:14:55,853
What's your name?

264
00:14:56,520 --> 00:14:58,272
-Richard Ramirez.
-What's your name?

265
00:14:58,981 --> 00:15:00,357
[indistinct speech]

266
00:15:00,774 --> 00:15:03,110
[officer 1]
Back up on the sidewalk, move away.

267
00:15:03,193 --> 00:15:06,238
-[officer 2] Pull back.
-[officer 1] Back up on the sidewalk.

268
00:15:08,824 --> 00:15:11,660
[Gil] I get notified
they've got him in custody.

269
00:15:12,244 --> 00:15:14,955
I am so excited,
I can't wait to get there,

270
00:15:15,039 --> 00:15:17,541
and we hauled.
I mean, we were flying.

271
00:15:18,125 --> 00:15:20,127
And when I got to Hollenbeck station,

272
00:15:20,210 --> 00:15:22,046
a lot of people around the station.

273
00:15:22,129 --> 00:15:25,549
[Frank]
The entire Hollenbeck police station

274
00:15:25,633 --> 00:15:28,010
was surrounded with citizens.

275
00:15:28,093 --> 00:15:32,222
[crowd clamoring]

276
00:15:33,807 --> 00:15:35,976
I was working at the crime lab.

277
00:15:36,560 --> 00:15:37,853
We received a call

278
00:15:38,812 --> 00:15:41,231
needing someone to go over to LAPD

279
00:15:41,315 --> 00:15:46,153
to fingerprint and positively identify

280
00:15:46,236 --> 00:15:49,907
a suspect that they believed to be

281
00:15:49,990 --> 00:15:50,824
the killer.

282
00:15:50,908 --> 00:15:54,036
And I remember
when he walked through the door…

283
00:15:56,413 --> 00:15:58,165
he was tall and slender.

284
00:15:58,248 --> 00:16:00,626
[haunting music playing]

285
00:16:00,709 --> 00:16:04,546
He had these dark eyes.

286
00:16:09,176 --> 00:16:12,346
And he just slowly looked
around the room…

287
00:16:14,181 --> 00:16:15,099
to take it in,

288
00:16:15,182 --> 00:16:17,810
and he looked right in your eyes.
You know,

289
00:16:17,893 --> 00:16:20,854
he did look at you,
and that's when I thought, "Wow,

290
00:16:20,938 --> 00:16:22,189
those eyes are terrible."

291
00:16:22,272 --> 00:16:24,984
[music turns discordant]

292
00:16:26,735 --> 00:16:29,822
There's evil in that man,
and you could sense it.

293
00:16:30,698 --> 00:16:34,159
My partner, Hannah Woods,
jumped up and she said,

294
00:16:34,243 --> 00:16:35,619
"I will print him,"

295
00:16:35,703 --> 00:16:38,122
because she knew I didn't want to do it.

296
00:16:40,916 --> 00:16:43,460
[Frank]
We went into an interview room,

297
00:16:43,544 --> 00:16:45,045
and he was sitting there.

298
00:16:46,046 --> 00:16:50,968
He was just like the witnesses
had been talking about.

299
00:16:52,344 --> 00:16:53,887
The hair, the teeth.

300
00:16:54,722 --> 00:16:56,098
The way he talked.

301
00:16:56,181 --> 00:16:58,767
I said,
"My name is Sergeant Frank Salerno,"

302
00:16:58,851 --> 00:17:01,270
and I started to introduce Gil

303
00:17:01,353 --> 00:17:03,147
and he said, "I know who you are."

304
00:17:06,191 --> 00:17:08,569
That… that sort of took me back,

305
00:17:08,652 --> 00:17:11,739
because I'd never had a… a suspect

306
00:17:11,822 --> 00:17:14,700
say that on an interview
involving a murder.

307
00:17:14,783 --> 00:17:17,244
He knew all about Frank Salerno,

308
00:17:17,327 --> 00:17:20,080
to the point where he's calling him
"Mr. Salerno."

309
00:17:20,164 --> 00:17:21,290
He called him that

310
00:17:21,373 --> 00:17:24,043
because he knew Mr. Salerno
worked on the Hillside Strangler.

311
00:17:24,710 --> 00:17:27,838
He was, like, awestruck.
That was a hero to him,

312
00:17:27,921 --> 00:17:31,550
and I was just
another Mexican in the crowd.

313
00:17:31,633 --> 00:17:34,845
He did admit to reading
about various cases.

314
00:17:34,928 --> 00:17:38,599
He read about the Hillside Strangler,
read about Bundy.

315
00:17:39,224 --> 00:17:40,309
He was a student.

316
00:17:42,728 --> 00:17:45,814
Salerno advised him
of his constitutional rights.

317
00:17:45,898 --> 00:17:49,276
He invoked, which normally--
Once he invokes, okay, that's it.

318
00:17:49,359 --> 00:17:51,862
We said, "You don't wanna talk,
we're outta here."

319
00:17:51,945 --> 00:17:53,655
He says, "Wait, I have questions."

320
00:17:53,739 --> 00:17:57,743
So, we sat down
and then I started talking to Richard.

321
00:17:57,826 --> 00:18:00,287
I was from the streets. I'm Hispanic.

322
00:18:00,370 --> 00:18:04,083
I knew he was from the streets,
and we talked a little slang talk.

323
00:18:04,875 --> 00:18:06,835
"Órale. What's going on, Rich?"

324
00:18:06,919 --> 00:18:10,089
Órale is a greeting,
of saying, "Hello. What's up?"

325
00:18:10,172 --> 00:18:13,092
Nobody else would be saying that,
other than somebody from the streets

326
00:18:13,175 --> 00:18:14,176
that's Hispanic.

327
00:18:14,885 --> 00:18:18,263
[low, dark music playing]

328
00:18:18,347 --> 00:18:21,100
[Gil]
There was one point in time I got…

329
00:18:21,183 --> 00:18:23,602
frightened.
[chuckles] You know?

330
00:18:23,685 --> 00:18:27,397
I'm talking to him
and getting to part of the interview,

331
00:18:27,481 --> 00:18:29,942
and I'm getting to a very sensitive area.

332
00:18:30,692 --> 00:18:33,445
While I'm talking to him about his family,

333
00:18:34,822 --> 00:18:37,199
he's got his head down on the table

334
00:18:37,282 --> 00:18:41,411
and his hands are right there, like this.
He's listening to me, but he's--

335
00:18:41,495 --> 00:18:42,496
And all of a sudden,

336
00:18:43,288 --> 00:18:45,791
he starts to breathe heavy…

337
00:18:46,834 --> 00:18:49,294
almost to the point of hyperventilation.

338
00:18:49,878 --> 00:18:53,298
As he's doing this, his hands start
coming off the table for a little bit.

339
00:18:53,966 --> 00:18:56,093
And in my mind, for the millisecond…

340
00:18:56,844 --> 00:18:58,095
I'm sitting there saying,

341
00:18:58,178 --> 00:19:01,974
"If this guy starts to float
around this room, I'm out of here."

342
00:19:02,057 --> 00:19:05,894
Because I've fought people before,
I've been stabbed, I've been shot at,

343
00:19:05,978 --> 00:19:08,730
but I ain't fought nobody
that's floating around a room.

344
00:19:08,814 --> 00:19:12,276
This guy's gonna levitate right here
and scare the bejesus out of me.

345
00:19:13,443 --> 00:19:16,530
[dark, haunting music playing]

346
00:19:17,114 --> 00:19:19,992
[clamoring]

347
00:19:20,075 --> 00:19:22,911
[officer] Clear the street.
People on sidewalks also.

348
00:19:22,995 --> 00:19:25,622
[Gil] We go outside
and Hollenbeck looked like a zoo.

349
00:19:25,706 --> 00:19:27,207
There's a crowd around there.

350
00:19:27,291 --> 00:19:29,459
We got the impression it's a lynch mob.

351
00:19:30,627 --> 00:19:33,964
They've gotten word somebody's
gonna kill him when he comes out.

352
00:19:36,383 --> 00:19:37,634
Shoot up the place.

353
00:19:38,635 --> 00:19:42,472
[officer] Stay back! Stay back!
Back! Back! Everybody back!

354
00:19:43,515 --> 00:19:46,268
[crowd clamoring]

355
00:19:48,187 --> 00:19:51,190
[Gil] Salerno was riding
in the back seat with Richard,

356
00:19:51,273 --> 00:19:53,650
and I was in the front seat.

357
00:19:55,027 --> 00:19:58,197
We only had to go a few miles
till we got to men's central jail.

358
00:20:01,992 --> 00:20:03,785
We drove down the street, turned right,

359
00:20:03,869 --> 00:20:06,872
and there was a truck,

360
00:20:06,955 --> 00:20:10,000
and there was some lady
standing on top of there.

361
00:20:10,083 --> 00:20:12,252
As we came by, she opened up her blouse

362
00:20:12,336 --> 00:20:14,338
and she's swinging her breasts
back and forth.

363
00:20:14,421 --> 00:20:16,381
She wasn't doing it for me.

364
00:20:17,090 --> 00:20:19,885
I said, "There you go, Rich.
She's doing it for you."

365
00:20:20,469 --> 00:20:22,429
We had helicopters overhead.

366
00:20:22,512 --> 00:20:26,183
We had police vehicles
and motorcycles in front,

367
00:20:26,266 --> 00:20:28,268
police vehicles
and motorcycles behind us

368
00:20:28,352 --> 00:20:30,354
all along the streets, like a motorcade.

369
00:20:30,437 --> 00:20:33,190
They were just chanting,
jumping up and down, screaming.

370
00:20:33,273 --> 00:20:34,483
They were happy.

371
00:20:35,776 --> 00:20:38,153
[clamoring]

372
00:20:38,237 --> 00:20:41,406
And there was hundreds of people,

373
00:20:41,490 --> 00:20:45,244
and everybody was just yelling.
It was like we won the World Series.

374
00:20:47,246 --> 00:20:50,332
[Patty]
We were in McDonald's with the kids.

375
00:20:51,041 --> 00:20:53,627
Every single person in that restaurant

376
00:20:53,710 --> 00:20:57,381
was clapping and, you know, cheering.
I mean, everybody.

377
00:20:57,464 --> 00:21:01,260
They said,
"They caught the Night Stalker!"

378
00:21:01,343 --> 00:21:03,345
And we just shouted.

379
00:21:03,428 --> 00:21:05,097
We were so thrilled.

380
00:21:05,180 --> 00:21:08,725
We're happy to announce
that the individual we have in custody

381
00:21:08,809 --> 00:21:11,603
is Richard Ramirez, the Night Stalker.

382
00:21:11,687 --> 00:21:13,689
You could almost feel

383
00:21:13,772 --> 00:21:15,482
a collective sigh of relief

384
00:21:15,565 --> 00:21:17,776
settling in
over all of Southern California.

385
00:21:18,360 --> 00:21:20,362
I worked on that story for how long?

386
00:21:20,445 --> 00:21:22,489
Know where I was when he was arrested?

387
00:21:22,572 --> 00:21:25,909
I was at the hairdresser
getting my hair cut. I'll never forget it.

388
00:21:25,993 --> 00:21:29,329
Richard Ramirez arrested today
after being held by an angry crowd…

389
00:21:29,413 --> 00:21:33,166
Los Angeles Police today arrested the man
they believe is the Night Stalker.

390
00:21:33,250 --> 00:21:35,585
[reporter] …the man who may be
the Night Stalker in custody.

391
00:21:35,669 --> 00:21:38,505
California residents
may sleep a little easier.

392
00:21:38,588 --> 00:21:40,799
I mean, my dad was so happy.

393
00:21:40,882 --> 00:21:47,264
He just loved how he was caught,
that it was citizens and a neighborhood

394
00:21:47,347 --> 00:21:48,640
that had seen his picture

395
00:21:48,724 --> 00:21:52,185
and just did everything they could
to not let him get away.

396
00:21:52,769 --> 00:21:58,150
I am so proud of them. I can't begin
to tell you how proud we, all of us,

397
00:21:58,233 --> 00:22:00,527
are of the people in this community.

398
00:22:01,194 --> 00:22:04,114
When he came here,
he made a mistake, didn't he?

399
00:22:04,656 --> 00:22:09,119
He's the suspect we were looking for,
so, now comes all the work

400
00:22:09,703 --> 00:22:13,332
of tying him in to all of the other crimes
that we're looking at.

401
00:22:14,166 --> 00:22:17,586
[bittersweet music playing]

402
00:22:24,468 --> 00:22:28,221
[reporter] Word of the capture
spread rapidly among local residents here.

403
00:22:28,305 --> 00:22:30,724
The reaction of many: "Thank God."

404
00:22:32,893 --> 00:22:35,020
Once we got to the jail, I told him,

405
00:22:35,103 --> 00:22:37,731
"We're going to put you
in a special cell.

406
00:22:38,315 --> 00:22:40,400
We're going to put you
in the same cell

407
00:22:40,484 --> 00:22:43,904
as the Hillside Strangler,
Kenneth Bianchi."

408
00:22:43,987 --> 00:22:46,198
You could see that he was taken over that.

409
00:22:46,948 --> 00:22:50,118
And Richard just got all jazzed.
He was excited.

410
00:22:50,202 --> 00:22:51,244
We were playing a card.

411
00:22:51,328 --> 00:22:55,123
We knew he was interested
in serial killings.

412
00:22:55,207 --> 00:22:57,542
This is like a celebrity cell.

413
00:22:57,626 --> 00:23:01,671
So, we're going to play it
and we're gonna put him in that same cell,

414
00:23:01,755 --> 00:23:03,423
give him some status,

415
00:23:03,507 --> 00:23:05,425
let him think he's important.

416
00:23:05,509 --> 00:23:09,262
Who's to say at some point
he wasn't going to tell the jailer,

417
00:23:09,346 --> 00:23:10,430
"Hey,

418
00:23:10,514 --> 00:23:13,809
tell those homicide cops to come back.
I want to talk to them."

419
00:23:13,892 --> 00:23:15,352
And that's where we left him.

420
00:23:15,435 --> 00:23:19,773
We left him in Kenneth Bianchi's
old cell at Central Jail.

421
00:23:19,856 --> 00:23:20,690
[prison door closing]

422
00:23:24,444 --> 00:23:28,990
[Gil] About eight o'clock,
8:30 that night, I'm done. I get out.

423
00:23:29,699 --> 00:23:33,286
That particular day,
a cousin of mine was getting married.

424
00:23:33,370 --> 00:23:34,830
I go to the Hilton.

425
00:23:34,913 --> 00:23:37,416
I'm walking in
from the outside into the lobby,

426
00:23:37,499 --> 00:23:39,543
and I see one of my younger sisters.

427
00:23:39,626 --> 00:23:42,379
And she's not really
that affectionate with me.

428
00:23:42,462 --> 00:23:45,382
She runs up, she puts her arm,
interlocks it with mine.

429
00:23:45,465 --> 00:23:47,384
"Come on. I want to walk in with you."

430
00:23:47,467 --> 00:23:50,679
I said, "Why with me?"
She says, "You're the talk of the town."

431
00:23:51,346 --> 00:23:53,640
And I could hear people saying,

432
00:23:53,723 --> 00:23:56,184
"That's him. There he is.
Yeah, that's him."

433
00:23:56,268 --> 00:23:59,479
They're looking, and all I care about
is looking for my family.

434
00:24:00,272 --> 00:24:05,485
And I see my mom and I see my sisters,
and they run up and everybody's hugging.

435
00:24:05,569 --> 00:24:06,903
They all start crying.

436
00:24:07,487 --> 00:24:09,489
We're embracing and I'm saying,

437
00:24:09,573 --> 00:24:11,658
"It's okay. It's over with.

438
00:24:12,576 --> 00:24:15,954
Everybody's fine. It's over with.
We have him in custody."

439
00:24:16,496 --> 00:24:18,707
I said, "Where's my wife?

440
00:24:19,416 --> 00:24:20,959
I want my wife."

441
00:24:21,543 --> 00:24:25,797
I came down and was so happy to see him.

442
00:24:26,381 --> 00:24:29,217
She comes, we embrace,
and I said, "It's over.

443
00:24:29,301 --> 00:24:31,928
You can come home now,"
because she had said

444
00:24:32,012 --> 00:24:35,682
she wasn't coming home till this was over.

445
00:24:35,765 --> 00:24:38,560
I said, "Come home.
The kids can come home now."

446
00:24:40,770 --> 00:24:43,982
[pensive music playing]

447
00:24:54,993 --> 00:24:57,037
Subsequent to the arrest of Ramirez…

448
00:24:58,079 --> 00:25:00,790
we set up a lineup.

449
00:25:06,213 --> 00:25:07,714
[Gil]
The night of the lineup,

450
00:25:07,797 --> 00:25:10,217
they brought a six-year-old
surviving victim.

451
00:25:10,300 --> 00:25:12,928
[Frank] For six years old,
she was just unbelievable.

452
00:25:13,512 --> 00:25:17,516
She sat in the audience
of potential witnesses.

453
00:25:18,433 --> 00:25:22,229
[officer] In a loud, clear voice,
repeat this statement. "Shut up, bitch."

454
00:25:23,063 --> 00:25:24,064
Shut up, bitch.

455
00:25:24,856 --> 00:25:26,858
-"Where's the money?"
-Where's the money?

456
00:25:27,776 --> 00:25:29,986
-"Where's the jewelry?"
-Where's the jewelry?

457
00:25:32,822 --> 00:25:36,284
I think once I knew
that he couldn't see me,

458
00:25:37,160 --> 00:25:38,328
I didn't have any…

459
00:25:39,704 --> 00:25:40,872
fear about it.

460
00:25:43,542 --> 00:25:46,044
[Gil] I said, "Is there anybody
that has any questions?"

461
00:25:46,127 --> 00:25:48,964
Her little hand went up.
"What is it, sweetheart?"

462
00:25:49,047 --> 00:25:51,341
Says,
"Do I write the word 'two' or the number?"

463
00:25:57,430 --> 00:26:00,141
[reporter]
Ramirez will be arraigned later this week.

464
00:26:00,225 --> 00:26:03,311
Prosecutors say they intend
to ask for the death penalty.

465
00:26:03,395 --> 00:26:05,981
[plaintive music playing]

466
00:26:14,739 --> 00:26:18,577
[man] There was a prosecutor assigned,
Phil Halpin. I was second chair.

467
00:26:18,660 --> 00:26:21,329
What I really remember
is the drama in court.

468
00:26:22,831 --> 00:26:25,250
Not since the days
of Charlie Manson did you have

469
00:26:25,333 --> 00:26:27,586
the circus thing going on in court.

470
00:26:27,669 --> 00:26:31,214
First of all, you had Ramirez,
who was playing up to the crowd,

471
00:26:31,298 --> 00:26:36,177
and then Daniel and Arturo Hernandez
came in to handle the case.

472
00:26:36,261 --> 00:26:37,887
That's when the circus started.

473
00:26:41,224 --> 00:26:44,311
[Arturo] We'd only been in practice
for, you know, two years.

474
00:26:44,853 --> 00:26:47,188
We had six murder cases under our belt,

475
00:26:47,272 --> 00:26:48,565
no death penalty cases.

476
00:26:48,648 --> 00:26:52,902
We get a call from
his parents' lawyers in El Paso.

477
00:26:53,486 --> 00:26:57,073
They happened to be people that I knew,
because I grew up in El Paso

478
00:26:57,157 --> 00:26:59,492
and I went to
University of Texas at El Paso

479
00:26:59,576 --> 00:27:01,995
and most of my friends became lawyers.

480
00:27:02,078 --> 00:27:04,914
Call comes in and they're on speakerphone.

481
00:27:05,749 --> 00:27:07,208
So, I hear the voice…

482
00:27:07,292 --> 00:27:08,710
[in Spanish] "Mr. Hernandez.

483
00:27:09,252 --> 00:27:14,257
Mr. Attorney. This is Ricardo Ramirez,
Richard's father. Can you help us?"

484
00:27:14,799 --> 00:27:17,802
[in English]
So, we talked and he says, "Let's do it."

485
00:27:22,223 --> 00:27:23,642
[reporter]
Judge Soper's comments

486
00:27:23,725 --> 00:27:26,227
that the defense
might not have enough experience…

487
00:27:26,311 --> 00:27:28,855
We didn't see that
as a very kosher thing to do,

488
00:27:28,938 --> 00:27:31,858
but, you know,
we have to put that behind us

489
00:27:31,941 --> 00:27:34,277
and use our energy in the case.

490
00:27:34,361 --> 00:27:40,408
One of the problems that we encountered
is that we were looked upon like,

491
00:27:40,492 --> 00:27:43,286
"Not capable, they're not qualified."

492
00:27:43,870 --> 00:27:46,956
These guys had never had a case
of this magnitude.

493
00:27:47,040 --> 00:27:50,627
There's a difference in defending somebody
for petty theft or burglary

494
00:27:50,710 --> 00:27:54,798
than there is for multiple murders,
a death penalty case.

495
00:27:54,881 --> 00:27:58,843
Let alone one that involved,
you know, 13, 14 victims.

496
00:28:00,178 --> 00:28:02,472
[lawyer]
The gentleman in front of Mr. Ramirez

497
00:28:02,555 --> 00:28:05,934
-really has no standing before the court.
-They do to me.

498
00:28:07,018 --> 00:28:08,895
[tense music playing]

499
00:28:08,978 --> 00:28:10,438
We were concerned about a mistrial,

500
00:28:10,522 --> 00:28:13,566
we didn't know if the defense
would make it through the case.

501
00:28:13,650 --> 00:28:15,318
[judge]
We're still in session.

502
00:28:15,402 --> 00:28:19,280
If Mr. Halpin is going to continue
with his childish acting

503
00:28:19,364 --> 00:28:21,241
to the court in front of the cameras,

504
00:28:21,324 --> 00:28:23,952
I would have to take him outside
and teach him a lesson.

505
00:28:24,035 --> 00:28:25,120
[man]
Just a minute.

506
00:28:27,872 --> 00:28:29,290
[Arturo]
It was incredible.

507
00:28:29,374 --> 00:28:32,043
A lot of the celebrities
thought we were celebrities.

508
00:28:32,752 --> 00:28:34,212
You're in the big leagues,

509
00:28:34,295 --> 00:28:36,131
and you gotta perform.

510
00:28:36,214 --> 00:28:39,676
You got to make sure
that you don't totally blow it.

511
00:28:39,759 --> 00:28:42,095
You know, no strikeouts.
Please, no strikeouts.

512
00:28:42,804 --> 00:28:44,848
[reporter]
October 24th, 1985.

513
00:28:44,931 --> 00:28:47,142
Richard Ramirez stuns a packed courtroom.

514
00:28:47,225 --> 00:28:50,687
The man accused of 14 murders
that terrorized California

515
00:28:50,770 --> 00:28:52,856
holds up his palm for the world to see.

516
00:28:52,939 --> 00:28:56,651
There is a five-pointed star
enclosed in a circle, a pentagram.

517
00:28:56,735 --> 00:28:58,695
To some, it is the mark of the devil.

518
00:28:59,904 --> 00:29:03,450
Then, after pleading not guilty
to all the charges, court was recessed.

519
00:29:03,533 --> 00:29:05,493
But Ramirez had the last word.

520
00:29:05,577 --> 00:29:06,661
Hail Satan!

521
00:29:06,745 --> 00:29:07,620
[crowd clamors]

522
00:29:07,704 --> 00:29:10,707
[tense music continues]

523
00:29:14,753 --> 00:29:16,421
[dramatic musical sting]

524
00:29:17,714 --> 00:29:20,633
[Tony] I am sure that generations
and generations from now,

525
00:29:21,551 --> 00:29:23,845
the image of his palm with the pentagram

526
00:29:23,928 --> 00:29:27,682
and the sound of his voice saying,
"Hail Satan," they'll be there.

527
00:29:28,391 --> 00:29:33,396
It was pretty clear, even then,
that we were in for a roller coaster ride

528
00:29:33,480 --> 00:29:35,648
as this wound its way through the courts.

529
00:29:41,488 --> 00:29:44,240
[Don]
Ramirez had a lot of groupies,

530
00:29:44,324 --> 00:29:47,243
a lot of people
that thought he was just great.

531
00:29:47,911 --> 00:29:50,079
Fame generates attraction.

532
00:29:51,831 --> 00:29:53,833
It's like the Hollywood syndrome.

533
00:29:54,626 --> 00:29:56,836
There were women
that wanted to fuck Richard Ramirez

534
00:29:56,920 --> 00:29:59,088
simply because he was famous.

535
00:30:05,094 --> 00:30:07,972
[reporter] While many spectators
who attended this hearing

536
00:30:08,056 --> 00:30:11,059
believed all along
that Richard Ramirez is guilty,

537
00:30:11,142 --> 00:30:14,020
there were groupies,
young women dressed in black,

538
00:30:14,103 --> 00:30:17,273
who wrote letters to the defendant,
wrote poems about him,

539
00:30:17,357 --> 00:30:21,569
and blame society
for the trouble Ramirez now faces.

540
00:30:22,779 --> 00:30:25,240
There was a clown car of these women,
right?

541
00:30:25,323 --> 00:30:28,076
In all of my years of covering trials
in Los Angeles,

542
00:30:28,159 --> 00:30:31,120
I never saw a defendant
with more sex appeal than Ramirez.

543
00:30:31,746 --> 00:30:34,499
[Laurel] I guess that's just
the bad boy syndrome

544
00:30:34,582 --> 00:30:36,084
gone steroids.

545
00:30:37,418 --> 00:30:40,547
[Tony] He had
this kind of animalistic magnetism,

546
00:30:41,130 --> 00:30:44,843
charisma that women found attractive.

547
00:30:46,845 --> 00:30:50,265
Well, I'm sorry, but I think
they're the dumbest bitches ever.

548
00:30:50,348 --> 00:30:51,391
I don't get it.

549
00:30:51,474 --> 00:30:53,852
Usually you try to stay away from somebody

550
00:30:53,935 --> 00:30:56,145
that hurts you or hurts other people,

551
00:30:56,229 --> 00:30:58,940
but they wanted to be
right there next to him.

552
00:31:00,149 --> 00:31:02,694
Which is mind-boggling.

553
00:31:02,777 --> 00:31:06,531
It's bewildering because Richard Ramirez
wouldn't reciprocate.

554
00:31:06,614 --> 00:31:07,615
He'd look at you as…

555
00:31:08,449 --> 00:31:09,284
dinner.

556
00:31:16,666 --> 00:31:19,586
[Alan] In addition to these horrible,
gruesome murders,

557
00:31:19,669 --> 00:31:24,382
Ramirez was also accused
of some child molest cases.

558
00:31:24,465 --> 00:31:26,217
[Gil]
Before the preliminary,

559
00:31:26,301 --> 00:31:29,721
Deputy District Attorney Phil Halpin,
Sergeant Salerno, and myself

560
00:31:29,804 --> 00:31:32,974
went out to the home
of the six-year-old surviving victim.

561
00:31:34,809 --> 00:31:36,185
Mommy's holding her hand,

562
00:31:36,269 --> 00:31:38,438
then she whispered something
in Mommy's ear.

563
00:31:39,272 --> 00:31:43,151
And Mommy looked at me and said,
"She remembers you the best,

564
00:31:43,234 --> 00:31:46,112
because you remind her of her teddy bear."
That was me.

565
00:31:46,195 --> 00:31:49,490
[plaintive music playing]

566
00:31:49,574 --> 00:31:53,286
She says, "I'll go testify in court
if it means keeping him locked up

567
00:31:53,369 --> 00:31:55,997
so he can't hurt other little girls
like he hurt me."

568
00:31:58,082 --> 00:31:59,918
Tears started running down my cheeks

569
00:32:00,001 --> 00:32:02,879
and I just said, "Excuse me,"
and I got up and walked out.

570
00:32:03,504 --> 00:32:04,964
I couldn't take this.

571
00:32:06,132 --> 00:32:07,383
I've got a soft spot.

572
00:32:07,967 --> 00:32:10,219
Obviously, I've got a soft spot for kids.

573
00:32:11,763 --> 00:32:14,557
Mr. Salerno, it took him
about 30 seconds longer,

574
00:32:14,641 --> 00:32:17,060
and then he walked out,
joined me in the kitchen.

575
00:32:17,936 --> 00:32:20,438
And Phil Halpin, he lasted maybe a minute

576
00:32:20,521 --> 00:32:24,233
and then he came into the kitchen
and he says, "What do you say, fellas? 

577
00:32:24,317 --> 00:32:26,736
What do you say we dismiss
all the kiddie cases?"

578
00:32:27,820 --> 00:32:30,281
Phil elected not to go forward
with those counts.

579
00:32:30,365 --> 00:32:33,201
There was the issue
of putting the children through this,

580
00:32:33,284 --> 00:32:37,288
given the fact that Ramirez is looking
at the death penalty in 13 other cases.

581
00:32:39,290 --> 00:32:44,212
[clock ticking]

582
00:32:45,463 --> 00:32:48,216
[reporter] Ramirez
was brought in shackles to his trial,

583
00:32:48,299 --> 00:32:51,886
a trial finally beginning
three and a half years after his arrest.

584
00:32:51,970 --> 00:32:55,723
He is accused of 43 crimes, 13 murders,

585
00:32:55,807 --> 00:32:58,851
many counts of robbery and rape and more.

586
00:32:58,935 --> 00:33:03,314
Such is his reputation that extra security
was set up outside the courtroom

587
00:33:03,398 --> 00:33:07,902
and many spectators crowded around
for a glimpse of an accused serial killer.

588
00:33:07,986 --> 00:33:11,572
The whole thing was a night--
It was a painful experience

589
00:33:11,656 --> 00:33:12,865
and it never ended.

590
00:33:13,574 --> 00:33:15,702
[reporter]
After a series of legal delays,

591
00:33:15,785 --> 00:33:19,163
the trial has finally begun,
and it should last a long time, too.

592
00:33:19,831 --> 00:33:23,167
Prosecutors are expected
to call 140 witnesses.

593
00:33:24,210 --> 00:33:26,421
[reporter 2]
Maria Hernandez walked to the courtroom.

594
00:33:26,504 --> 00:33:29,507
She survived
one of the Night Stalker attacks.

595
00:33:29,590 --> 00:33:32,135
[reporter 3] There was chilling testimony
from survivors.

596
00:33:32,218 --> 00:33:34,679
A young Pakistani mother
told a hushed courtroom…

597
00:33:34,762 --> 00:33:38,641
[woman] He said, "You bitch.
You mother [bleep], you don't scream.

598
00:33:38,725 --> 00:33:40,435
Otherwise, I'm going to kill you.

599
00:33:40,518 --> 00:33:43,062
I'm gonna kill your kids in the crib

600
00:33:43,146 --> 00:33:45,023
and I'm going to kill your son, too."

601
00:33:45,106 --> 00:33:48,651
I said, "I swear I won't, sir.
I won't scream. I swear upon God."

602
00:33:48,735 --> 00:33:50,361
And he slapped me one more time.

603
00:33:50,445 --> 00:33:53,322
He said, "Swear upon Satan.
Swear upon Satan."

604
00:33:53,406 --> 00:33:56,242
I said,
"Yes, I swear upon Satan, I won't scream."

605
00:33:59,162 --> 00:34:01,581
The emotional pain,

606
00:34:02,623 --> 00:34:05,752
you can feel it and it affects you.

607
00:34:07,170 --> 00:34:09,255
[Paul]
A part of any trial is…

608
00:34:10,006 --> 00:34:13,593
way more detail about the barbarity

609
00:34:14,218 --> 00:34:17,096
and the horrendous nature of the crimes…

610
00:34:18,306 --> 00:34:20,266
and she sat through all of it.

611
00:34:21,059 --> 00:34:24,228
And I know, to this day,

612
00:34:24,312 --> 00:34:25,688
that weighs on her.

613
00:34:27,607 --> 00:34:28,733
[Laurel]
I have a cat.

614
00:34:29,400 --> 00:34:32,820
Sometimes, in the middle of the night,
the cat's walking over my head

615
00:34:32,904 --> 00:34:34,072
and I open my eyes

616
00:34:34,155 --> 00:34:35,656
and the cat is staring at me

617
00:34:35,740 --> 00:34:38,951
and I realize what it would be like
to be a mouse or a bird.

618
00:34:40,912 --> 00:34:44,624
I pictured what it would be like
to be attacked by him,

619
00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:47,293
to have him on top,

620
00:34:48,044 --> 00:34:52,006
to have him with a gun
at your throat, knife.

621
00:34:54,133 --> 00:34:55,968
[reporter]
Breaking down in tears,

622
00:34:56,052 --> 00:34:58,763
the woman said Richard Ramirez
is the gunman

623
00:34:58,846 --> 00:35:03,267
who sodomized her eight-year-old son
after shooting her husband in the head.

624
00:35:03,351 --> 00:35:05,645
It was a scary feeling

625
00:35:05,728 --> 00:35:07,647
to be in the same room with him,

626
00:35:08,481 --> 00:35:10,525
and you just knew

627
00:35:10,608 --> 00:35:12,276
you were in the presence of evil.

628
00:35:12,985 --> 00:35:14,195
You could feel it.

629
00:35:16,697 --> 00:35:19,075
And I think I was there
for about 30 minutes,

630
00:35:19,158 --> 00:35:23,121
and then it just was too much
and I couldn't take it anymore.

631
00:35:23,204 --> 00:35:27,625
And so, I had to walk outside
of the courtroom just into a hallway…

632
00:35:28,376 --> 00:35:30,044
and there was a bench there.

633
00:35:30,503 --> 00:35:32,755
I sat on the bench
and there were other people

634
00:35:32,839 --> 00:35:34,799
that, you know,
maybe didn't make it--

635
00:35:34,882 --> 00:35:38,136
Get a seat in the courtroom,
so they were sitting outside as well.

636
00:35:38,761 --> 00:35:41,514
And I just was trying
to take some deep breaths

637
00:35:41,597 --> 00:35:43,432
and sort of collect myself,

638
00:35:43,516 --> 00:35:47,061
and I was sitting next to this boy,
who couldn't have been much older than me,

639
00:35:47,145 --> 00:35:49,272
maybe 19, 20,

640
00:35:49,355 --> 00:35:52,316
and I remember thinking, like,
"I wonder why he's here.

641
00:35:52,400 --> 00:35:54,527
Did he have a family member
that was hurt?"

642
00:35:54,610 --> 00:35:59,073
I remember at some point he kind of
lifted up the sleeves of his jacket

643
00:35:59,157 --> 00:36:00,867
and when he turned his hand over,

644
00:36:00,950 --> 00:36:03,327
I could see he had a tattoo
of a pentagram.

645
00:36:04,078 --> 00:36:07,498
And then I realized
that I was sitting next to somebody

646
00:36:07,582 --> 00:36:11,127
who looked up to the person
that killed my grandmother.

647
00:36:11,252 --> 00:36:13,462
[jarring music playing]

648
00:36:13,546 --> 00:36:17,008
And so, even though
I was outside of that courtroom,

649
00:36:17,091 --> 00:36:21,512
it was sort of this sense of just
not being able to really escape it

650
00:36:21,596 --> 00:36:24,432
or get away from the darkness.

651
00:36:25,308 --> 00:36:26,851
Just sort of this feeling of…

652
00:36:30,188 --> 00:36:31,981
evil being all around you.

653
00:36:37,695 --> 00:36:40,531
[woman] I can still hear
her screams during the shooting,

654
00:36:40,615 --> 00:36:43,826
then her crying, "Mommy, please don't die,
please don't die,"

655
00:36:43,910 --> 00:36:46,329
while I was bleeding
uncontrollably in front of her.

656
00:36:47,747 --> 00:36:49,957
"Your Honor, the defense counsel

657
00:36:50,041 --> 00:36:53,961
spoke of the quality of mercy
demonstrated by my mother's murderer,

658
00:36:54,045 --> 00:36:57,423
spoke of Richard Ramirez allowing
several of his victims to live.

659
00:36:58,174 --> 00:37:01,510
I'd like to talk about the other side
of Richard Ramirez's mercy.

660
00:37:02,136 --> 00:37:04,722
He beat my mother in the head
with a heavy object.

661
00:37:04,805 --> 00:37:07,767
The same beating
caused my mother to lose blood,

662
00:37:07,850 --> 00:37:09,810
blood that my brother and I cleaned up.

663
00:37:10,728 --> 00:37:12,438
He then strangled my mother.

664
00:37:12,939 --> 00:37:16,150
This is the true nature
of the mercy of Richard Ramirez.

665
00:37:16,234 --> 00:37:17,485
Thank you, sir."

666
00:37:18,069 --> 00:37:20,154
The court says "thank you" at that point.

667
00:37:52,436 --> 00:37:54,146
We, the jury in the above action,

668
00:37:54,230 --> 00:37:56,524
find the defendant, Richard Ramirez,
guilty of murder.

669
00:37:56,607 --> 00:37:59,485
[restrained clamoring]

670
00:37:59,568 --> 00:38:02,280
[Alan]
Everything for me is a blur after that.

671
00:38:02,363 --> 00:38:04,699
They started reading the verdicts

672
00:38:04,782 --> 00:38:07,451
and it was guilty
after guilty after guilty.

673
00:38:08,744 --> 00:38:09,829
Forty-three counts.

674
00:38:10,579 --> 00:38:12,748
I was very relieved to hear.

675
00:38:12,832 --> 00:38:14,041
It's just a string of

676
00:38:14,125 --> 00:38:17,044
guilty, guilty, guilty,
over and over and over.

677
00:38:17,128 --> 00:38:20,756
[bittersweet music playing]

678
00:38:20,840 --> 00:38:23,467
[Gil]
Going from a time where…

679
00:38:24,010 --> 00:38:27,555
people thought I was a young punk
trying to make a name for myself,

680
00:38:28,306 --> 00:38:29,432
to what I believed in,

681
00:38:30,641 --> 00:38:32,810
and what I had fought for…

682
00:38:33,769 --> 00:38:36,355
to ultimately get
to the point of conviction.

683
00:38:36,439 --> 00:38:38,607
When they read "guilty"
on the first count,

684
00:38:39,275 --> 00:38:41,485
then I knew the rest of them were in.

685
00:38:47,283 --> 00:38:48,826
I became very emotional.

686
00:38:50,036 --> 00:38:51,412
I went home that night

687
00:38:52,079 --> 00:38:55,958
and I crawled in bed
and I started crying like a baby.

688
00:38:58,669 --> 00:39:01,339
[Pearl]
And without him telling me

689
00:39:01,422 --> 00:39:03,007
why he was crying,

690
00:39:04,258 --> 00:39:07,386
I just knew it in my heart.
I just knew it in my heart.

691
00:39:08,054 --> 00:39:12,016
[voice growing emotional]
I wished my dad would have been there.

692
00:39:15,102 --> 00:39:16,479
I wanted him to be proud…

693
00:39:17,438 --> 00:39:19,482
and I wanted to share it with him,

694
00:39:19,982 --> 00:39:21,525
and unfortunately…

695
00:39:21,609 --> 00:39:22,735
[sniffs] uh…

696
00:39:23,903 --> 00:39:25,738
he had already passed away.

697
00:39:25,821 --> 00:39:29,450
[delicate music playing]

698
00:39:34,246 --> 00:39:38,209
And my wife just leaned over and said,

699
00:39:38,292 --> 00:39:39,627
"It's okay.

700
00:39:43,547 --> 00:39:44,715
He was with you."

701
00:39:46,050 --> 00:39:49,303
I said, "Gil, your dad is with you."

702
00:40:02,733 --> 00:40:05,444
A judge in Los Angeles today
sentenced Richard Ramirez,

703
00:40:05,528 --> 00:40:07,696
the so-called Night Stalker
killer and rapist,

704
00:40:08,489 --> 00:40:10,366
to death in the gas chamber.

705
00:40:10,449 --> 00:40:13,285
[reporter] There was never doubt
that Ramirez would be sentenced to death,

706
00:40:13,369 --> 00:40:17,081
so there were no surprises
until Ramirez himself chose to speak.

707
00:40:17,164 --> 00:40:19,875
[Richard] I don't need to hear
all of society's rationalizations.

708
00:40:19,959 --> 00:40:23,462
I've heard them all before
and the fact remains that what is, is.

709
00:40:23,546 --> 00:40:25,965
You don't understand me.
You are not expected to.

710
00:40:26,048 --> 00:40:27,383
You are not capable of it.

711
00:40:27,466 --> 00:40:30,803
I am beyond your experience.
I am beyond good and evil.

712
00:40:33,514 --> 00:40:34,890
[reporter]
Under California law,

713
00:40:34,974 --> 00:40:38,477
this death sentence will be automatically
appealed to the state Supreme Court.

714
00:40:40,146 --> 00:40:42,982
[Richard] Big deal.
Death always went with the territory.

715
00:40:43,607 --> 00:40:45,067
I'll see you in Disneyland.

716
00:40:48,821 --> 00:40:50,406
[Frank]
That afternoon,

717
00:40:50,489 --> 00:40:52,825
Gil and I go over to county jail

718
00:40:52,908 --> 00:40:56,328
and we go up to his cell…

719
00:40:58,164 --> 00:41:01,625
and he flat asked,

720
00:41:01,709 --> 00:41:04,712
he just come right out and he said,
"Gil," he said,

721
00:41:05,337 --> 00:41:08,007
"are you gonna go to my execution?"

722
00:41:08,090 --> 00:41:09,884
And Gil said, "I don't know."

723
00:41:10,468 --> 00:41:13,304
He says, "Frank, what about you?"
I said, "Yes, I am."

724
00:41:15,514 --> 00:41:19,435
I wanted to put an end
to this case in my mind,

725
00:41:20,144 --> 00:41:22,897
and that would have put an end to it.

726
00:41:23,481 --> 00:41:25,649
Killer's in custody, killer's dead.

727
00:41:25,733 --> 00:41:26,692
No more.

728
00:41:35,618 --> 00:41:37,536
[Falzon]
Back in 1989,

729
00:41:37,620 --> 00:41:39,497
when we had Richard Ramirez

730
00:41:39,580 --> 00:41:41,457
en route to San Quentin,

731
00:41:42,333 --> 00:41:43,876
he looked back at me,

732
00:41:43,959 --> 00:41:45,920
big smile on his face,

733
00:41:47,087 --> 00:41:50,216
and it was very, very eerie. Very…

734
00:41:50,299 --> 00:41:51,258
surreal.

735
00:41:52,343 --> 00:41:53,719
He said, "Hey, Falzon.

736
00:41:54,428 --> 00:41:58,057
You'd like to know about
the two old ladies on Telegraph Hill,

737
00:41:58,140 --> 00:41:59,600
wouldn't you?"

738
00:41:59,683 --> 00:42:06,398
Carl Klotz and I had a previous murder
of two elderly ladies in Telegraph Hill.

739
00:42:06,482 --> 00:42:08,943
That crime scene was very horrific.

740
00:42:10,069 --> 00:42:13,656
And he laughed this very fiendish laugh.

741
00:42:14,490 --> 00:42:16,325
He said, "It was me."

742
00:42:16,408 --> 00:42:18,744
So, there's no doubt in my mind

743
00:42:19,328 --> 00:42:21,705
he committed
other crimes in San Francisco.

744
00:42:22,289 --> 00:42:24,416
[reporter]
Fingerprints have linked Ramirez

745
00:42:24,500 --> 00:42:27,294
to the murder of a 79-year-old woman
in June of 1984.

746
00:42:29,463 --> 00:42:32,550
It's a long time from June…

747
00:42:33,092 --> 00:42:34,760
to March.

748
00:42:35,511 --> 00:42:39,640
It's hard to believe that he could
contain himself for that long

749
00:42:39,723 --> 00:42:44,436
and then go off on a tangent
for the next four to five months

750
00:42:44,520 --> 00:42:47,106
where he goes on a killing spree.

751
00:42:48,107 --> 00:42:51,860
So I think there's a good chance
there may be some other cases out there.

752
00:42:54,071 --> 00:42:56,323
[Arturo]
Some things that I learned from him--

753
00:42:56,407 --> 00:42:59,702
It wasn't his first rodeo that one year.

754
00:43:00,619 --> 00:43:03,872
I truly believe that there might be
a lot more crimes out there

755
00:43:03,956 --> 00:43:05,541
that these people never caught.

756
00:43:09,378 --> 00:43:12,881
[brooding music playing]

757
00:43:18,971 --> 00:43:21,807
[Richard speaking]

758
00:43:44,622 --> 00:43:48,542
Richard Ramirez, the serial killer
known as the Night Stalker, is dead.

759
00:43:48,626 --> 00:43:52,713
The California Department of Corrections
said Ramirez died of natural causes today

760
00:43:52,796 --> 00:43:57,134
in a hospital after spending
more than two decades on death row.

761
00:44:00,346 --> 00:44:01,263
[Laurel] Cancer.

762
00:44:06,602 --> 00:44:08,020
Such an odd death.

763
00:44:09,605 --> 00:44:11,690
Instead of staying in a box

764
00:44:11,774 --> 00:44:13,400
for decades and decades,

765
00:44:13,484 --> 00:44:16,820
he only stayed in the box
for a relatively short time.

766
00:44:19,531 --> 00:44:21,033
Kind of a blessing.

767
00:44:22,701 --> 00:44:24,745
More than he gave his victims.

768
00:44:28,832 --> 00:44:30,417
[Judith]
I'll never forgive him…

769
00:44:32,336 --> 00:44:34,755
because I can't forget.
I live with it every day.

770
00:44:42,721 --> 00:44:47,559
Our ministry has taught us
to look at all the happy memories.

771
00:44:49,311 --> 00:44:51,480
We talk about Grandma

772
00:44:51,563 --> 00:44:56,735
to the kids and to the great-grandkids
now who never knew her,

773
00:44:57,444 --> 00:44:59,571
but they know about her.

774
00:45:01,448 --> 00:45:05,369
Yeah, you know, I was kidnapped
and horrible things were done to me

775
00:45:05,452 --> 00:45:09,081
as a six-year-old
when I'm most impressionable, and…

776
00:45:10,374 --> 00:45:12,251
I'm okay, you know?

777
00:45:12,334 --> 00:45:16,171
I grew up, I went to school,
I got married, I have a family.

778
00:45:16,255 --> 00:45:22,970
You know, I'm not letting that
turn me into what he was.

779
00:45:28,016 --> 00:45:31,895
[Frank]
What causes a person to do what he does?

780
00:45:31,979 --> 00:45:35,274
[insidious music playing]

781
00:45:35,357 --> 00:45:36,608
I don't think we really know,

782
00:45:37,192 --> 00:45:38,318
I really don't.

783
00:45:40,320 --> 00:45:43,407
[Gil] I believe there's a devil.
I believe there's an evil.

784
00:45:43,991 --> 00:45:44,867
And…

785
00:45:45,826 --> 00:45:47,661
I say prayers at night.

786
00:45:47,745 --> 00:45:49,037
"Holy Mary, Mother of God,

787
00:45:49,121 --> 00:45:51,707
pray for us sinners now
and at the hour of our death. Amen.

788
00:45:51,790 --> 00:45:54,251
Glory be to the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

789
00:45:54,334 --> 00:45:56,253
As it was in the beginning, is now,

790
00:45:56,336 --> 00:45:58,797
and ever shall be, world without end.
Amen.

791
00:45:58,881 --> 00:46:00,841
Father, I offer these prayers up…"

792
00:46:00,924 --> 00:46:04,720
And then I go on with names, people…

793
00:46:06,388 --> 00:46:07,473
And…

794
00:46:09,558 --> 00:46:10,976
end up with…

795
00:46:13,479 --> 00:46:14,480
Ramirez.

796
00:46:32,372 --> 00:46:35,667
[faint street sounds in distance]