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and arrest. Today, Bob is the chairman of the Los Angeles Police Museum and is here to tell the story, along with Ashley Labinski. Ashley is the former co-host of Discovery Channel's Master of Arms.
Take it away, Ashley. Between June 1984 and August 1985, serial killer Richard Ramirez, who's better known infamously as the night stalker, preyed on victims in Los Angeles. He was arrested on August 31st, 1985, after his identity was initially released by the police and a group of citizens recognized him. In this case, it's an example of a large investigation coming down to something as small as a fingerprint. Dating back to 3300 BCE, it's believed that fingerprints were used for some level of identification purposes. In the 1880s, though, a Frenchman named Alphonse Bertillon ventured away from the fingerprint to develop a system of identifying people based on body measurements as well as photographing faces.
And this is the origin of the mugshot. In 1892, Sir Francis Galton published the first classification system for fingerprints. And in 1901, Scotland Yard established its first fingerprint bureau.
While the Bertillon system was helpful for processing inmates, it was not foolproof. In 1908, France was the first country to formally adopt fingerprinting, and by 1911, fingerprints were accepted in U.S. courts as a reliable form of identification. And who would have thought that just over 70 years later, a fingerprint would be the downfall of one of the most notorious serial killers in American history? Richard Ramirez was a murderer, sex offender, and burglar, and began his reign of terror the summer of 1984. In December of 1984, Sergeant Roberto Alades was on patrol in West L.A. I was working in West L.A. in the Brentwood area. It was around two or three in the morning. My partner and I, we were with the other officers that worked that area. And on our radio frequency, the other officers contacted us and said, Hey, you're still in the area.
Come on back and back us up. We see some suspicious vehicle. And they had gone down Ashley.
These are very affluent homes. And they observed this car. It was a 74 Ford Penso.
And it was pretty much a jalopy at that time. So Richard Ramirez was driving down the street, and it looked like he was pulling into a driveway. He would look at it, back up, go to another residence. So he was casing the homes, and we pulled him over. We order him out of the car, gets out, he's cooperating with us, and he looks a mess.
So as he comes out, my partner handcuffs him. I run up to the vehicle to clear the vehicle, and I look at the ignition, and the ignition was punched. So I yell to the guys, Hey, the car's stolen. So we arrested him for the stolen vehicle, put him in our car, and the other guys impounded the vehicle. My partner and I drove him to the station, and I processed him.
So I set him down in the booking chair, and then I put his booking numbers, and I flipped the numbers and put the date in there and logged him in. I took the photo, and then I went and got him fingerprinted and put him in jail. The interesting thing about that is that a few days later, the judge, he communicated to the officers that the reason why you stopped him is because he's a Hispanic guy in an affluent white neighborhood.
Now all of us, we're all Hispanic, so it's like, you know, where does this come from? And so he said, well, because of this, I'm going to let him go. And by the way, when we ran his record, he did have a previous arrest for grand theft auto. So this is his second charge. So he had a reason to keep him. But days later, a judge released Ramirez from jail on the promise to return to his preliminary trial.
Unsurprisingly, he did not return to court. And this fatal decision led to Ramirez's ability to continue to rape, torture, and murder for another eight months. So his MO is to break into a house, do his rituals, kill these people, and then he would take the stolen vehicle someplace and he'd torture it. So he did about two or three more crimes. In addition to that, he had raped several children. So he had victimized several more families.
Fast forward to August 1985. Ramirez drove 76 miles in a stolen orange Toyota to Mission Viejo. In this area, Ramirez was attempting to attack and rob a man named James Romero Jr. But he was ultimately exposed at the scene and forced to flee.
Romero, however, was able to get the make, model, and color of the car, and he also got a partial license plate. Since Ramirez's plan was thwarted, Ramirez broke into the home of Bill Carnes and his fiancé Inez Erickson. Ramirez shot Carnes multiple times, but he did survive those injuries before turning his sights on Erickson. After brutalizing her, he left her alive, telling her to let people know that the night stalker was here. And this decision would prove to be a very bad one for Ramirez, as Erickson then provided a full description of Ramirez to the police.
On August 28th, Ramirez abandoned the Toyota. Although he attempted to destroy any evidence of himself, including a fingerprint, police were able to obtain one single fingerprint from the rearview mirror. When we tested for fingerprints on the rearview mirror, they got his thumbprint. And when they matched that thumbprint, came back to my arrest, and they were able to pull up the photo that I took. Which, if you watch the latest show on Netflix, they have my booking photo that I took along with the sketch. And I was driving down the street.
Actually, I was on sensitive. I looked up and I see this photo that I've had for years. So it was pretty interesting. And according to Sub, Ramirez's print was a quote unquote near miracle, as the system used to identify him had only recently been installed. The system only contained fingerprints of criminals born after January 1st, 1960.
And Ramirez was born that year, about a month later. On August 29th, law enforcement released Ramirez's mugshot from Alanis' arrest. The police stated to the press, we know who you are now, and soon everyone else will.
There will be no place you can hide. And that statement was quite accurate. Today, the search for California's night stalker continues. Ramirez went to Tucson to see a relative, but upon his return to Tucson on August 31st, 1985, Ramirez was recognized by citizens. They conducted their own citizen's arrest, restraining and beating Ramirez until the police arrived. On September 20th, 1989, Ramirez was convicted of 43 charges, 13 counts of murder, five attempted murders, 11 sexual assaults and 14 burglaries. He was sentenced to death in California's gas chamber. To the press, though, Ramirez stated, quote, Big deal. Death always went with the territory.
See you in Disneyland, end quote. You know, I saw him in court, and it's interesting to see these ladies that were in the back dressed in black, and they're all his fans, and they want to, like, marry this guy. That's another crazy thing, too. Why were you in the courtroom today? Everyone makes him look so bad, you know, but I know that he's a nice person because I've met him, and I know. He's convicted of 13 murders. I know. But he's a really nice guy. How do you respond to people who are going to think you're crazy for this?
I would say that they just don't understand. The trial cost $1.8 million and was, at the time, the most expensive murder trial in the history of California, only to be surpassed by the O.J. Simpson trial.
It's hard to believe that someone who committed atrocities and was able to elude the police for so long was undone by the carelessness in leaving a single fingerprint at the scene of a crime. And a terrific job on the production and editing by our own Greg Hengler. And a special thanks to Ashley Labinski. As always, she's the former co-host of the Discovery Channel's Master of Arms, and she's the co-founder of the University of Wyoming College of Law's Firearms Research Center. And we also want to thank Sergeant Bob Alaniz. And what a story about that judge accusing Hispanic officers of practicing discrimination and what that cost many families in blood and treasure.
The story of the night stalker and the man who arrested him here on Our American Stories. Behind every successful business is a vision. Bringing it to life takes more than effort. It takes the right financial foundation and support. That's where Chase for Business comes in.
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