Twenty years after Richard Ramirez left thirteen dead and paralyzed the city of Los Angeles, his name is still synonymous with fear, torture, and sadistic murder. Philip Carlo's classic "The Night Stalker", based upon three 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. 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. Incredibly, after "The Night Stalker" was first published, thousands of women from all over the world began to contact Carlo, begging to be put in touch with the killer. Carlo began to interview them and, in this compelling tenth-anniversary edition, presents their disturbing stories and the dark sexual desires that would drive them towards a brutal murderer. And in an exclusive death row interview, the killer himself gives his thoughts on the "Ramirez Groupies" - and what he thinks they really want.

Reviews

Richard Ramirez terrorized Los Angeles and the surrounding communities during his reign of terror as "The Night Stalker." By the time he was captured, he had killed 13 people. This account of his sordid deeds spends much time describing the crimes in grisly detail. By far the most interesting part of the presentation is the author's taped interview with Ramirez, during which Ramirez talks about his beliefs, his theories on other serial killers, his drug abuse, and how it feels to be on death row. Listeners will be surprised to find that Ramirez is intelligent and funny: how could this seemingly ordinary man have committed such heinous acts? Danny Aiello is an adequate reader and the background music choice, "Night on Bald Mountain," is inspired. While the account suffers from unevenness at times, the interview more than atones. Recommended for most true crime collections.‘Danna C. Bell-Russel, District of Columbia P.L.