Someone must have it. At the preliminary hearing in May 1986, Maria again identified Ramirez but admitted she had seen him in the media and therefore may have been influenced. Salerno said it was unheard of for a criminal to have such wide-ranging types of victims men, women and children and such varied methods of killing; Ramirez had used guns and knives, to this point. He noticed a window screen missing, the front door unlocked and his mother's belongings scattered around the home. Thanks; I cant believe how bad the identification evidence was and how the suspect changed his appearance so drastically every time. On August 24, 1985, he fled a burglary scene after house owner James Romero raised the alarm - noting the registration number of the stolen car Ramirez was driving. It was only when Detective Gil Carrillo linked the killings to a spate of child kidnappings that the LA police began to track Ramirez down. Clearly, Maria did not have a clear image in her head of what the attacker wore, or what his face or hair was like. As he pulled the trigger the terrified 20-year-old put her hands to her face and, miraculously, the bullet ricocheted off her keys, saving her life. The Night Stalker would strike during a delicate time for Los Angeles; it was hosting the 1984 Summer Olympics. Paul Dougherty was of the opinion that the ballistics evidence should be retested because the law enforcement work-up was inaccurate and inadequate with internal conflicts in the reports. She survived. To see all content on The Sun, please use the Site Map. Police finally had a name. Maria assisted a composite artist to create a drawing of the suspect. Here is that photo again. Her throat was slashed so severely she was almost decapitated before being sexually assaulted. Also the criminal associates who said he wore such a hat are hardly reliable and the woman on the documentary who claimed she saw a man buy it, while looking like an evil clown was pointless information it could have been anyone. Reward offered as manhunt for Texas shooting suspect reaches "dead end", Louisiana's health care deserts put women, babies at risk, doctors say, Second convoy of U.S. citizens fleeing Khartoum arrives at Port Sudan, How a tall Texan became an unlikely Australian rules football star, Surviving the torturous hell of the Hanoi Hilton, Texas surfer pushed offshore by strong winds rescued by Coast Guard, Tornado flips cars, downs trees after touching down in South Florida, Shaquil Barrett's 2-year-old daughter dies in drowning accident, Investors sue Adidas over Kanye West Yeezy deal, Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images via Getty Images, Eric Luse/San Francisco Chronicle/Getty Images, Harvey Meston/Archive Photos/Getty Images, Lawrence K. Ho/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images, Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer. In a pre-DNA era, the Night Stalker was able to evade apprehension by slaughtering at random, meaning that Carrillo and Salerno were left to chase leads that frequently went nowhere. He made a name for himself then as a talented homicide investigator. Whatever she bought she shared. But he did not; he left straight away and Maria did not say he was carrying anything but that same gun. Dayle passed away on month day 1985, at age 34 at death place, California. Carrillo went to his mentor and fellow detective Frank Salerno with his hunch. She slowly crouched, pleading for her life and as he fired; she reflexively raised her hand to shield her face, as the automatic light went out. At this point, little doubt remained that Ramirez was the one behind the Night Stalker attacks. Knowing who my family is associating with is paramount. Then, a young man named James Romero came forward with some information: He'd seen a suspicious car in his Mission Viejo neighborhood. When Richard was 13, he watched as Miguel shot and killed his wife, Jessie, during an argument. Further complicating things, the Night Stalker benefited from news reports thatat a couple of key junctures during his rampagebroadcast the very evidence cops were using to catch him, thereby allowing him to change up his methods (for instance, he began unplugging phones so no one could call for help after one dying man, post-assault, managed to dial 911 to save his wife). The cousins were convicted of 10 counts apiece of kidnapping, rape and murder. Even knowing that the man they wanted was relatively tall, gaunt, wore a size 11.5 shoe, and dressed in a black Members Only jacket and AC/DC baseball cap, Carrillo and Salerno routinely found themselves one step behind their prey. Alan M. Nov, 2021. They had his dental cast as well. There was a shoe print left in concrete at the site. The day after the Nelson murder, Carrillo and Salerno finally got their hands on the stolen Toyota. A mysterious and unnamed witness told Powell that the suspect was a white male. He ran. Hearing the commotion, neighbors came outside and surrounded Ramirez. Just eight years earlier, from 1977 to 1978, two cousins who together became known as the Hillside Stranger killed at least 10 women and dumped their bodies on local hillsides. The same night, less than a mile away, Sophie Dickman was sexually assaulted in her Monterey Park home. When he entered the house, the Richard Ramirez shot Dayle Okazaki, who was hiding behind the kitchen counter. As soon as Richards face was known to her, Maria changed the description of the gunman. Utter Nonce-sense Expendable For A Cause. She and the other children provided police with a description of their kidnapper that raised alarms and inspired a hunch for one homicide detective. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. He slapped the top of her car so she would turn around and see him. [], [] of compromised identification, take a look HERE and perhaps HERE, or even HERE for more examples of how eyewitnesses differed in their [], [] had linked it to the other murders, just because it occurred on the same night as another Dayle Okazaki, almost 4 miles south-east, although the timings of the incidents cause some [], [] Maria Hernandez also said the killer might have also been Caucasian, as did Sophie Dickman in her initial police report, before changing him to [], [] not that he had a home and use a tyre iron instead. Moments later, the killer - known as the Night Stalker - walked into Marias apartment and shot her flatmate, Dayle Okazaki, between the eyes. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Robles did, however, own a Members Only jacket, similar to the one Maria saw the killer wearing. Eventually, though, they all turn out to be the work of a single man, Richard Ramirez, who became known as the Night Stalker because of his nocturnal attacks and predatory ways. A string of brutal murders and sexual assaults followed. Given that no such criminal figure had ever been detected before, Carrillo was roundly mocked by his colleagues. Then something changed, 7 hospitalized after driver in stolen car runs red light in San Bernardino, police say, Barstow police investigating after officer caught on video hitting man with a baton, Sacramento, San Francisco mayors take shots at each others city before NBA playoff game, Masked gunmen tie up man and woman in Bel-Air home invasion. Richard was ultimately convicted of 43 charges, including 13 murders and 11 sexual assaults, thanks to the one woman who agreed to testify about how she faced him and lived to tell the tale Maria Hernandez. A missed opportunity to catch the killer now labeled the "Night Stalker" frustrates detectives, as does a mayor who divulges evidence to the press. Luckily, neither bullet hit any vital organs. All of the children were sexually assaulted and then abandoned. He identified the man in the photo as Richard Ramirez the Night Stalker. "Tell them the Night Stalker was here," he said. Read on to find out more. Performance & security by Cloudflare. July 7, 1985, two days after the Bennett attack, 60-year-old Joyce Nelson was murdered in her home in Monterey Park. There was a soundtrack of Madonna going - Holiday and Like a Virgin - over and over, she recalls. The Light-Haired Man Who Attacked the Abowaths Expendable For A Cause. memorial page for Dayle Yoshie Okazaki (1 Apr 1950-17 Mar 1985), Find a Grave Memorial ID 112100266, citing Rose Hills Memorial Park, Whittier, Los Angeles County . I believe in the devil and I believe in evil, he says. Then-mayor of San Francisco Dianne Feinstein gave a press conference shortly after the Pan murders. The pain., Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Northern California town on edge after second fatal stabbing in a week, Man found guilty of murdering teens who ding-dong-ditched his house, Unseasonable rain, cooler temperatures in forecast for Los Angeles this week. She publicly revealed, for the first time, that police had tied the cases together with shell casings and the Avia shoe print. It will never go away. Meanwhile, San Francisco police were also chasing down a lead surrounding a Rick from El Paso. In a desperate attempt to connect Dayle Okazakis murder to other crimes, and to establish a modus operandi for these random and varied attacks, the prosecution argued that this was a burglary, despite nothing having been stolen. Falsification. Los Angeles' KNBC called him the Walk-In Killer. His cousin Miguel, a Vietnam veteran, subjected the young Ramirez to horrific pictures from the conflict, including one where he gleefully posed with the severed head of a woman he'd raped and decapitated. Before his 26th birthday, he would kill at least 13 more people and commit at least 11 sexual assaults, in a wave of seemingly random attacks that terrified residents of Southern California in the summer of 1985. As the summer wore on, more people reported similar nighttime break-ins and attacks in nearby cities of Monrovia, Burbank and Arcadia. Aug. 6, 1985: Ramirez shot both Christopher Petersen, 38, and his wife, Virginia, 27, in the head. He was sentenced to 19 death penalties. Texan-born Ramirez grew up with an abusive dad, prone to violent rages. In extended new interviews, Carrillo and Salerno serve as de facto narrators for this story of the Night Stalker, who became known to authorities on March 17, 1985, when 34-year-old Dayle Okazaki was shot dead, in point-blank style, and her roommate Maria Hernandez narrowly escaped the same fate when a bullet ricocheted off the keys in her raised-to-her-face hands. Below are Google Earth images of their condo, this is the front, where Maria saw the attacker exiting. She may have wanted to help her mothers friend solve his high-profile case. With Dayle Okazaki, Maria Hernandez, Tsai-Lian Yu, Vincent Zazzara. I think I know the one you mean. Premiering Jan. 13 on Netflix, Night Stalker tells its four-episode tale through the prism of L.A. County detectives Gil Carrillo and Frank Salerno, the former a rising star who was honored to be partnered with the latter, who by 1985 was famous throughout the city for having brought to justice another notorious serial killer: the Hillside Strangler. His wife is beaten. Young Anastasia raised her hand and asked, "Do I write the word two or the number 2?". They requested to print the car, but they couldn't access the vehicle for weeks. May 29, 1985: Mabel Bell, 84, and her invalid sister, Florence Lang, 81, are beaten with a hammer in their Monrovia home. She heard a strange noise behind her as she entered her garage, then she was faced with the defendant holding a gun towards her. Police found Avia sneaker footprints on the side of Nelson's head and on the concrete outside of her home. They failed to challenge the following: However, the defence failed to competently establish that Hernandezs eyewitness testimony was unreliable. He told police about a man from El Paso, Texas, who went by Rick a man who openly bragged about still-confidential information about the Night Stalker murders. Ramirez had previously been booked for grand theft auto and some petty theft. For other inquiries, Contact Us. He didnt, he says. Maria focused on the gun as one naturally would. So unfair not just to Richard but his Family. Thats what started me thinking about one man doing this.. This is Anastasia Hronas, who survived an abduction at age 6. California, U.S., Death Index, 1940-1997 Preview. Dickman would later quote Ramirez as saying, "don't look at me" during the attack. The transcript said this recants the main evidence in this case, which means false information had been spread, finding Richard guilty before trial. Outside the Hollenbeck police station, a crowd had gathered, hoping to get a glimpse of the man who had caused so much fear and horror in the summer of 1985. Her captor raped her repeatedly before driving her to a local petrol station and letting her go. Serial Delusions Expendable For A Cause. One of the child abductees was Anastasia Hronner, who was just six when she was taken from her bed in the middle of the night. They lost to the Celtics in a seven-game series. I fell to the ground behind the door. And when asked by the prosecutor if she saw the man who pulled the trigger in the room with her, she said, Yes, I do, glancing towards Richard, who was sitting at the counsel table in a blue prison jumpsuit. Detective Gil Carrillo arrived at 12:20am and noted that the garage light remained on for just 8 seconds. Devil-worshipper Ramirez targeted men, women and . The Law Did Not Treat Them Kindly. Mans body found by firefighters amid apartment fire in South L.A. In 2009, police also connected him with a further death of a 9-year-old girl from 1984. I reckon theyd probably never test it because they dont want him exonerated, which is leaving a murder victim without justice, [] story goes, that after Richard Ramirez had murdered Dayle Okazaki and shot Maria Hernandez in Rosemead, a suburb in Los Angeles County, he drove 3.9 miles northwest to Monterey Park and [], [] Maria Hernandez also said the killer might have also been Caucasian, as did Sophie Dickman in her initial police report, before changing him to Richard. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); each telling the lie that all the survivors had described the killer this way. They were deliberately downplaying the fact evidence could not conclusively tie Richard to that crime scene. After slashing the throat of Mary Louise Cannon, 75, on July 2, 1985 he broke into the bedroom of 16-year-old Whitney Bennett. In 2009, police matched Ramirez's DNA with a sample collected at the scene of an unsolved murder of a 9-year-old girl in San Francisco in 1984. Dayle Okazaki, Associated Press. Born in Hawaii, Dayle Okazaki was one of three children and from a close family. But she was more than just a victim. In 1996, Richard Ramirez married longtime fan Doreen Lioy at San Quentin Prison in California. Click to reveal Poor RR didnt stand a chance. Miguel was found not guilty by reason of insanity and was released four years later. These are the questions that need answers: This needed much further investigation as it sounds like a possible hitman. More accurately, they claimed this was a failed burglary; that Ramirez had intended to burgle but was disrupted. You can see his hair and [], [] the prosecution, determined that the gun used in the Kneiding incident was the gun used in theOkazaki and Yu incidents. Hallucination? Dayle Okazaki was shot in her Rosemead condo at 8510 Village Lane, after Ramirez rushed in through the garage. It doesnt necessarily have to have come from the killer. Expendable For A Cause. This seems an odd range. He ran to the building manager to call the police. If she had seen the hat, would she not have remembered it having a lighter logo emblazoned across it especially that of a well-known rock band? While examining the crime scene, police found another shoe print, just like the first two, on Bennett's comforter. At 11:30pm, Maria returned home via the garage, for which an automatic light came on upon entry. Nobody won; nobody had real closure. Let us examine it in depth; first, Maria Hernandezs testimony. On September 20, 1989, Ramirez was found guilty of all charges and sentenced to death. Inflammatory Images Expendable For A Cause. He reported seeing an orange Toyota station wagon with a license plate that included the numbers 8 and 2. Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. But let's go back to the beginning of the story. Here, a member of the Los Angeles County coroner's office investigates the body of a woman, believed to be a victim of the Hillside Strangler. The young man in blue.. The Orange County crime lab processed the car and hit the jackpot the police had been waiting for these many months: a fingerprint. Ballistics is important with this case in particular, for there was an attempt to link this murder to another on the same night, four miles away, then to another extremely brutal murder in July 1985. Theres no way he did any of those on that night. Edna Fumiko Okazaki . The bullet ricocheted off her keys and the force of the shot sent her falling to the floor. He had suffered a brain injury and was subjected to multiple traumas in his childhood which affected his thought processes. To get better results, add more information such as Birth Info, Death Info and Locationeven a guess will help. He died in prison on June 7, 2013, while awaiting execution. If only the [], [] had linked it to the other murders, just because it occurred on the same night as another Dayle Okazaki, almost 4 miles [], [] The Murder of DayleOkazaki Tsai-Lian Yu: Murder, Medallions & MorphingSuspects []. The same night, he broke into the house of Bill Carns and shot him three times before raping his 29-year-old fiancee Inez Erickson. Mar. The children described their attacker as tall, with light brown skin, dishevelled hair, stained teeth and a pungent odour - matching a description given by Maria Hernandez. / CBS NEWS. A competent defence would have had the hat examined to test whether the sweat belonged to Richard Ramirez. Rodriguez was the one who told them the Night Stalker's name was Richard Ramirez. Gil ends the documentary with his own statement. Dayle Okazaki was shot in her Rosemead condo at 8510 Village Lane, after Ramirez rushed in through the garage. You can view more information below including images, social media accounts, and more. He beat her with a metal wheel brace - leaving her with multiple skull fractures - but miraculously she survived. Police paid a visit to the dentist's office and discovered that their suspect had just visited five days earlier, not long before the Bennett, Nelson and Dickman attacks. He made no attempt to escape after being caught, and simply shot her and likely assumed she was dead. Thousands of tips poured in to the sheriff's hotlines. Six days after his last sickening crime, Ramirez attempted a carjacking in LA but locals recognised him, chased him and beat him until cops arrived. After all, if thats the case, she probably would have changed her last name, which would explain why we cant find any public records under the name of Maria Hernandez. 1 Apr 1950 Hawaii, United States of America, 17 Mar 1985 Rosemead, Los Angeles County, California, United States of America, 15 May 1964 Fresno, Fresno County, California, United States of America, 1940 Venice Hill Tract Visalia Judicial Township, Visalia, Tulare, California, USA, U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014, U.S., Newspapers.com Obituary Index, 1800s-current, Washington, U.S., Marriage Index, 1969-2017, Arizona, U.S., Birth Certificates, 1880-1935, U.S., Phone and Address Directories, 1993-2002, U.S., Public Records Index, 1950-1993, Volume 1. Wow its insane they didnt test the hat. Ramirez then murdered 30-year-old Tsai 'Veronica' Lian Yu after pulling her out of her car. Her roommate, Dayle Okazaki, was killed in the late-night assault. This blatant leading of witnesses is so outrageous that it must be emphasised as much as possible. July 2, 1985: Ramirez kills Mary Louise Cannon, 75, by beating her and slashing her throat. To others, he was the Valley Intruder, but the name that stuck, the one that the news media (and Ramirez himself) latched onto, was the Night Stalker. We assume that she has since moved on with her life and has gotten married to start a new, happy, and loving family of her own. The Zazzaras had been brutally murdered, [], [] 1985: After Dayle Okazakis murder, victim Maria Hernandez helped create a drawing of a moustachioed hitman. Both victims survived. Is it still in evidence for example are they now too scared to test it incase the results dont reflect their opinion I wonder, I wonder. She admitted that Ramirez did not look like the composite sketch that she had helped to create. Aug. 8, 1985: Elyas Abowath, 35, is shot to death in his home. Maria had just come back from work when a tall man dressed in all black slammed his hands on her car. A few days later, in Northridge, California, Ramirez walked through an unlocked door to the home of husband and wife Chris and Virginia Peterson and shot both in head. SAN FRANCISCO The California Supreme Court upheld the convictions and death sentence Monday for serial killer Richard Ramirez, whose so-called Night Stalker killing spree terrorized the San Gabriel Valley and Whittier area in the mid-1980s. Even with the best detectives on the job, catching a serial killer often hinges on a lucky breaka fact proven by the case of Richard Ramirez, the young man known as the Night Stalker who spent most of 1985 terrifying Los Angeles. This turned out to be an enormously valuable tip. He departed without taking anything but left his hat behind, and for reasons unknown, spared Hernandez when he realised that she had survived. Richard Ramirez grew up in El Paso, Texas the product of a violent family. The cement at the site was still wet, and the print was extremely similar to the one found at the Zazzara home. Maria re-entered the property to find Dayle lying face down. All the while, in February and March 1985, there were a series of child abductions in Montebello, Monterey Park and Glassell Park. July 5, 1985: Whitney Bennett, 16, survived after being beaten with a wheel brace by Ramirez. TV Shows. In 1982, when Ramirez was 22, he moved from Texas to California. At the pre-trial hearing in April 1987, Maria identified Ramirez for the third time. 2019 Ted Fund Donors I recognised it immediately as the same footprint to the one lifted at the Zazarra crime scene, says Gil. The shots impact, though, still landed her on the ground, from where her assailant pushed her aside to go inside. In fact, she had spent the evening of her death at her parents house watching television and talking about her boyfriend and promotion to traffic supervisor with Los Angeles County, according to a Los Angeles Times report at the time. Maria stated that her assailant was wearing a black Members Only jacket and a white shirt, but that she cannot remember whether the attacker was wearing a hat or not but if he was, it was dark. Shortly after 10:45 p.m., an assailant sneaked into her home through a garage door and shot her several times. It's an incredible act of generosity towards a man who committed so much evil - and ruined so many lives. Police quickly located the vehicle, a 1976 orange Toyota station wagon, in a parking lot in downtown Los Angeles. Full Name Dayle Yoshie Okazaki Born April 1, 1950 Hawaii, United States Died March 17, 1985 (aged 34) Rosemead, California, United States Gender Female Parent (s) Edna Fumiko Okazaki Victim Information Perpetrator (s) Richard Ramirez Cause of Death Shooting Contents 1 Biography 2 Recommended Reading 3 See also 4 Related Articles 5 Links 6 Notes Nearly eight months passed after the Jennie Vincow murder before Ramirez would claim another victim. Mar. Carrillo and Salerno now agreed: These attacks were being perpetrated by one man. Richards defence did contact their own firearms expert, Paul Dougherty, for the purpose of counterevidence, but failed to communicate with him thereafter. Identification? According to a 1996 biography, Ramirez's father was physically abusive. Maria attended a live line-up after Richards arrest. Nine months later, on March 17, 1985, Ramirez attempted to shoot 22-year-old Maria Herandez in the face, but the bullet ricocheted off her keys as she brought. I dont even know if it was displayed at trial, as I cant find anything in the documents yet. Did he only wish to kill Dayle and Maria did not matter to him. Still bleeding from her hand she ran down an alley next to the property and out onto the street, where she saw the attacker leaving via the front door. Felipe Solano: Part One. Miss Okazaki had been taking classes in cake decorating, flower arranging, computer programing and, most recently, self-defense. How to say dayle okazaki in English? By this time, the media was starting to suspect what the police already knew: There was a serial killer and rapist on the loose in Los Angeles. Here is a cold case for the LAPD: the unsolved murder of traffic manager Dayle Okazaki. (LogOut/ Its time the world knows the truth. Expendable For A Cause. Too many questions left unanswered. She loved skiing, shopping and planning parties, making holidays of the most mundane occasions, her sister said. She now seemed unsure of herself. It was around this time that the Los Angeles Herald Examiner dubbed the killer the "Night Stalker." Furthermore, the two perjurers Jorge Gallegos Calderon and Joseph Duenas said Yus killer was short and Asian. Ramirez sexually assaulted her after the killing. Mar. His family called him Richie. Who was this witness and how were they able to see the suspect?
