Serial Killer’s Chilling Five-Word Justification for 20 Brutal Murders

Richard Ramirez carried out a series of brutal attacks across Greater Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area in California during the mid-1980s. He murdered at least 15 people during home break-ins, most of which occurred at night. His nocturnal crimes earned him alternate names: the Night Stalker, the Walk-In Killer, and the Valley Intruder.

When Ramirez was asked why he hurt and killed his victims, he smiled and said, "No comment." When detective Frank Salerno was asked what Ramirez's motive was, he said, "To kill. It's as simple as that," according to Inside Edition's "Death Row Interview With Night Stalker Richard Ramirez" on YouTube.

Sheriff's Deputy Jim Ellis told the court that Ramirez spoke calmly for nearly half an hour, detailing the shootings, stabbings and mutilations he had carried out, Mirror reported.

Ellis said the serial killer appeared to revel in the brutality of his crimes, even admitting that he enjoyed watching his victims struggle. He also revealed that Ramirez had taken a series of disturbing photos of his victims, and once gouged out a woman's eye after she refused to give him money.

According to Ellis, Ramirez claimed he was arrested only because he accidentally left a fingerprint at one crime scene, adding that he regretted not killing the authorities who discovered it.

Ramirez summed up his motive in five hair-raising words: "I love to kill people."

"I love watching people die. I would shoot them in the head, and then they would wiggle and squirm all over the place, and then just stop, or cut them with a knife, and watch the face turn really white. I love all that blood," Ramirez allegedly said.

The statement was later ruled admissible by a judge, despite Ramirez denying through his lawyer that he had ever made it.

According to multiple sources, Ramirez had a troubled childhood and was frequently abused by his father at a young age. He developed brain damage and started abusing drugs at age 10.

He developed an interest in the macabre during his early to mid-teens, influenced by an older cousin, a Vietnam War veteran who had schizophrenia and PTSD. The cousin spoke about the war crimes he claimed to have committed and exposed Ramirez to graphic stories of violence. When Ramirez was 15, his cousin murdered his wife in front of him. Ramirez also learned military-style skills from his cousin, which he would later employ during his killing spree.

In 1989, Richard Ramirez was convicted of thirteen counts of murder, five attempted murders, 11 sexual assaults and 14 burglaries. The judge who upheld his 19 death sentences said his crimes showed "cruelty, callousness, and viciousness beyond any human understanding."

Ramirez never expressed remorse for his actions. He died in June 2013 from complications related to B-cell lymphoma while awaiting execution at San Quentin State Prison.