Who Was Richard Raymond Ramirez? Killer Dies After 41 Years on Death Row Without Execution

A death row inmate has died in a California prison before his execution could be scheduled. Richard Raymond Ramirez, 66, a convicted r---- and murderer, passed away at the California Health Care Facility in Stockton on the night of May 24.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation announced the news of his death on May 25. Ramirez was incarcerated in 1985 and spent more than 40 years behind bars before his passing.

Ramirez was convicted of the r--- and murder of 22-year-old Kimberly "Kim" Gonzalez. The incident took place on November 21, 1983, in Garden Grove. Ramirez was visiting a bar in the city with his brother, where he met Gonzalez. The two had previously come across each other at the same bar a week before the incident.

According to witnesses, Ramirez and Gonzalez drank and danced together and were seen kissing each other. Around 1 a.m., they were seen leaving through the back door, with Ramirez holding a beer bottle.

More than five hours later, Gonzalez’s body was found near the bar’s rear parking lot. She had 19 stab wounds, including to her face, neck, shoulders, and arms. Meanwhile, her pants had been pulled down to her ankles. A medical examiner determined that Gonzalez died from a stab wound to her neck that penetrated her spinal cord.

As detectives began investigating the case, they found a beer bottle nearby with Ramirez’s fingerprints on it. The case then went to trial, and Ramirez was found guilty of r--- and murder. He received the death penalty.

Years before the Gonzalez case, Ramirez had been convicted of assaulting another woman. In October 1977, he r---- a 23-year-old woman at knifepoint while threatening to harm her 1-year-old child.

The San Joaquin County Coroner has yet to determine Ramirez’s cause of death. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has not revealed whether he was suffering from an illness while serving his death sentence.

Ramirez had not been executed before his death because California Governor Gavin Newsom had issued an order halting all executions in the state. The last execution in the state took place in 2006. Ever since, death row inmates have been increasingly dying of natural causes or other circumstances.

Months before Ramirez’s death, 80-year-old Benjamin W. Watta died while incarcerated at Pelican Bay State Prison. He had been placed on condemned status after being convicted of first-degree murder in 2009. In December 2025, he was found unresponsive in his cell and was pronounced dead.

Similarly, serial killer Morris Solomon Jr. also died before he could be executed. He was sentenced to death in 1992 after being found guilty of multiple counts of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, and s—-- crimes. In August 2024, he died at the age of 80 at the California Health Care Facility.