His name was Richard Ramirez, but at the time of his August 1985 capture, most knew him only as the “Night Stalker,” the rapist and murderer who’d been terrorizing California for two years. When a fingerprint outed his identity, his photograph was widely circulated—and his days of killing became perilously numbered.
He was caught on Hubbard Street in East Los Angeles, which turned out to be exactly the wrong place for him to try and steal a car. That desperate act, according to a report in Ramirez’s hometown paper, the El Paso Times, was a direct result of his mug shot’s sudden publicity push; he’d literally glimpsed his own face on the cover of a newspaper at a corner store. His instinct was to flee, by any means necessary, but the crowd in pursuit had other ideas.
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