Richard Ramirez, in full Ricardo Leyva Muñoz Ramirez, byname Night Stalker, (born February 29, 1960, El Paso, Texas, U.S.—died June 7, 2013, Greenbrae, California), American serial killer, rapist, and burglar who murdered at least 13 people in California in 1984–85. He was convicted and sentenced to death but died while in prison. 

Ramirez grew up in El Paso, Texas, the youngest of five children born to Mexican immigrants. According to reports, when he was 12 years old, a cousin who was a Vietnam War veteran showed him pictures of Vietnamese women .tortured, and killed. The following year Ramirez was a witness to his cousin’s fatal shooting of his wife. Around this time, Ramirez began breaking into homes. After dropping out of high school, he moved to Los Angeles. He continued to commit crimes and was briefly imprisoned for stealing a car.