The Women in Black: KRON 4 on Richard Ramirez's Courtroom Admirers, 1990

Name: The Women in Black: KRON 4 on Richard Ramirez's Courtroom Admirers, 1990
Uploaded: 2013-06-07T00:00:00Z
Duration: 1 min 30 s
Description: A KRON 4 report from January 1990 on two young women who followed Richard Ramirez to his court appearances, one of whom said she had met him in jail. Ramirez is not heard.

A KRON 4 report from January 1990 on two young women who followed Richard Ramirez to his court appearances, one of whom said she had met him in jail. Ramirez is not heard.

Subject: Ricardo Leyva Munoz Ramirez
Recorded: January 9, 1990
Runtime: 1:30

Content warning: A fan speaks admiringly of Ramirez's murders ("the outrageousness of it"); no graphic detail.

The Interview

This is not an interview with Richard Ramirez, who is not heard. It is a 90-second KRON 4 news feature by reporter Chuck Coppola, dated January 9, 1990, about two young women, described as "the women in black," who attended Ramirez's court appearances. One gave her name only as Paige and called herself a Satanist; the other is not named. Both speak on camera outside court.

Historical Context

Ramirez was convicted in Los Angeles on September 20, 1989, of 13 murders, five attempted murders, 11 sexual assaults and 14 burglaries, and was sentenced to death on November 7, 1989. He still faced a separate charge in San Francisco for the August 1985 murder of Peter Pan in his home, and from 1990 he was held in the San Francisco County Jail; that case was later suspended pending his Los Angeles appeals. Throughout and after his trial, Ramirez received letters and visits from admirers.

Circumstances

The report was filed from San Francisco. By January 1990 the Los Angeles trial was over, so the court appearance the women attended was most likely a proceeding in the San Francisco case (inference; KRON's description says only that they "attended his trial"). The narration says the women followed him "from Los Angeles to San Francisco... whenever he appears in the courtroom."

What the Interview Covers

Asked why she was in court, one woman answers, "I think he's cute." The reporter says Paige told him Ramirez had written letters to her and that she had talked with him in jail; she says she has met him and that, despite his conviction for 13 murders, he is "really a nice guy." One of the women speaks of "the outrageousness" of the murders and of his getting away with them for a time. The other describes visiting him and asking how many other women visited him. Asked how she responds to people who think she is crazy, one answers that "they just don't understand." These are the women's own accounts; their contacts with Ramirez are not verified.

What Makes the Recording Significant

The fascination Ramirez held for some women is a much-cited part of the case; this report records two of those admirers in their own words, about two months after his death sentence.

Archival Importance

Contemporaneous 1990 footage, uploaded by the original station, of the "Night Stalker groupie" phenomenon. It pairs with KRON's 1996 report on Doreen Lioy, who married Ramirez at San Quentin.

Important Caveats

Ramirez does not speak. Only Paige is named, and only by first name; which woman says each line is partly a judgment call. The claims of letters, jail meetings and visits are the women's own and are not verified. The location and nature of the court appearance are inferred. Do not name any surviving victim of the San Francisco attack; none is named in the report.

Chuck Coppola: They are the women in black, admirers of Richard Ramirez.

Chuck Coppola: Why were you in the courtroom today?

"paige": I just wanted to [unclear: "see what he" / "doy"] look like. I think he's cute.

Chuck Coppola: This woman, who gave her name only as Paige, calls herself a Satanist. She says Ramirez has written letters to her and that she's talked with him in jail.

"paige": Everyone makes him look so bad, you know, but I know that he's, he's a nice person, 'cause I've met him, and I know he's convicted of 13 murders, [unclear: "I know" / no words], but he's, he's really a nice guy.

Fan: It's very out of the usual. It's very out of the norm, to be able to do that for a certain amount of time and length of period of time and get away with it. Especially the outrageousness of it, the kind of murders that he did.

Second Woman: When I went to go visit him, I asked him, you know, I said, "How many other girls visit you? I want to know." And he kind of laughed and said, "There's two, but I already know them, and I've known them for a while, and they're just like acquaintances," and, you know, kind of, you know, make me think that and believe, like, I was like the only one that he liked that was visiting him.

Chuck Coppola: Their attraction may be difficult to explain, but from Los Angeles to San Francisco, they stalk Ramirez whenever he appears in the courtroom.

Chuck Coppola: How do you respond to people who are going to think you're, you're crazy for this?

Fan: I'll just say that they just don't understand.

Chuck Coppola: In San Francisco, Chuck Coppola. [01:30: clip ends.] ---