Post by Sandia on Dec 31, 2010 0:38:55 GMT -5
The Original Night Stalker AKA The Diamond Knot Killer is not to be confused with Richard Ramirez the Nightstalker who is in prison. This guy was commiting his crimes before Richard Ramirez so that is why they called him the Original Night Stalker. This serial killer/rapist has never been caught. He started his life of crime in northern California (he may have been the person known as the Visalia Ransacker) then he progressed to be known as the East Area Rapist (Sacramento and areas east of Sacramento like Rancho Cordova etc.) and then he committed his crimes in the San Francisco East bay area and in Contra Costa County. He was a very prolific rapist but he was more than that he terrorized and stalked. He tied the hands of his victims so tightly they turned black. He attacked sleeping couples in their homes and work them by tapping on their door and shining flashlights in their faces. He had the woman tie up the man, then he would tie up the wife and re-tie the man placing tea cups and perfume bottles etc. on the man's back and told him if he moved while he raped his wife he would cut up their children and kill them all. He even followed up his attacks with phone calls to further taunt and terrify. You can hear one call that was recorded if you go to www.ear-ons.com. I warn you it is scary! He then traveled down the California Coast to Santa Barbara/Goleta and attempted to kill one couple that escaped, then he attacked another couple a few months later a few blocks away and killed them. He ate left-over Christmas turkey in their home. That was another of his m.o.'s he would eat in the home of the victims. On at least the two Goleta crimes, he brought with him a 3-toed German Shepard. Next he traveled further south and killed another couple in Ventura, he bludgeoned them to death with a fire place log and used much more force than was necessary to kill them. The wife most likely had to watch her husband being murdered in that fashion and then she was murdered also the same way. H O R R I B L E !!! Then he traveled to Laguna Niguel and killed another couple that had been sleeping in their home the same way. Next he went to Irvine and killed a woman who had been sleeping in her home and whose husband was in the hospital. Then he went back up to Goleta again and just a few blocks away from the other couple he again killed a sleeping couple in their home. Then 5 years later he went back to Irvine and killed an 18 year old girl. There were further taunting phone calls in 1990 and 1991 and then he has apparently disappeared or perhaps changed his m.o. or moved out of state, or is in jail and possibly could be dead. The details of the crime are horrible and this monster has never been caught. He is possibly the most prolific serial rapist/murderer that has not been caught in California history. There is a new book out about the crime which tells inside details and was written by a retired detective that worked the case. "Sudden Terror" by Detective Larry Crompton will hopefully reawaken interest in the criminal and hopefully bring some peace and closure to the relatives of the victims. It was not known until recent years that these crimes were connected until DNA connected them. Now so much time has gone by, people don't even know about this killer. He should be as notorious as the Zodiac or Son of Sam, Unabomber etc. There is an a&e program that can be seen on You Tube about this case also. Just enter East Area Rapist/Original Night Stalker. Any information anyone can contribute can be sent to www.ear-ons.com. Also retired detective Russ Whitmeyer can be contacted at Russwhitmeyer@aol.com. Thanks in advance for any help that anyone can give.