The Original Nightstalker-Unsolved

[Abby Normal]

Does anyone have any info on any breaks in this case? Apparently his crimes ended in 1986 but the case is ongoing.

This SOB is one of the most prolific serial offenders in history. So much so that he has 3 different and escalating crime series and corresponding nicknames:

The Visalia Ransacker-hot prowl burglaries
The East Area Rapist- 50 (50!!!) brutal home invasion rapes/torture/assaults.
The Original Nightstalker-12 home invasion rapes/murders

The East Area Rapist and Nightstalker crimes have all been positively linked through DNA and the Ransacker crimes by MO/other evidence.

This is truly an bizarre case. apparently on a couple of the crimes he brought a dog with him. Police believe he called some of his victims before and afterward, sometimes posing as a wrong number calling and also threatening a victim in a scary voice.

He was unbeleiveable elusive, brazen and sadistic. several times his victims fought back, tried to escape, chased him and he ended up either killing them or getting away. he had been chased by police but got away every time-once being chased on a bike then ditching it and chased through back yards.
His victims were both male and female-he would often commit crimes where the male companion was present. Bludgening, shooting, tying up and terrorizing his victims were all part of his MO. He is also so elusive that it seems this most prolific of serial rapist/killer is hardly known about and does not even have a profile (for some reason) on True Crime Library website.

The most scary thing is he may still be alive.

If anyone knows anything else about this case please respond.

[Errata]

If anyone knows anything else about this case please respond.

I assume you mean not Richard Ramirez? What I know about the original Night Stalker case is that they have been having some DNA issues, either suggesting that the DNA collected from some of the scenes was contaminated, or there was more than one perpetrator.

[sdreid]

I don't think there are any serious suspects. Somewhere, I saw that the dog he took was identified but I don't know he just borrowed the animal or what because the owners weren't seen as suspects.

[Abby Normal]

I assume you mean not Richard Ramirez? What I know about the original Night Stalker case is that they have been having some DNA issues, either suggesting that the DNA collected from some of the scenes was contaminated, or there was more than one perpetrator.

Hi Erratta
no not RR. He was caught.

[GregBaron]

TV Documentary...

Does anyone have any info on any breaks in this case? Apparently his crimes ended in 1986 but the case is ongoing.

This SOB is one of the most prolific serial offenders in history. So much so that he has 3 different and escalating crime series and corresponding nicknames:

The Visalia Ransacker-hot prowl burglaries
The East Area Rapist- 50 (50!!!) brutal home invasion rapes/torture/assaults.
The Original Nightstalker-12 home invasion rapes/murders

The East Area Rapist and Nightstalker crimes have all been positively linked through DNA and the Ransacker crimes by MO/other evidence.

This is truly an bizarre case. apparently on a couple of the crimes he brought a dog with him. Police believe he called some of his victims before and afterward, sometimes posing as a wrong number calling and also threatening a victim in a scary voice.

He was unbeleiveable elusive, brazen and sadistic. several times his victims fought back, tried to escape, chased him and he ended up either killing them or getting away. he had been chased by police but got away every time-once being chased on a bike then ditching it and chased through back yards.
His victims were both male and female-he would often commit crimes where the male companion was present. Bludgening, shooting, tying up and terrorizing his victims were all part of his MO. He is also so elusive that it seems this most prolific of serial rapist/killer is hardly known about and does not even have a profile (for some reason) on True Crime Library website.

The most scary thing is he may still be alive.

If anyone knows anything else about this case please respond.

I saw something about this on TV recently Abby but I can't recall anything about a suspect or apprehension. All I remember is they said he was of military background and extremely athletic. It seems they had a suspect in mind but this is where I go fuzzy.....Have you seen this documentary?



Greg

[Abby Normal]

I saw something about this on TV recently Abby but I can't recall anything about a suspect or apprehension. All I remember is they said he was of military background and extremely athletic. It seems they had a suspect in mind but this is where I go fuzzy.....Have you seen this documentary?



Greg

Hi Greg
No-but I will keep an eye out for it. All suspects have been cleared. They have absolutely no one on radar.

[sdreid]

If he has died then his family must be protecting him since I should think that they would have discovered evidence that he was the perpetrator. That's my guess anyway.

[RivkahChaya]

The scariest thing about it is a recording of his voice he left on the answering machine of a previous victim, which I won't quote, because it was profanity-laden, but he threatened to go back and kill her, and since he had, in fact, repeated attacks on other victims, it was taken very seriously. I watched a documentary on him, and the phone message was enough to have me double-checking the locks on the doors. Because some of the attacks were rapes with a living victim, and some were double murders of couples where the woman was raped, but it did not appear that the murder was "necessary" in the sense that the victims had always fought back, or had a weapon, police did not immediately connect the two sets of crimes. Sometimes it appeared that the man had been killed right away, and other times it seemed that he had been restrained and forced to watch the rape, which appeared like to different MOs, so it wasn't until they were connected by DNA that the police knew one person had done all the crimes.

The dog was a white German Shepherd, which was missing a toe, and it was fur and paw prints of the dog that originally linked two crimes with different MOs. One of the victim's neighbors was an FBI agent, who pursued the suspect, and fired at him. The agent thought he had hit him, but canvasses of hospitals didn't turn up likely suspects. When there were no more attacks for a while, the police thought he might be dead.

Another oddity, was that on more than one occasion, he escaped on a bicycle. A couple of times, he seems to have brought it with him, but one bike he stole from a neighbor. I'm not sure what that means, other than he probably knew the area, if he fled on a bicycle at night.

[Abby Normal]

The scariest thing about it is a recording of his voice he left on the answering machine of a previous victim, which I won't quote, because it was profanity-laden, but he threatened to go back and kill her, and since he had, in fact, repeated attacks on other victims, it was taken very seriously. I watched a documentary on him, and the phone message was enough to have me double-checking the locks on the doors. Because some of the attacks were rapes with a living victim, and some were double murders of couples where the woman was raped, but it did not appear that the murder was "necessary" in the sense that the victims had always fought back, or had a weapon, police did not immediately connect the two sets of crimes. Sometimes it appeared that the man had been killed right away, and other times it seemed that he had been restrained and forced to watch the rape, which appeared like to different MOs, so it wasn't until they were connected by DNA that the police knew one person had done all the crimes.

The dog was a white German Shepherd, which was missing a toe, and it was fur and paw prints of the dog that originally linked two crimes with different MOs. One of the victim's neighbors was an FBI agent, who pursued the suspect, and fired at him. The agent thought he had hit him, but canvasses of hospitals didn't turn up likely suspects. When there were no more attacks for a while, the police thought he might be dead.

Another oddity, was that on more than one occasion, he escaped on a bicycle. A couple of times, he seems to have brought it with him, but one bike he stole from a neighbor. I'm not sure what that means, other than he probably knew the area, if he fled on a bicycle at night.

Hi RC
Thanks for adding. I have not seen the docu but I have heard the voice recording-very scary. So bizarre and unbeleivable this guy was never caught-kind of like the ripper (or more so) that he was almost caught numerous times but always managed to escape the scene of the crimes and the following investigation.
This guy is pure evil. And yes I do beleive that people can be inherently evil. If there is an afterlife I know where this creep is going. And it aint into the beautiful white light.

[RivkahChaya]

Apparently, he was a suspect in some burglaries when no one was home. I've seen "cat burglaries," although I'm not quite sure what the exact distinction is between a cat burglary, and a regular burglary; there's no specific charge you can bring anywhere in the US that I can find called "cat burglary," although "breaking and entering" all by itself can be a crime, even if nothing is stolen or vandalized inside the building, and no one is injured. I think some people mean entering through a roof or window when they say "cat burglary," while other people mean "getting in undetected."

All of the ONS's crimes were committed in one-story houses, from what I can find, although in some cases, he did go through a window.

It does seem, just looking at the list of crimes, that he sneaked around looking for doors or windows left unlocked, and entered that way. He may have gone through windows simply because people who lock their doors may still leave a window unlocked, just because they've forgotten it's open, or because the lock is stuck or broken, and they don't realize it's unlocked. People who live in the suburbs, or small towns don't worry about getting broken locks fixed right away, the way people in big cities do, and that's especially true of homeowners who must fix it themselves, in my experience.

It almost looks like he just liked to play in other people's homes, and went looking for an open "playground": if no one was home, he stole something; if a woman was home he raped her, maybe he killed her; if a couple was home, he raped, tortured, maybe he killed the witness. The patterns are odd, but it may have depended on factors we don't know about, like whether or not he had the whole evening. It's possible that some nights, he was looking to commit burglary, and if he found a woman alone, he raped her. If he found a couple, he killed the man immediately, and raped the woman. Other nights, he may have gone looking to commit rape or torture, and those are the nights he kept the man alive to watch the rape. All that is pure speculation meant to make the point that if all he really wants is just to make other people suffer, he'll have no real "signature."

A lot of things look odd when you have just some of the information, but as soon as you have all of it, it makes perfect sense.

[sdreid]

The earliest suspected murder was in 1975 and last in 1986 but the final murder excluding the one in 86 was in 1981. Yes, apparently the near miss scared him straight for a bit although there are other possibilities.

[Abby Normal]

Apparently, he was a suspect in some burglaries when no one was home. I've seen "cat burglaries," although I'm not quite sure what the exact distinction is between a cat burglary, and a regular burglary; there's no specific charge you can bring anywhere in the US that I can find called "cat burglary," although "breaking and entering" all by itself can be a crime, even if nothing is stolen or vandalized inside the building, and no one is injured. I think some people mean entering through a roof or window when they say "cat burglary," while other people mean "getting in undetected."

All of the ONS's crimes were committed in one-story houses, from what I can find, although in some cases, he did go through a window.

It does seem, just looking at the list of crimes, that he sneaked around looking for doors or windows left unlocked, and entered that way. He may have gone through windows simply because people who lock their doors may still leave a window unlocked, just because they've forgotten it's open, or because the lock is stuck or broken, and they don't realize it's unlocked. People who live in the suburbs, or small towns don't worry about getting broken locks fixed right away, the way people in big cities do, and that's especially true of homeowners who must fix it themselves, in my experience.

It almost looks like he just liked to play in other people's homes, and went looking for an open "playground": if no one was home, he stole something; if a woman was home he raped her, maybe he killed her; if a couple was home, he raped, tortured, maybe he killed the witness. The patterns are odd, but it may have depended on factors we don't know about, like whether or not he had the whole evening. It's possible that some nights, he was looking to commit burglary, and if he found a woman alone, he raped her. If he found a couple, he killed the man immediately, and raped the woman. Other nights, he may have gone looking to commit rape or torture, and those are the nights he kept the man alive to watch the rape. All that is pure speculation meant to make the point that if all he really wants is just to make other people suffer, he'll have no real "signature."

A lot of things look odd when you have just some of the information, but as soon as you have all of it, it makes perfect sense.

Hi RC
I also heard that one surviving victim say that as he was terrorizing them he was walking around chanting something like "I'm going to kill them" over and over in a low, raspy,growling voice. Similar to the phone call he made to a victim in which he chanted "going to kill you" .

[Observer]

Interestingly Abby, the serial killer Danny Rolling also used a bike to get about at night when he embarked upon his murderous mission. He of course was on the opposite side of the country (Florida) to The Nightstalker. The timelines for Rolling being the Nightstalker fit though. I'm sure he will have been questioned regarding The Nightstalker crimes.

Regards

Observer

[Abby Normal]

Interestingly Abby, the serial killer Danny Rolling also used a bike to get about at night when he embarked upon his murderous mission. He of course was on the opposite side of the country (Florida) to The Nightstalker. The timelines for Rolling being the Nightstalker fit though. I'm sure he will have been questioned regarding The Nightstalker crimes.

Regards

Observer

Hi Observer
They have the nightstalkers DNA, so they would have matched it to Rolling if he was the nightstalker. From what I understand they also run the Nighstalkers DNA(and other unsolved cases where they have the UNSUBS DNA) for matches in DNA to known offenders in the sytem on a regular basis. So far nothing.

[GregBaron]

Got away with it...

It's remarkable isn't it Abby et al. Unfortunately, it shows someone can get away with such atrocities if clever and/or lucky enough. This fellow was quite organized and well prepared. Meticulous I believe was a word used. I suppose the savage would be in his 50's or 60's if alive today...

That's just it, we only know about the ones who are caught. Makes one wonder how many have gotten away? It's awful...

On an unrelated note, and I know I shouldn't bring this up here, but Oh well....there was a horrifying Florida serial killer who rarely gets spoken about. He inspired Ted Bundy, in fact, Bundy copycatted him on a number of occasions. They actually housed the two miscreants together in the Florida State Pen...his numbers tally about 34 although he claims up to 80....Bundy was incensed that he didn't own the Title...his name is Gerard John Schaeffer I think...a terrifying psychopath...anyway, he was locked up before the Nightstalker began his work but a mention of Florida just brought him to my mind.....

Anyway, sorry for diverging....I do wonder if anyone saw anything concerning the nightstalker that they haven't revealed that could be the key to his capture.......?


Greg