At this point, I think most of us could say we’re true crime addicts. Between podcasts and documentaries, we’re obsessed with digging into the minds of some of the world’s most nefarious killers, and while I’m not really sure what that says about us as a society, I do know that I’ll watch anything that promises to be terrifyingly twisted because I find it all fascinating. Case in point? Netflix’s new docuseries on a serial killer known as the Night Stalker, Richard Ramirez.
- Ramirez was executed in 2013. In the summer of 1985, Ramirez terrorized Los Angeles and San Francisco by committing numerous random sexual assaults and murders. Residents were scared to leave the house lest they be unfortunate enough to come across him.
- No one was safe from the Night Stalker. While many serial killers tend to target a specific demographic, one of the scariest things about Ramirez is that there were no defining characteristics to any of his victims. He killed men, women, and children of all races and socioeconomic backgrounds, and his victims were between the ages of six and 82.
- Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer delves into Ramirez’s horrific crimes. Director Tiller Russell reenactments, archival footage, first-person interviews, and historic photographs to cover the entire story of what happened and the investigation that followed Ramirez’s spree.
- The four-part docuseries sounds incredible. A synopsis for the new Netflix series reads: “Racing against the clock to stop this nocturnal monster were a young detective named Gil Carrillo from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the legendary homicide investigator Frank Salerno. As they worked tirelessly to solve the case, the media hounded their tracks, and panic gripped California… [T]his four-part series represents the definitive telling of this iconic L.A. real-life horror story, painting a portrait of how it felt to live in fear at a time when absolutely anyone could be the Night Stalker’s next victim.”
- The series will be available to stream from next month. Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer will be available on Netflix on January 13, 2021. Not long to wait!