Here's What Happened To Richard Ramirez's Body After He Died

"Big deal. Death always went with the territory. See you in Disneyland." So said Richard Ramirez, as he was led from the courtroom having been sentenced to death in 1989 (per Associated Press). Known as the "Night Stalker," he was believed to have killed, mutilated, and sexually assaulted at least 14 people ranging from the age of 9 to 80-plus between June 1984 and August 1985. After he was finally caught, his case — including the trial itself — lasted a total of four years and is remembered as one of the most difficult judicial processes in American criminal history. The notorious story of the Night Stalker had made front page news, which made selecting impartial jurors who had not already been exposed to details of the case especially difficult. His crimes both horrified and captivated the nation, not only for their brutality but also for the apparent Satanist beliefs that underpinned them. Notably, Ramirez displayed a pentagram and uttered the phrase "Hail Satan" in the courtroom (though there are a few other theories on why he committed his crimes).

Ramirez would go on to spend more than two decades of his life on death row. During this time, he remained an object of fascination for the outside world as he awaited the day of his execution. However, that day never came. On June 7, 2013, it was announced that the Night Stalker had died after a period of illness at the age of 53. His body went unclaimed by relatives, and he was later cremated.

When the death of "Night Stalker" Richard Ramirez was first announced, the details were overshadowed by discourse surrounding the length of his death row stay. Many believed that he did not face justice during his 24 years in confinement. "It's about time," said Bill Carns, a victim of Ramirez's who suffered partial paralysis after being attacked by the serial killer in August 1985 (per the Los Angeles Times). "He should have been put to death an awful long time ago."

Early reports claimed that Ramirez had died of natural causes, though it later emerged he had been hospitalized for several days prior to his death. He had died of complications after suffering from B-cell lymphoma, a form of cancer linked to hepatitis C. The coroner noted the viral infection as well as substance abuse issues as Ramirez's "significant conditions." After gaining notoriety, details of his life eventually came to light, including his use of drugs during childhood — a habit that continued into adulthood.

You might think that a figure as heinous as the Night Stalker would spend the rest of his life as a persona non grata, shunned by society outside of death row. But the fact is, in the years that followed his incarceration, Richard Ramirez found himself much in demand by journalists, criminologists, and psychologists, as well as by members of the public who had become unhealthily interested in him. In fact, despite the psycho-sexual nature of Ramirez's crimes and experts saying that he was resistant to treatment, supporters gravitated toward him in the form of pen pals and sympathetic visitors, including multiple women. 

The most prominent of these was a journalist named Doreen Lioy, who married the killer in 1996 and showered him with letters and multiple weekly visits. Lioy finally ended the relationship in 2009 after DNA linked Ramirez to the rape and murder of a 9-year-old girl in San Francisco in 1984. He was said to have been engaged once more before his death, and he had so many admirers that he was referred to as the "Death Row Romeo" in an "A Current Affair" episode. But none appear to have been involved in his cremation.

While Ramirez enjoyed the attention of multiple "groupies" during his time behind bars, his relationships with his blood relatives remained understandably distant. At the time of his death, his niece Shelly Ramirez, who lived in Tucson, Arizona, told the Los Angeles Times that she hoped her uncle's death meant "a lot of people are at rest now. Like the rest of Ramirez's relatives, she made no effort to claim his body for a family burial