Where Is Night Stalker's Detective Gil Carrillo Today?

Gil Carrillo had a distinguished career as a homicide detective. One of his most notable achievements might've happened during his first few years in the Los Angeles County homicide department, known as the Bulldogs, when he helped uncover the identity of the infamous Night Stalker who had been plaguing the city with murder, sexual assault, theft, and other crimes (via Marie Claire). By working with his colleague, Frank Salerno, the police department was able to find out who the Night Stalker was, and lock him up.

But Carrillo's career didn't end with the arrest of Richard Ramirez. After spending decades as a homicide detective, Carrillo would help solve more than 700 murder cases, according to Marie Claire. Now that he's retired, Carrillo and his wife travel across the world, and Carrillo often gives speeches on homicide investigations. Overall, Carrillo has led a life full of achievement, from being the first in his family to get a college degree, to solving one of LA's most notorious cases, to being a globetrotter who continues to educate future detectives.

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Gil Carrillo was a young detective when Richard Ramirez began a violent crime spree across Los Angeles, and Carrillo and Frank Salerno had to identify and catch the infamous killer. Carrillo, who had been with the LA homicide department for only four years, began suspecting that a slew of crimes that seemed completely random was actually the doing of one man (via Oxygen). Carrillo tried convincing fellow officers of his hypothesis, but he was regularly dismissed due to his inexperience — until Salerno, a well-established officer in the department, began to believe Carrillo's theory.

After this, witnesses and survivors of Ramirez's crimes began giving clues to the officers. They told the authorities that the Night Stalker wore a specific jacket, that he had bad teeth, and one witness even identified a stolen car that Ramirez had carjacked (via the El Paso Times). Eventually, the police figured out that the Night Stalker was Richard Ramirez, and arrested him. Ramirez was sentenced to death, but died in 2013 from lymphoma, according to the El Paso Times.

After the Night Stalker case, Gil Carrillo went on to have a distinguished career as a homicide detective. He was promoted to lieutenant of the homicide department and estimates that he solved somewhere between 700-800 murder cases during his career (via The Tab). Carrillo said that balancing work and family life as a homicide detective was extremely difficult. He was known to work 18-hour workdays sometimes and often seemed distant from his wife and children, according to The Tab.

Despite the workload and the stress, Carrillo said, "If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't change a thing," according to the Daily Breeze. He retired in 2009 after 38 years of service and now spends his days traveling with his family and lecturing future homicide detectives on how to trap a killer, according to Marie Claire. After a distinguished career as a homicide investigator, Carrillo now passes his knowledge and experience on to future detectives.