Saturday Night with The Night Stalker Detective

[DavidI]

During the course of my career, I met and was mentored by some of the best detectives in law enforcement. Within those ranks, a few stood out as the elite-of-the elite. These few were meticulous, analytical, open-minded, fact-following, curious, tenacious investigators. One stands out amongst them all, Gil Carrillo. You may not have heard his name, nor met him. However, I can guarantee that you heard of the case that he and his partner Sergeant Frank Salerno finally put together against one of the most evil serial killers in Los Angeles history, the Night Stalker Richard Ramirez. Myself as a young teenager growing up in Los Angeles, this satan worshipping monster had all of us afraid to go to sleep. He usually slithered his way into a home through an open window, blasted the sleeping male with a .22 or .25 caliber in the head, raped the CHILDREN, raped the wife, and fled with a load of jewelry into the inky black summer night. He was convicted of 13, but it is believed a truer number was closer to 30.

My adult daughters and daughter-in-law love to watch true crime shows involving murder. They have all met Gil several times over the decades, but we never discussed the Monster. As I watched the Netflix 4-part series documentary regarding the Monster, (trailer embedded below) I wondered if my girls would like to hear the unfiltered story from Gil himself!

I called Gil and we reminisced about our past careers and caught up regarding our current lives. We spoke for several hours and Gil is a natural storyteller. All facts, with insight and colorful information woven through the fabric of the story. I asked Gil if he would be willing to come over for a dinner and then tell the story of the hunt for the Monster and eventual capture, interrogation, and conviction. He readily agreed and is willing to have a question-and-answer period as well. The date is this Saturday, June 1, 2024.

I know this is an unusual and dark affair and some may be offended by its nature. It is an ugly part of Los Angeles history filled with mutilation, rape, and murder, but it actually happened.

Saturday is set, everyone is coming over, and the story will unfold as it occurred.

[masraum]

My wife loves murder mysteries, but the fictional sort. She dislikes "true crime" stuff. I find the true crime interesting, but don't really watch any/much, maybe the occasional YT video.

It sounds like you've got a fascinating evening queued up. Enjoy!

[DavidI]

Is this too dark a subject matter?

[Eric Hahl]

Well that sounds like it's going to be an interesting evening.

[masraum]

I wouldn't think so. I'm sure there are folks on the board that are interested in true crime stuff. You've had several other posts over the years of crazy, sad, dark, interesting stuff from work. They are generally well received.

I think this time you didn't really include much info other than "Sat dinner at my house is going to be awesome! You can't come." LOL!

I am hoping we get some tidbits after the fact, nothing that Gil wouldn't be OK with you sharing. He sounds like the kind of guy that needs to write a book, but I'm guessing he's the kind of guy that wouldn't write a book.

[masraum]

Maybe I missed it, were Gil or Frank involved in the Netflix production?

[DavidI]

Originally Posted by masraum

Maybe I missed it, were Gil or Frank involved in the Netflix production?

Both were heavily involved and interviewed on camera. There are a lot of details that were intentionally left out. The Monster kidnapped a great deal of young boys and girls from within their homes and raped them. He was as sick as they come!

[KNS]

I was around 18 or 19 at the time. Grew up in LA and remember the city being on edge when Ramirez was running around. I also remember Salerno's name in the news after he was caught.

You're going to relate the story here..? Wouldn't bother me, sounds interesting, actually (as long as it's not too detailed). But I flew air ambulance for 20 years and saw plenty of grisly things to not be squeamish.

[stealthn]

I love true crime stories as well, not so much the sickening parts (unless the perp meets a violent end), but the methodology on capturing them. And the interviews as well, it’s quite a game of chess.

I also like to learn why/how they became who they did. Other than the born psychopaths, there is usually childhood trauma at the root.

All sad.

[Bill Douglas]

It would have been good if the night stalker had gone to the wrong house. Climbed in the window of the Samoans next door LOL

[A930Rocket]

Looking forward to the stories.

Should I bring dessert or wine? 😂

[E38Driver]

I remember when this was going on. Scary times for sure. Looking forward to the after action report of the evening.

Dave

[Zeke]

I was living in Mission Viejo CA at the time. RR drove 40 miles to MV for one of his crimes. IIRC, he didn't succeed 100% of the time murdering. He may have been rebuked once or twice and may not have been ID'd as the perpetrator. 13 was indeed not the whole story.

That was a bad situation until he got caught. Thanks to those detectives.

I'm sorry that someone thought of making a movie about this.

[daepp]

Would love to be a fly on the wall... (Make an audio recording!)

[DavidI]

We had a fantastic night! Gil is a natural storyteller and told the story with compassion for every victim. He remembered every date, time, location, and details of every death, abduction, and bad acts committed by Ramirez...at least the ones that were provable. The evening began at 4pm and ended at about 11pm with Gil talking about the case for much of the time. He infused experience, wisdom, logical sequences, and even humor to relate to my various family members.

My family had watched the series and written down questions to pose such as why were some allowed to live? How were victims selected? How did he select homes to commit his crimes in?
How many crimes is he suspected of and got away with? Many, many more questions...Gil replied that Ramirez loved the fear brought on by his reputation as the Night Stalker and killed those who did not follow his directions. Ramirez' preference was Asian women, but he raped young boys and girls as well. Ramirez drove around at night with a partner prior to starting his known murder spree in the hopes to locate houses he could see into at night. That was how he selected the houses he and his partner, unknown name, selected houses to burglarize at a later time. Gil believed he used the same method to select the houses of his murder victims as well. Gil had a very interesting answer for the amount of crimes he suspected Ramirez of. He said as a Homicide Detective, he was interested in the cases he could actually prove that Ramirez committed. If Gil thought too much about the ones Ramirez MAY have committed, Gil would never rest because he would attempt to solve all of them.

It was a once-in-a-lifetime evening as Gil enthralled us with the facts of the case!

[masraum]

Glad it turned out well.