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Who Was “Night Stalker” Serial Killer Richard Ramirez’s Wife and How’d They Meet?
Doreen Lioy, who later married serial killer Richard Ramirez, said she was "captivated" by his mug shot when police broke in to interrupt the TV show she was watching.
An all-new docuseries coming to Peacock will shed new light on infamous serial killer Richard Ramirez — and those who loved him.
Richard Ramirez: The Night Stalker Tapes makes use of hours of never-before-heard recordings of the man whose mid-1980s killing campaign across Los Angeles and surrounding areas earned him the moniker “Night Stalker.”
Not only will the two-part special dive into Ramirez’s troubling childhood and disturbing crimes — which included murder, burglary, rape, and torture — but it “also goes inside the confounding love story of a former teen magazine editor who fell in love with Ramirez and eventually became his wife,” according to the show’s official description.
Here's what to know about the convicted killer’s wife, Doreen Lioy, ahead of Richard Ramirez: The Night Stalker Tapes, premiering Tuesday, December 10, 2024, exclusively on Peacock.
Who was Richard Ramirez’s wife?
After the 1985 arrest of Ramirez — who was eventually convicted of murdering 13 people between 1984 and 1985 — admirer Doreen Lioy began writing to him while he was behind bars. Lioy was a magazine editor.
Lioy’s estranged twin sister, Denise, told the Los Angeles Times in 1996 that they grew up in Burbank, California.
“Ramirez certainly did have groupies, and even married one of them,” author and criminologist Dr. Scott Bonn told Oxygen.com in January 2021.
A friend of Lioy’s said that Ramirez was particularly attracted to Lioy because she'd said she was a virgin, SFGate reported.
In a June 2013 Los Angeles Times piece reflecting on Ramirez's death that year, the writer described the killer's bride as visiting him "four times a week and was often among the first in the visiting line. She made it a point to pack breath mints, explaining: ‘So I can be able to kiss with confidence.’”
The story continued: “When people pointed out the strangeness of her choice of spouses, she rolled her eyes. ‘Hometown girl makes bad,’ she would say.”
How did Richard Ramirez and Doreen Lioy meet?
Lioy sent Ramirez about 75 letters while he was behind bars during their 11-year courtship, according to SFGate. In a 1996 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Lioy said she developed feelings for Ramirez before he was even arrested and sent to Los Angeles County Jail, and then San Quentin State Prison.
“This is a feeling that began for me as long ago as that Friday, August 30, 1985, the night before he was arrested and police broke into the television show I was watching to broadcast his picture,” she told the L.A. Times.
“Looking back, I see it was a turning point for me," Lioy added. "They showed his mug shot in the middle of Dallas, and I saw something in his eyes. Something that captivated me. It wasn’t as if I knew him. But there was something in his eyes... maybe the vulnerability, I don’t really know.”
The pair became engaged in 1988, according to the news outlet.
Not only was Lioy in love with Ramirez, but she also said at the time that she believed that he didn't kill the victims he was accused of, and later convicted of, murdering, who were bludgeoned to death with hammers, stabbed, or shot. Ramirez claimed he was inspired by Satan, leaving occult symbols at scenes.
“I just believe in him completely,” Lioy told CNN in 1997. “In my opinion, there was far more evidence to convict O.J. Simpson.”
Richard Ramirez and Doreen Lioy's wedding day
Lioy married Ramirez on October 3, 1996 in San Quentin State Prison.
"I can’t help the way the world looks at him," Lioy told San Francisco’s KRON-TV the day before her wedding. “They don’t know him the way I do.”
Ramirez reportedly refused to wear a gold wedding band, saying “Satanists don’t wear gold,” and opting for a platinum band instead, according to The New York Times. No one from Lioy’s side attended the event, though according to the L.A. Times, Ramirez’s brother, sister, and niece were expected to bear witness.
A photo of the couple on their wedding day features them holding hands in front of a wall painted with mountains and trees. Ramirez, then 36, stood with one arm around his bride's shoulder, while Lioy, then 41, wore a white, long-sleeved bridal dress.
“It feels wonderful,” Lioy told reporters after the ceremony. “I’m so happy. I’m so thrilled, very proud, and a little relieved that the bulk of the day is over, and just, hopefully, I can enjoy the rest of my day in peace with Richard’s family and think about the importance of what happened today.”
Did Richard Ramirez and Doreen Lioy have conjugal visits?
The pair was not afforded conjugal visits, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Lioy has not publicly spoken about her marriage with Ramirez, who died from cancer in 2013, for many years.
Learn more about Lioy in Richard Ramirez: The Night Stalker Tapes, premiering Tuesday, December 10, 2024, exclusively on Peacock.
