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AP says that Richard Ramirez has died at age 53 while in prison. No more details are available yet. In the mid-1980s, Ramirez would enter Los Angeles area homes through open windows and doors and murder who he found inside. "Some of the victims were found strangled, others had their throats slashed, but most had been fatally shot," the LA Times recalls. "Spray-painted pentagrams -- a distinctive Satanist symbol -- were also found on the walls of the some of victims' homes." His run of serial murders sparked a lot of fear and led to increased gun sales — as well as to more locked windows. He was captured on Aug. 31, 1985 and beaten by angry citizens in East Los Angeles after trying to steal a woman's car. He was convicted of 13 murders and sentenced to death. He died on Death Row at San Quentin state prison in Northern California.
Reading: Eastside Story: The day we caught the night stalker by Ben Quiñones in LA Weekly
