'Night Stalker' Richard Ramirez Married His Wife While He Was In Prison
Richard Ramirez, called the "Night Stalker," was a serial killer in the mid-1980s.
He's now featured in two Netflix true crime documentaries—one about himself and one about the Cecil Hotel.
Ramirez married his wife, Doreen Lioy, in 1996. But, where is she now?
Netflix’s new true crime documentary series Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer explores the life and crimes of Richard Ramirez, a serial killer who terrorized San Francisco and Southern California in the mid-1980s. The four-part doc follows detective Gil Carrillo and homicide investigator Frank Salerno as they search for clues amid seemingly unconnected crime scenes before ultimately linking Ramirez to them all.
Ramirez, who was dubbed the "Night Stalker," was eventually caught and convicted of killing 13 people and committing 11 sexual assaults. After committing his crimes, he often stayed at the notorious Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles to clean up. Ramirez would strip off all his blood-soaked clothes, walk through the hotel in plain sight, and head up the stairs to his room in his bloody underwear. This property was also the site of Elisa Lam's disappearance and death—the focus of another new Netflix true crime docuseries.
Watch the trailer for Netflix's Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel:
He was sentenced to death and eventually died of natural causes in 2013 at the age of 53 on Death Row at San Quentin State Prison, according to CNN. But before his death, Ramirez met and married a woman named Doreen Lioy. Lioy believed Ramirez was innocent and wrote him dozens of letters, even visiting him in prison, CNN says. The two married in 1996.
"He’s kind, he’s funny, he’s charming," Lioy later told CNN of Ramirez. "I think he’s a really great person. He’s my best friend; he’s my buddy." Lioy also said she believed her husband was wrongly convicted. "I just believe in him completely," she told the publication. "In my opinion, there was far more evidence to convict O.J. Simpson, and we all know how that turned out."
But where is Doreen Lioy now? Here’s what you need to know.
She was disowned by her family.
Lioy told CNN in 1997 that her family disowned her after she married Ramirez. And, as a result, she described being married to a man on Death Row as "lonely."
Lioy was devoted to her husband.
In 2013, Los Angeles Times writer Christopher Goffard wrote about seeing Lioy and Ramirez in the prison’s visiting room. According to Goffard, Lioy visited her husband four times a week and was often the first person in line to visit a prisoner.
She brushed off criticism of their relationship.
Goffard also wrote that Lioy was dismissive of people who criticized the fact that she married a serial killer. When anyone brought it up, Goffard said that she would roll her eyes and say, "hometown girl makes bad."
It’s not clear what Lioy's relationship status was with Ramirez at the time of his death.
The two don’t appear to have divorced, but Ramirez’s niece Shelly Ramirez told The Daily Beast after her uncle’s death that no one had claimed his body, even weeks after he died. A spokesperson from San Quentin told the publication that Ramirez’s body would be cremated if no one claimed it. The spokesperson also said that Ramirez wasn’t allowed to have personal visits in 2010 and "the last few years he has refused to visit with everyone."
It’s unclear where she is now.
While Lioy was a freelance journalist, it’s unknown if she’s still working in the field. There is also no information on where she is now.
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