Meet Richard Chase, a deranged man who took lives of six people, five of whom were brutally murdered in just one week.
A cannibal, who drank his victims’ blood and cannibalized their remains.
A man who told the police that he took locked doors as a sign that he was not welcome, but unlocked doors were an invitation to come inside.
On December 29, 1977, Chase committed his first murder, killing Ambrose Griffin in a drive-by shooting.
Nearly a month later, Chase shot and killed 22-year-old Teresa Wallin as she was taking out garbage.
He then sexually abused the dead body while stabbing it with a butcher’s knife. Before leaving the crime scene, Chase removed Wallin’s organs, cut one of her nipples off and drank her blood.
Four days later, Sacramento Sheriff’s deputies attended the scene of a multiple murder. A woman, who had gone to visit her next-door neighbor, made a shocking discovery of three lifeless bodies lying in a pool of blood.
The deceased 36-year-old Evelyn Miroth had been shot three times and eviscerated. Her 52-year-old boyfriend died of gunshot wounds to the head.Miroth’s 6-year-old son had been shot dead. A 22-month-old baby, whom the woman was babysitting, was missing from a bloodstained crib.
Following Miroth’s murder, investigators received information about a potential witness who might have interacted with the perpetrator in a supermarket parking lot behind the residence of the first victim on the day of the murder.
Police arrested Chase after receiving a tip from a witness whom Chase had asked for a ride after committing his first murder. The witness declined because Chase appeared unkempt and was behaving very strangely.
Inside his apartment, investigators found a 12-inch butcher knife, rubber boots, animal collars, three blenders full of blood, and a refrigerator containing body parts.
A mummified, decapitated infant’s body was discovered in a box outside a vacant lot. It was identified as the missing 22-month-old nephew of Evelyn Miroth.
After a four-month trial, the jury found Richard Chase guilty of six counts of first-degree murder. They rejected the argument that he was not guilty by reason of insanity and sentenced him to die in the gas chamber.
Due to the violent nature of Chase’s crimes, fellow inmates feared him and often encouraged him to commit suicide, as reported by prison officials.
Instead of taking the prescribed antidepressants, Chase stockpiled it until he had enough to end his life. The Vampire of Sacramento was found dead in his cell on December 26, 1980.
