Expendable For A Cause.

This article explores how Richard Ramirez’s extensive history of head trauma and a mismanaged seizure disorder likely shaped his neurological and psychological development, influencing his behavior long before he was labeled the “Night Stalker.”

On February 29, 1960, at 2:07 a.m., at Providence Memorial Hospital in El Paso, Texas, a dark-haired, dark-eyed baby boy entered the world at a healthy 9 pounds, 6 ounces. Ricardo Munoz, as he would be called, was the fifth and youngest child of Julian and Mercedes Ramirez.

Below is a medical chart detailing his health after birth.

Richard Ramirez, affectionately known to his family as Richie, grew up in a close-knit bilingual home and was doted upon by his big sister, Rosa. By all reports, he was a happy, healthy baby and toddler.

“Richard was a happy and healthy child. He loved music and animals. He was sweet natured.”

– Declaration of his mother, Mercedes Ramirez, document 20.5.

He loved music and dancing, so much so that at the age of two, he climbed on a dresser to reach a radio, and the dresser fell on top of him, causing a large cut to his head and a concussion. This would be the first of several head injuries Richard would sustain as a child and an adolescent.

Timeline of head injuries

• When he was five, Ramirez was at a local park and walked in front of a swing, was hit, and knocked unconscious.
• At the age of ten, he suffered a blow to the head while playing in a football game and concussed.
• Age 14: Richard fell from a moving train and was knocked unconscious; The fall exacerbated the ongoing headaches he was already experiencing.
• Age 18: Richard was thrown from a horse and admitted to the hospital for broken ribs, a fractured wrist, and a head injury.
• Age 19:  Richard got into a fight while employed at the Holiday Inn. He received severe injuries to his face and head and his eyes were swollen shut.
• Age 25: On the day he was arrested, Ramirez was repeatedly beat over the head with a metal pipe causing more trauma and necessitating multiple stitches to his head.

It’s quite clear from his history he suffered several brain injuries, all during a time in which the human brain undergoes significant development. As a direct result, Ramirez started having seizures at the age of ten. The seizures would have a direct impact on his functioning.

Below is his school report showing good grades.

Below: Richard Ramirez’s certificate showing excellent attendance. He would later become a truant.

“Richard was something of a loner from the time he was a little boy. He was more likely to play alone than to play with other children. Richard was a very quiet boy and never a trouble maker in his early years. He was more likely to tell on his brothers and sister than to get into any trouble.”

_{– Declaration of Mercedes Ramirez, document 20.5.}

Epilepsy Diagnosis

Many years later, after his arrest as the alleged Night Stalker, Richard was examined by multiple specialists that determined he suffered from a seizure disorder specifically known as temporal lobe epilepsy. This seizure disorder contributed to many of the symptoms Richard experienced since he was a child and a teenager, such as headaches, insomnia, and depression.

“Beginning at age ten, close in time after he sustained a concussion playing football, Petitioner [Ramirez] began to suffer epileptic seizures. He suffered at least three convulsive epileptic seizures at school … and numerous other epileptic seizures outside of school. Petitioner was twice hospitalized at Hospital Hotel Dieu following seizures: once in 1970, at age 10, and once in 1972, at age 12.

In 1972, doctors diagnosed him with epilepsy and prescribed Phenobarbital to control the seizures. EEGs administered at the time revealed abnormal results, which confirmed a diagnosis of epilepsy or seizure disorder.

Petitioner suffered at least serious convulsive epileptic seizures and continued to experience such seizures until he was seventeen years old.”

– Declaration of Marilyn Cornell, exhibit 103.

He also suffered from absence seizures from the age of ten.

“From the age of ten on, he experienced partial or absence epileptic seizures – characterized by brief periods of staring into space, unaware of his surroundings – multiple times a day.”

– Declaration of Marilyn Cornell, exhibit 103.

The Phenobarbital Ramirez was prescribed had several adverse effects, such as nausea, vomiting, confusion, dizziness, irritability, depression, severe drowsiness, and sedation. He took the drug for approximately 18 months.

In the 1970s, there weren’t as many treatment options for seizure disorders as there are today. Still, there were others with fewer adverse effects, so we aren’t sure why phenobarbital was selected. Phenobarbital is no longer used as a first-line seizure treatment because of its adverse effects.

The phenobarbital caused Ramirez to have difficulty staying awake at school, affected his ability to complete schoolwork and prevented him from playing football. Around the age of 13, he stopped taking medication because of the side effects and began to experiment with drugs, specifically marijuana. His drug usage started as a means to self-medicate symptoms of the seizure disorder. Ramirez would later say marijuana helped alleviate the headaches and insomnia he experienced.

Before the onset of seizures, Ramirez had been a good student and did not get in trouble at home or school. He had a good attendance record and received good grades. It was after the seizure disorder began that he began to struggle both in school and at home. With the onset of seizures began a constellation of symptoms that Ramirez would suffer with for the rest of his life.

Brief overview of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE)

To understand the full implications of Ramirez’s neurological symptoms, it’s important to examine the nature of his diagnosis.

During both normal awake and sleep states, our brain cells produce electrical activity. If the electrical activity in many brain cells becomes unsynchronized, a seizure can occur. If this happens in one area of the brain, it’s called a “focal seizure.” A temporal lobe seizure is a “focal seizure” that originates in the temporal lobe area of the brain. There are many causes of temporal lobe seizures and one of those causes is traumatic brain injuries. Temporal lobe epilepsy can cause many neurological and psychological complications, including behavioral changes.

Ramirez’s sister described his behavior as follows:

“After the seizures began, I noticed changes in Richie’s eating and sleeping habits. Richie stopped sleeping at nights. Instead, he stayed up all night. He began drinking Coke and eating candy and cookies obsessively. If he could not find Coke or candy in the house, he would go out on his bike to the store, even late at night, to get some. He no longer seemed to care about school. Around this time, his grades began to drop, and I often saw him smoke marijuana. Richie told me that he smoked marijuana to get rid of his headaches and that it helped him sleep because otherwise he couldn’t sleep.”

– Declaration of Rosa Ramirez, document 20.5.

Symptoms of TLE

• Anxiety
• Depression
• Memory impairments
• Vivid hallucinations
• Hyper-religiosity
• Blank stare or “staring into space.”
• Compulsions
• Headaches
• Insomnia
• Paranoia
• Fetishes

After Ramirez started having seizures, he experienced every one of these symptoms at some point in his life. Several of the problems he experienced were directly or indirectly a result of the untreated/improperly treated seizure disorder he experienced. The seizures not only caused physical ailments, like headaches and insomnia, but they also caused many other issues, such as depression, anxiety, paranoia, and delusional thinking. As a result, Ramirez began using drugs for relief. In other words, he “self-medicated.”

After moving to California at 19, Ramirez began using cocaine. Cocaine is highly addictive and causes stimulation of the central nervous system. As such, it will cause the user to experience an elevated mood. Given his history of depression (this will be discussed in a future article), it makes sense that this would become the drug he abused the most throughout his life. He was attempting to alleviate the depression symptoms through the use of cocaine and became addicted.

This is not to make excuses for Ramirez’s drug use but merely an attempt to show that he began using drugs to treat physical and emotional pain (this will also be addressed in future articles).

“Rarely do we find people who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.”

– Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Not all addictions are rooted in abuse or trauma, but I do believe they can all be traced to painful experiences. A hurt is at the center of all addictive behaviors.”

– from In The Realm of Hungry Ghosts by Gabor Mate.

Kaycee