Richard Ramirez, otherwise known as the Night Stalker, often committed his heinous crimes in the middle of the night. But when he wasn't murdering he may have been enjoying a short stay at the shady Cecil Hotel, a venue known to be a hotspot for all things ghastly.
A new Netflix docuseries, Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel, focuses on the disappearance of Elisa Lam, and also mentions its connection to Ramirez.
The hotel first opened all the way back in 1927. If you walked past it today, or even in its hey-day, without knowing the history of the venue, you may think it is just another run-down, unkept hotel in a poor, deprived area of Los Angeles – however, the building's history means it will forever be engrained in American true-crime folklore.
The hotel has played host to so many notorious incidents, from as recently as 2013 and the mysterious death of Elisa Lam, to the series of murders committed by Austrian serial killer Jack Unterwerger in 1991. The Cecil Hotel has become synonymous with death, gore and horror.
Ramirez and his crimes were actually the entire subject of a separate Netflix series called Night Stalker, in which they fail to mention his association with the Cecil Hotel, but they do acknowledge it in this latest true crime series.
Cecil Hotel guests share 'terrible' reviews amid creepy Netflix documentary
In the series, one former resident of the hotel describes the venue as he remembers it, dubbing it a "lawless" place, so void of any safety or morality that some of the most infamous serial killers the U.S. has ever seen felt comfortable calling at home for at least a few nights at a time.
Speaking in The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel, Kenneth Givens says: "Back in the ’80s, I would never go no farther than the 6th floor."
"Usually, the higher floors of the Cecil, people used to get killed up in there. Once they got a guy in the room, they would rob him, beat him up, and throw him out the window. So if you didn’t watch yourself, you might come flying out of there with no wings."
Vanishing at Cecil Hotel terrifies Netflix fans as they're left 'unable to sleep'
Ramirez's room was situated on the 14th floor, but it is thought that the murderer never actually brought any of his victims back to the Cecil. He just saw the venue as a safe place to return to once he had finished killing.
Kim Cooper, an author and Los Angeles true-crime tour guide for Esotouric, reveals to the docuseries that "It’s one of these hotels that’s well known for this type of crime. The Cecil Hotel is where serial killers, you know, let their hair down.
Clearly referring to Ramirez, she goes on to add “one was a figure who stayed upstairs on the 14th floor, was paying $14 a night for his room. He liked to scare, torture, torment, kill, rape, human beings.
What happened to Elisa Lam? Netflix series explores mysterious death at Cecil Hotel
"On at least one occasion, he had actually removed someone’s eyes as his human trophies, and then after committing some of the most brutal murders that happened in Southern California ever, he would come back to the Cecil. In the middle of the night, he would be in the back alley covered in blood, taking off his clothing."
Ramirez was eventually caught and apprehended by Police on August 30, 1985, after a group of LA residents noticed him and refused to let him leave until the LAPD arrived.
In 1989, Ramirez was convicted of 13 murders and sentenced to death by the gas chamber, he shrieked "Hail Satan" as he was led away from the courtroom. He would never actually face the death penalty, eventually dying of cancer in 2013 while still awaiting his fate on death row.
Source: Read Full Article