Nightstalker documentary series on Netflix
Jan 17, 2021 23:43:52 GMT
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Post by cherylh on Jan 17, 2021 23:43:52 GMT
New documentary series on Netflix about the Nightstalker, the killer who struck in the Los Angeles region and in San Francisco in the mid-1980s.
Great interviews with the detectives who worked the case, and with survivors. Really captures the feel of the era, and the terror the attacks created in Los Angeles. I had just moved there in 1984 and I remember it well.
Some of the same issues that plagued the GSK case: jurisdictions that refused to cooperate, loss of evidence due to poor management, a reluctance to believe the crimes were all committed by one man. The first detective to suggest that got ridiculed by more experienced detectives, who accused him of trying to make a big name for himself.
But even now, the detectives remain fixed on certain ideas that seem pretty flawed. They didn't want information released to the press, they wanted to withhold a lot from the public. But it was the release of information that brought forward the informants who revealed the identity of the killer. They weren't getting any closer to that ID until they called on help from the public.
Once they knew the name of the person they were after and had a photo of him, they didn't want that released to the public. The detectives wanted to find him and make the arrest themselves.
Problem was -- they didn't know where he was. Richard Ramirez was living on the street, couch surfing and stealing cars. It could have taken the detectives days, possibly weeks, to locate him. And in that time he almost surely would have killed again. He was attacking frequently, sometimes more than once in a 24-hour period.
The detectives were overruled, and the photo and name went out to the press. Richard Ramirez was identified within hours. He was detained by members of the public after being recognized.
And, famously, he was close to being killed by a mob when the police showed up to take him into custody.
Great interviews with the detectives who worked the case, and with survivors. Really captures the feel of the era, and the terror the attacks created in Los Angeles. I had just moved there in 1984 and I remember it well.
Some of the same issues that plagued the GSK case: jurisdictions that refused to cooperate, loss of evidence due to poor management, a reluctance to believe the crimes were all committed by one man. The first detective to suggest that got ridiculed by more experienced detectives, who accused him of trying to make a big name for himself.
But even now, the detectives remain fixed on certain ideas that seem pretty flawed. They didn't want information released to the press, they wanted to withhold a lot from the public. But it was the release of information that brought forward the informants who revealed the identity of the killer. They weren't getting any closer to that ID until they called on help from the public.
Once they knew the name of the person they were after and had a photo of him, they didn't want that released to the public. The detectives wanted to find him and make the arrest themselves.
Problem was -- they didn't know where he was. Richard Ramirez was living on the street, couch surfing and stealing cars. It could have taken the detectives days, possibly weeks, to locate him. And in that time he almost surely would have killed again. He was attacking frequently, sometimes more than once in a 24-hour period.
The detectives were overruled, and the photo and name went out to the press. Richard Ramirez was identified within hours. He was detained by members of the public after being recognized.
And, famously, he was close to being killed by a mob when the police showed up to take him into custody.
