As a 12-year-old, Richard – or "Richie", as he was known to his family –
was strongly influenced by his older cousin, Miguel ("Mike") Ramirez,[6] a decorated U.S. Army Green Beret combat veteran who often boasted of his gruesome exploits during the Vietnam War. He shared
Polaroid photos of his victims, including
Vietnamese women he had
raped.
[7] In some of the photos, Mike posed with the severed head of a woman he had abused.
[8] Ramirez, who had begun smoking
marijuana at the age of 10, bonded with Mike over joints and gory war stories.
[9] Mike taught his young cousin some of his military skills, such as killing with stealth.
[10] Around this time, Ramirez began to seek escape from his father's violent temper by sleeping in a local cemetery.
[10]
Ramirez was present on May 4, 1973, when his cousin Mike fatally shot his wife, Jessie, in the face with a .38 caliber revolver during a domestic argument.
[11] After the shooting, Ramirez became sullen and withdrawn from his family and peers. Later that year, he moved in with his older sister, Ruth, and her husband, Roberto, an obsessive
"peeping Tom" who took Richie along on his nocturnal exploits.
[12] Ramirez also began using
LSD and cultivated an interest in
Satanism.
[13] Mike was found not guilty of Jessie's murder by reason of
insanity and was released in 1977,
after four years of incarceration at the Texas State Mental Hospital. His influence over Ramirez continued
