Blood Thirsty in Sacramento

They say that sometimes the truth is so off the wall that it couldn't be made up. And I often find that that is the case, especially when it comes to the things that a person or persons can inflict on another human being.

This case really isn't different in that aspect. The truth is, by far, stranger than fiction.

When you look at the picture above, you see a smiling, handsome boy that has his whole future to look forward to. You would never guess that the face of that smiling boy would go on to be one of the most gruesome serial murders of Sacramento.

Between the years of 1977 and 1978, six people would be the unfortunate victims of the Sacramento Vampire.

Like many criminals and/or murderers, Chase's murders graduated in violence; starting with drive-by shootings to engaging in acts of cannibalism, sexual acts with the bodies post mortum, as well as the mutilations of the bodies.

Now, the murders are bad enough, but this guy was a real nut job, and this, more than the murders themselves, is what he's most known for.

He had this weird obsession with blood. He even went so far as to say that his own blood was slowly "turning to powder", which, in his mind, was the consequence of Nazi poisoning. His paranoia led him to believe that not only was his mother repeatedly trying to poison him, but that his skull was changing shape, and that his heart had stopped beating.

He even went so far as to inject rabbit's blood into his veins.

As I said, his cheese wasn't all the way on his cracker. He was schizophrenic, had bouts of psychosis, and extreme paranoia.

When unchecked, these mental issues can lead to all kinds of thinking. And as time went on, and as his brain deteriorated into mental collapse, the acts of gradually mounting violence to anyone who crossed his path while in this state of mind increased.

Chase was born in Santa Clara, California on the 23rd of May, 1950. Like many people who eventually end up with this kind of end, Chase was born into an unhappy and stressful household.

From a young boy his father was physically abusive. When his mother and father would argue, violence always ensued, which eventually drove his mother from the house.

Once she was gone, Chase's father then turned his violence on his son.

Consumed by this reality, by the time he hit his teenage years, he was dependent on drugs and alcohol.

It was at this point in his life when Chase's serial killer tendencies began to grow.

Textbook red flags began popping up in Chase's behaviorism, such as the torture of small animals (like cats) that he found around the neighborhood.

If you don't know the three major signs of a future serial killer, they are listed thusly:

Bed-wetting. Animal cruelty. Arson.

By the age of twelve, Chase was exhibiting all three signs.

As his mental health continued to decline, and with Chase's inability to make any stable life for himself, his life only became worse as he entered adulthood.

While alone in his apartment, he would devour raw animals, occasionally liquefying their organs, and drinking it.

By the time he reached his early-twenties, he was convinced that his heart was shrinking and that consuming the animals' entrails would sustain his life. (Which sounds like an Elizabeth Bathory story gone wrong, if you ask me.)

Following the incident with the rabbit's blood, in which he developed terrible blood poisoning, he was committed to a mental institution in which he escaped in 1976. He was caught shortly thereafter and sent to an institution for the criminally insane.

It was during his stay at the institution is when he vampiric propensities really began to shine. He conversed regularly about his obsession with drinking blood, to the point where the other inmates began referring to him as "Dracula".

Now he was able to play the system and the doctors and was released in 1976 when he was said to be "no longer a threat to society"...and then went directly back to the life he was living before.

Once again he was back to killing animals and drinking their blood. He even called a neighbor and described to him the horrible things he'd done to the man's dog.

As his delusions began to mount, his mental illness developed into that of murderous desires sprouting from a volatile mind.

Soon his thirst for blood became more than a fantasy, and on December 29th, 1977, Chase committed his first murder.

Ambrose Griffin, who was a 51 year-old, was outside his home when he had the unfortunate timing of being in Chase's cross hairs. For no other reason than he wanted to kill someone, Chase drove by Griffin and shot him with a .22 caliber pistol.

Griffin's murder was completely random. And while casings were found near Griffin's home, the police had no suspect.

Chase continued prowling the darkened streets of Sacramento. On the 11th of January 1978, Chase came to the door of Jeanne Layton. He walked up to her patio door and brazenly tried to open it. It was locked. The windows, he found, were also locked.

As Chase continued trying to find a way into her house, Jeanne Layton watched the entire process. She described a disheveled man with long hair that moved from her doors to windows and back again.

As she watched, Chase lit a cigarette, looked her directly in the eyes and walked away. He said later about this, "Locked doors mean you aren't welcome."

However, that same night, he did come upon the open door of Robert and Barbara Edwards.

When the couple pulled into their driveway after shopping for groceries, someone left their home by way of their rear window. Chase ran past the couple, staying in the shadows, making off with valuables he took from the residence.

Mr. Edwards chased Chase as far as he could, but Chase escaped by hopping over a fence and vanishing.

Detectives were called to the scene of the crime where, inside the Edwards home, they found that Richard Trenton Chase had, along with stealing valuables, both urinated in a drawer and defecated on the couple's son's bed.

For Richard Trenton Chase, the night was still young.

Nancy Holden had been shopping that evening and as she was leaving one of the stores, she was approached by a man whom she thought homeless.

The man asked her, "Were you on the motorcycle when Kurt was killed?"

This stunned her, as she had, in fact, been in a motorcycle accident with a boy she dated named Kurt. However, she did not recognize the person standing before her.

"It's me. Rick Chase."

It was then she realized to whom she was speaking. He did not resemble anything of what she remembered from school, and she could easily tell that life had not been an easy one for him.

He was dirty, his clothes were heavily stained, he seemed strung out, and was clearly nervous about something. She tried to get to her car, making the excuse that she needed to go, but he followed her, begging for a ride.

She managed to get away from him without incident.

Chase's next unlocked door and second victim was found on the 23rd of January, 1978.

The unlocked door belonged to Teresa Wallin of 2360 Tioga Way.

The young woman was home alone and three months pregnant on the day Chase entered her residence while she was taking out the trash. As she reentered the home, he attacked her with the same pistol he used to shoot Mr. Griffin.

One of the fired bullets entered the palm of her hand, while the second one entered at the peak of her skull. She was dead before she hit the ground.

Alone with her body, Richard began engaging in the wild fantasies without having to worry about being caught.

And that's exactly what he did.

After he dragged her body into her bedroom, he sexually assaulted the corpse repeatedly. Using a butcher knife, he stabbed her multiple times in the liver, lungs, stomach and breasts. He cut off her left nipple, tore her pancreas, removed her kidneys, and left her intestines hanging out.

Once he had done this, he took a yoghurt pot and collected her blood within it. He consumed it and smeared some of it on his face.

He wasn't done yet, though.

Before leaving her her body a dissected mess for her husband upon his return home, Chase stuffed her mouth with dog shit he found outside.

On January 27th, 1978, Chase broke into the home of Evelyn Miroth, 38, who was babysitting her 22 month old nephew, David Ferreira.

Also in the house was Evelyn's six year old son Jason, and a neighbor Dan Meredith (whose picture I could not locate).

It was on this day that Chase graduated to mass murderer.

Chase walked into the home and shot Dan Meredith with the same .22 caliber pistol, execution-style, in the head. Jason, hearing the shots tried running upstairs. Chase followed him and shot him twice in the head. As he followed Jason, he shot the baby, also in the head.

In the bathtub Evelyn cowered, terrified in the knowledge that he family and friend had just been murdered. Here is where he found her. He shot her once.

He took her body into her bedroom and sexually assaulted her, as well as carved her with a butcher knife he found in the kitchen. He stabbed her in the vagina, the anus, pulled out her intestines, tried to remove an eyeball, and sliced the back of her neck.

Once she was carved up to his satisfaction, he drank her blood.

This, however, still wasn't the end.

Taking the baby's body, he broke open his skull and consumed parts of his brain. Still not finished, he took the baby's body home with him, cut off his genitals and testicles, and used his penis as a straw to pull blood from his body. Once he was done, he left the body in a box near a church.

The murders then reached the press.

The police and FBI asked the public for information. There was one person watching the news that could help.

Nancy Holden.

It was reported in the police reports that an unknown man was seen near Teresa Wallin's residence wearing an orange parka. These were the same clothes that Nancy Holden saw Chase wearing when he approached her at the shopping center.

When the authorities checked out Chase, they discovered he was a near perfect match to the criminal profile.

The FBI went to Chase's home to take him into custody, however Chase did not go without a fight.

He did not open the door for the FBI, refusing to comply. As a way to trick him, the FBI pretended to leave, but actually hid out of Chase's sight, waiting for him to come out.

He did eventually come out, carrying with him a small box, where he was immediately taken into custody.

The box contained several bloodstained cloths and inside Chase's pocket found Dan Meredith's wallet. With this evidence in and of itself, the FBI had enough for a trial, however, what they found inside his home sealed the deal, so to speak.

The walls and floors were coated in dried blood, as well as silver wear and kitchen wear.

Animal remains and internal organs were discovered in his refrigerator, as well as human organs which were determined to belong to Teresa Wallin, Evelyn Miroth, and her son David.

The trail was short and was found guilty on six counts of first-degree murder and was sentenced to death in the gas chamber.

However, before this sentence could be carried out, Chase was found dead in his cell on December 26th 1980. He overdosed on antidepressants.