The Night Stalker

I, like many other people recently, watch the new documentary on Netflix called The Night Stalker. It is a limited series highlighting the crimes of Richard Ramirez, a serial killer who terrorized Los Angeles in the 80s.

Now, I feel like I have a unique perspective on this documentary and crime documentaries in general. What's that perspective you may ask? Well, I consume a lot, and I mean, A LOT of true crime media. I don't say this to be ~quirky~ or ~weird~. It is a genuine interest of mine, from the investigation to the psychology of the criminal to the court case(s) that follow. Oh yeah, and I have a B.A. in criminal justice as well.

All that to say, I thought the framing of The Night Stalker was bad. I haven't done exact calculations, but about 90% of all four episodes were centered around the crimes themselves and the dumb shoe print. I think recognizing the individual victims and acknowledging the humanity that was taken at the hands of someone like Ramirez is important. So often the victims of crimes, especially serial killers can get tossed aside in favor of glamorizing the killer themselves. But in this case, it was overkill (pardon the pun).

It's one thing to show crime scene photos, but the one's Netflix showed were gruesome (and that's coming from someone who's seen uncensored crime scene photos). It felt very much like they were taking advantage of the victims. The public loves seeing those things, but how would you feel if you were a relative of the victim and now millions of people have seen their bloody body after they've been murdered. What I'm trying to say is it's one thing to highlight each victim's life and death so that they are not swept under the rug and it's an entirely different thing to make a spectacle out of the murder.

A few more issues I had; the shoe print. They really harped on the shoe print. I get that is how they connected the crimes, but it had little to do with catching him. That was more about the sketches they were able to produce along the way as well as identifying the car he was driving.

Next, they shoved the entirety of how Ramirez became this killer in the first place into just a few short minutes. His childhood and adolescence is a fascinating series of trauma (both physical and emotional/psychological) and unfortunate circumstances that created the man that would become The Night Stalker. Ramirez differed so much from killers like Ted Bundy and Gary Ridgeway and Netflix glossed over that. I won't get too much into it here because this could turn into an entire book, but you should definitely go look it up for yourself.

The last thing is how, at the very end, they glamorized him. Netflix highlighted the women who all but threw themselves at him, but provided no other explanation other than, "Women love bad boys." This doesn't delve nearly deep enough into the psychological draw some of these criminals have. Again it was a missed opportunity.

Overall, I did not like this telling of The Night Stalker's crimes. Others have done a better job in an hour-long episode and Netflix couldn't do it in four. I have found Netflix documentaries are hit or miss (see Don't F--- with Cats or The Keepers for a hit). Despite showing the crime scene photos and hearing from some of the victim's families, I don't feel as if they made Ramirez out to be the monster he truly was. The officers who worked on the case and the victims of Ramirez deserved better.

Okay, rant over.