Stalker’s Loot Found in Texas, Detectives Say

Detectives alleged today that Night Stalker suspect Richard Ramirez may have removed the eyes of a slain woman and mailed them to his relatives in Texas, along with household articles that he is accused of having stolen in a series of Los Angeles-area murders.

Armed with search warrants, Los Angeles County sheriff’s investigators last week entered the El Paso home of Ramirez’s sister, Rosa Flores, and found more than 300 items he allegedly stole in a series of residential burglaries that often ended in murder.

The missing eyes, however, were not found in that search. The victim’s identity was not revealed.

Capt. Robert Grimm, head of the Los Angeles County sheriff’s homicide bureau, would not discuss what information detectives have that led them to suspect the eyes may have been mailed to El Paso.

“We searched the (murder) scene thoroughly, and they weren’t discovered,” Grimm said. “We had information that stolen property had been sent to El Paso and the eyes were still outstanding and that’s the rationale.”

Grimm said Los Angeles authorities don’t consider Ramirez’s sister a suspect.

“At this point, there is nothing to indicate that she violated California law, which says that you have to know the items that you’re accepting have been stolen,” Grimm explained. “But I can’t speak for Texas law.”

Ramirez, a 25-year-old Texas drifter, has been linked to at least 15 California slayings since 1984 and more than 20 assaults, rapes and kidnapings. Formally charged in two homicides, he has yet to enter a plea.

He remains without bail in Los Angeles County Central Jail.

In a search warrant affidavit filed in El Paso County Court, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Detective Sgt. Robert Perry said that “one victim’s eyes were cut out. They also may have been mailed” to the El Paso addresses of Ramirez’s sister and his parents, Julian and Mercedes Ramirez.