Attacker Claimed He Was the Stalker, Victim Tells Court

A Mission Viejo woman described in a clear, strong voice from the witness stand Thursday how a Satan-worshiping intruder broke into her home two years ago, shot her fiance and announced after dragging her to the floor: “You know who I am, don’t you? I am the Night Stalker. You’ve read about me.”

Richard Ramirez, the 27-year-old transient accused by authorities in both Los Angeles and Orange counties of being the Night Stalker, sat with his chin in his hand as the woman described how the intruder raped her, forced her into other sexual acts and threatened to kill her if she didn’t swear allegiance to Satan.

“He leaned over me,” she testified, “and said, ‘Say, “I love Sa tan,” ’ I repeated it and then he laughed. Then he said, ‘Tell them he’s coming.’ ”

It was the first time the 31-year-old victim had seen Ramirez since Sept. 5, 1985, when she identified him as her attacker in a police lineup in Los Angeles.

Ramirez, facing trial in Los Angeles County on 14 murder counts, is charged in Orange County with attempted murder, rape, burglary and robbery in the Aug. 25, 1985, early morning attack on the woman and her fiance, William R. Carns Jr.

Ramirez’s preliminary hearing on the Orange County charges has been going on in Municipal Judge B. Tam Nomoto’s courtroom in Santa Ana for much of the last six weeks.

Shot 3 Times

Carns was shot three times in the head and is still recovering at a therapy center in Texas. He does not remember the attack, according to prosecutors, and is not scheduled to be a witness at the hearing.

Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. James G. Enright had been nervous about the woman’s testimony. He said her therapist had reported that she was very “fragile” emotionally and that appearing before the defendant for the first time since she identified him could be traumatic for her.

But after Enright ended his direct examination of the witness, he expressed relief.

“She did very well,” Enright said. “I was concerned, but she was just great.”

Ramirez’s attorneys spent most of their time on cross-examination on the videotaped lineup identification of their client. The woman had told investigators that she could not identify her attacker’s face. But she picked Ramirez out of the six-man lineup based on his lean build, quick walk, thick lips, wavy hair, and the way he talked, according to her testimony Thursday.

The defense had few questions for the witness except for the identification issue. The entire courtroom was quiet as she related publicly for the first time the events of the night she was attacked.

She and Carns had gone to a double-feature movie and returned to their home about midnight. On the drive home, she said, they discussed the Night Stalker attacks that had been reported in the media. They were still discussing the subject just before they fell asleep together.

A short time later, she said, she was awakened by three shots. She saw an intruder standing over her, and Carns fell across her arm.

“He (the intruder) grabbed my hair and pulled me out of bed,” she said.

After the intruder told her he was the Night Stalker, she said, he mentioned the publicity about his crimes and said, “So you know if I kill one I might let the other one live.”

She said the intruder struck her several times, then tied her up with neckties from a closet while he searched the house for money and jewelry.

At least six times, she said, he asked, “Where’s the jewelry?”

She said the intruder untied her to rape her, then re-tied her. Then she directed him to another room where she had more than $300 that she had saved for Christmas. She also told him where he could find her jewelry.

The intruder accused her of lying about not having expensive jewelry, she said, and she replied, “I swear to God I don’t have any.” She said he shot back: “Swear to Satan,” which she did.

She said the intruder ended up “hogtying” her in a bathroom and leaving her there, warning that he would be back to kill her if she called police.

Eventually, she said, she freed herself and prayed five “Our Fathers” before daring to leave the bathroom. She did not check on Carns, she said, for fear the intruder was still in that bedroom. Instead, she called police, then ran to a neighbor’s house.

Ramirez’s attorney, Daniel Hernandez, asked the woman if her identification of Ramirez was influenced by pictures she had seen of him in the newspapers and on television after his Aug. 31, 1985, arrest. But she was firm in her identification.

Ramirez, who has been coming to court daily in jail clothes, Thursday was clad in a three-piece gray suit. He watched the woman intently during her testimony and occasionally joked with one of his attorneys during the playing of the lineup videotape.

The preliminary hearing is expected to end Tuesday or Wednesday. His trial in Los Angeles is scheduled for Sept. 30. But his attorneys said the trial will be postponed because they are not yet ready. Ramirez is also under indictment on one murder charge in San Francisco.