Life of Serial Killers
Richard Ramirez & Leonarda Cianciulli
Richard Ramirez
Childhood
- Birth Name: Ricardo Leyva Munoz Ramirez
- Birth Date: February 28, 1960 in El Paso Texas to Julian and Mercedes Ramirez
- Date of Death: June 7, 2013
- Youngest of 5 children
- He dropped out in the 9th grade from Jefferson High School
- He was beaten by his father for anything his dad thought was "wrong"
- He was heavily influenced by the age of 13 from his cousin Mike who returned from fighting in Vietnam.
- Mike shared stories with Richard about torture and mutilation he inflicted the women and both discussed satanic worship.
- His rebellion in 1977 led to petty acts of crime which made him end up in juvenile detention.
- In 1982 he got a probationary sentence for Marijuana possession.
- Richard witnessed his cousin Mike murder his own wife and that was believed to "sow the final developmental seeds for the future serial killer"
Spouse/Kids
- He was married to Doreen Lioy. They had no kids
Serial Killer Career
- He moved to San Francisco then L.A. where he was working with cocaine, robbing homes/shops and continuing with satanic worship.
- In 1984 theft turned to violence, his first known murder was June 28, 1984. His victim was 79 year old Jennie Vincow sexually assaulted her and stabbed her to death in her own home. He had no motive for this crime.
- Richard committed another murder nine months later on March 17, 1985, he attacked 29 year old Angela Barrios. He pulled the trigger but didn't kill her, she collapsed and played dead. He then went on to kill her roommate Daye Okazaki.
- Admitted to 13 killings but 5 failed, sexually assaulted 11, and had 14 thefts.
- Always wanted to attack and kill women, he claimed they always went to him first. He said he never had any real reason to kill the victims he chose.
Leonarda Cianciulli
Personal Info
- Date of Birth: November 14, 1893
- She was nick named "The Soap-Maker of Correggio"
- At a young age she tried to attempt suicide twice
- In 1914 she got married to Raffaele Pansard and she claims her mother cursed her then
- Leonarda and Raffaele's home was destroyed in 1930 by and earthquake, this is when they moved to Correggio where Leonarda opened a small shop and immediately became popular as a nice, gentlel women.
- During their marriage she had 17 pregnancies but had 3 miscarriages and 10 died at very young ages. She became extremely protective of her last 4 children.
- She gained a heavy amount of fear from a fortune teller who foretold her that she'd get married and have children but that all of her kids would die.
- She also went to a Gypsy who practiced palm reading and told her "In your right hand I see prison, in your left a criminal asylum."
Murders
- In 1939 heard that her oldest son was supposed to join the Italian army, he was her favorite child so she was determined to keep him safe.
- She came to the conclusion that in order to keep him from death human sacrifices were required.
- Her victims were 3 middle aged women, all her neighbors, named: Faustina Setti (73), Francesca Soavi, and Virginia Cacioppo(53)
- Leonarda considered herself a fortune teller so these women went to her for help
- Leonarda murdered her victims with an axe and cut their bodies into pieces, drained their blood and boiled them.
- She put their blood into the oven, ground it and mixed it with flour, sugar, chocolate, milk and eggs and butter. She said "I made lots of crunchy tea cakes and served them to the ladies who came to visit, though me and Giuseppe (her oldest son) also ate them."
- Once she killed them she received their life saving
Victim #1
Faustina Settie, age 73
Victim #2
Francesca Soavi
Victim #3
Virginia Cacioppo, age 53
Discovery and Trial
- Leonarda was discovered because Virginia sister-in-law became suspicious of her disapperance and last saw her enter Leonardas house.
- Virginias sister-in-law immediately reported it the police and they opened an investigation and discovered the murders.
- When Leonarda was arrested she automatically confessed to the murders and provided detail about the crimes.
- She was tried for murder in Reggio Emilia in 1946, she was found guilty and sentenced to 30 years in prison and 3 years in a criminal asylum.
- She died on October 15, 1970 of cerebal apoplexy in the womens criminal asylum in Pozzulio.