Infamous serial killer Richard Ramirez had several pseudonyms, like the Night Stalker, the Valley Intruder, and more. In the years 1984 and 1985, he brutally murdered more than 15 people and eventually got arrested on August 31, 1985. For his actions, the court sentenced him to death. However, he passed away in 2013 while awaiting execution.
Following Ramirez’s arrest, he began receiving hundreds and thousands of letters. The serial killer had developed a fandom, and many of them even paid him visits. Out of them, one was a woman named Doreen Lioy. Lioy had a successful career as she worked as an editor of a magazine called Tiger Beat. According to All That’s Interesting, her life was nothing out of the ordinary before meeting the serial killer. However, actor John Stamos remembered her as a lonely individual and held her responsible for making Ramirez a household name.
Reports suggest that just after his arrest, Lioy was smitten by Ramirez. She wholeheartedly believed that he was innocent and regularly visited him in prison. She continuously defended him publicly and thought he was charming, kind, and funny. Additionally, she called the criminal a great person and her best friend. Eventually, the pair tied the knot in October 1996 in a San Quentin State Prison visiting room. Lioy has always wanted to be a mother, but Ramirez could not provide her with a child. She once stated that she never hid her desire for motherhood from her husband and asked him to give her five or six children. Even though Ramirez couldn’t help her with her dreams, she made sure not to leave her husband’s side.
Richard Ramirez’s life of crime and murder is documented in the Netflix 2021 four-part true crime documentary miniseries Night Stalker: The Hunt For a Serial Killer.
Who was Richard Ramirez married to?
Richard Ramirez got married to Doreen Lioy on October 3, 1996. Reports suggest that after her marriage, her friends and family were in disbelief. Her family cut ties with her, and journalists were confused as to why she chose to let go of her life to be with a dreaded serial killer. Lioy, too, knew why she was being treated this way.
People know very little of her upbringing, yet, per All That’s Interesting, she was born in Burbank, California, in 1955. She was a studious youngster and actively wanted to make a name for herself in journalism. While many women pursued Ramirez, Lioy’s attraction for him was of a different magnitude because, in 11 years, she sent him 75 love letters. In a 2019 conversation with Entertainment Tonight, actor John Stamos expressed his despise for her and added that only a lonely person can marry a monster. He said, “To be that lonely that this is the only man on the planet that she can find, I just thought, ‘How horrible.’ This man is the personification of evil — just a monster.”
Ramirez and Lioy’s relationship was doomed from the beginning, and the couple eventually stopped seeing each other for a few years before he died. Ramirez’s obituary did not mention a divorce, although some believe they grew apart around 2009. Lioy’s current whereabouts are unknown.
