Police: "Night Stalker" serial murderer may have had help
LOS ANGELES -- More than three decades after Los Angeles and San Francisco were terrorized by a serial killer nicknamed the "Night Stalker," police say he may have had help in at least one of his 13 murders, reports CBS Los Angeles.
Richard Ramirez was one of the nation's most prolific serial killers, convicted in 1989 for the series of gruesome murders that terrorized two California cities from April 1984 until August 1985.
But Monday, more than 30 years after the last murder, San Francisco's Police Chief Greg Suhr says a handkerchief was found near one of the murder scenes containing bodily fluids from not just Ramirez, but another man, as well as the blood of the victim.
"There has been (lab) work done, but at least right now, it's under further investigation," Suhr said. "There is no statute of limitations for homicide, and we in the crime lab are trying to work to see if we can somehow connect this other person in some way to that offense."
Suhr did not disclose who the second person is, but said police are aware of the person's identity.
The murder in question was the first killing linked to Ramirez, that of 9-year-old May Leung, who was found raped, beaten and stabbed to death in 1984.
Retired Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department detective Lt. Gil Carrillo was the lead investigator in the serial murder case and told CBS Los Angeles that Ramirez never mentioned a second person.
"And at no time in our investigation did we ever find any evidence of a second person," Carrillo said.
Ramirez died on death row in 2013.