Warning! This case does extremely graphic images of deceased adult and details about the murder of children and animals. Discretion is advised!
Richard received his nickname because he would drink the blood of his victims; this killer also practiced cannibalism and necrophilia.
Richard was extremely mentally ill, he was a hypochondriac paranoid schizophrenic with delusions. This killer truly believed that literally everyone was out to get him, and that he would one day just disappear; he thought that evil forces had been turning his blood to powder, which is why Richard became a cannibal. In his mind, he absolutely needed to consume blood in order to survive.
Now, one of the most frustrating aspects of this case is that literally everyone in Richard’s life had been fully aware of just how very sick he was, and they all that he was extremely dangerous! His own mother had caught him drinking the blood of animals, and he was constantly speaking of his paranoid delusions. At one point, when Richard was 27, he’d thrown a freshly butchered cat in his mother’s face!
In 1975 Richard actually injected himself with rabbit blood, and this made him deathly ill. He admitted to what he’d done, and was sent to a psychiatric hospital. In 1976 Richard was released from this institution not because he’d made any headway, but due to the fact that he scared the other patients so badly; the hospital staff openly referred to this mentally ill patient as Dracula.
Richard was released into the custody of his mother, but no matter how sick her son was, mother wanted him out her house. So, she ordered him to stop taking his psych meds so that he could get his own apartment and be out of her hair. After Richard left his Mama’s house, horror ensued.
It started with a string of missing animals, neighborhood pets. He would either purchase or steal these animals, drink their blood, and eat their flesh; as with most serials, this eventually wasn’t enough to satiate his needs and Richard progressed to killing people. Richard would walk down the streets and test random doorknobs to find one which had been left unlocked. A quote from Richard: “If the door was locked, that means you’re not welcome.“.
Terrifying, right?
Richard’s first murder was actually a drive by shooting. On December 29th of 1977, 51 year old Ambrose Griffin had been bringing groceries inside his house when he was shot with a .22. Soon after this, Richard entered an unlocked home. Thankfully the dwelling was unoccupied at the moment; Richard burglarized the place, urinated on a little boy’s clothing, and he defecated in the child’s bed. He was still inside the home when the couple returned, it’s very possible he was hoping the lady of the house would come home alone. The husband attacked Richard and luckily overpowered him, but sadly Richard got away.
The second murder victim was a 22 year old pregnant lady by the name of Teresa “Terry” Wallin; unfortunately Teresa’s door had been left unlocked. On January 23rd of 1978 Richard found Terry as she was taking out the trash; she was shot. Once she fell, Richard knelt over her, and he shot her point blank in the temple. The killer then dragged her inside the home and to the bedroom; he then walked to the kitchen and grabbed a knife and an empty yogurt container. Richard stabbed this poor woman repeatedly, cut one of her nipples off, cut her the length of her torso, and pulled her spleen and intestines out. After cutting a few of those parts open to see what was inside, Richard placed them back inside the corpse. Now, you remember that yogurt cup we spoke of just a moment ago? He used that cup to scoop up her blood to drink. When he was done, Richard then stuffed animal feces into Teresa’s mouth. Soon after, a puppy who had been killed and mutilated was discovered not far from this victim’s home.
On January 27th Richard committed his final murders. On this day 38 year old Evelyn Miroth had been home with her 6 year old son, Jason, and she’d been babysitting her 22 month old baby nephew, David. A neighbor by the name of Dan Meredith had also been present, he was watching the children for just a few minutes while Evelyn took a quick bath.
Unfortunately the door to Evelyn’s home had been unlocked; the moment Richard entered the home he shot Dan with his .22. Little Jason freaked out, and he ran towards his mother; Richard shot this poor child twice, and baby David also caught a bullet to the head. When everyone else was dead, Richard went to the restroom where he shot Evelyn. The killer then dragged her corpse to the bedroom; Evelyn’s body was sliced in many places, her blood was drained into a container from which Richard drank. Evelyn was repeatedly sodomized with a knife; the coroner later said that there’d been an unbelievable amount of semen deposited on/inside the corpse.
When he was done with Evelyn, Richard dragged David’s remains to the bathroom; his tiny skull was bashed open and the killer consumed parts of his brain. Around this time there was a knock on the door; Richard grabbed David’s lifeless body and he fled the scene with the deceased child. Once home Richard continued to desecrated this poor kid’s remains; the details are absolutely horrific: David was drained of blood, his male private parts were severed and that was used as a makeshift straw to drink blood with. Utterly horrific. David’s internal organs were removed, placed in a blender, and that was consumed. This was something Richard did with many victims, he made People Smoothies.
Thankfully Richard had left fingerprints all over his crime scene, so police were quickly able to identify him. A few days later investigators went to his apartment, and Richard pretended to not be home. Thinking the coast was clear, the killer finally left his apartment with a blood covered box which contained the remains of his youngest victim. Police had been staking out the killer’s residence, and after a foot chase Richard was finally apprehended. Inside the residence police discovered various victim’s body parts stored in Tupperware containers in the fridge, along with other evidence.
Now, as horrific as all of this is, remember that every bit of this had been avoidable! Richard was truly mentally ill and literally everyone in his life was aware of this: neighbors, family, his mama, nurses, and even doctors! Everyone who had met Richard knew that he was dangerous to himself and everyone around him, yet nobody had bothered to help. In 1979 this killer stood trial for his crimes; unbelievably the presiding judge and jury found this man to be mentally sound! He was deemed sane and ultimately sentenced to death. In prison Richard spoke of paranoid delusions, telling of Nazis and aliens who were out to get him; he stated that he’d only killed in order to drink blood required for him to stay alive. Richard reasoned that this made everything okay as anyone would do what was necessary to save their own lives.
Understandably Richard’s fellow inmates were afraid to get too close to him, but they still taunted him, they bullied on him mercilessly; the men constantly urged him to commit suicide which is what he eventually did. On December 26th of 1980, Richard was found dead in his cell. He had been hoarding his psych meds, and had ended his life by overdose.
Why in the world do we even have an insanity plea if people like this don’t fit the requirement? Who on earth would qualify, what does it take?
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