In the 1970’s, mental health care wasn’t what it is today. Patients could fall through the cracks, or in the case of Richard Chase, be released too soon. After his release from a mental health institution, Chase committed cannibalism, necrophilia, and murdered six people in a matter of months.
NOTE: This article contains graphic images.
Richard Trenton Chase was born on May 23, 1950 in Sacramento, California. Believed to have been abused as a child, he began exhibiting evidence of all three parts of the Macdonald triad by the time he was 10. The Macdonald triad moves to link three factors to future violent behavior, specifically homicidal behavior and sexually predatory behavior. The factors are cruelty to animals, obsession with fire-setting, and persistent bedwetting past a certain age.
By the time he was a teenager, Chase had become a heavy drug user. He dated other girls his age, and as his relationships progressed to physical, he found himself facing a new obstacle. Chase was unable to keep an erection.
He sought help from a doctor, and was told by a psychiatrist that he might have a mental illness. The doctor suggested that bottled anger could be the source of his impotence.
Chase moved out of his parents home when he was 18, sharing a place with several roommates, but they never stuck around for long. They all shared the same concerns, he was regularly under the influence of alcohol, marijuana, and LSD. As if that weren’t enough, they claimed he also exhibited odd behavior, such as walking around naked – even in front of company.
His roommates always ended up asking him to leave, but he refused, so they left. Before long, without another roommate, Chase was forced to move back in with his mother, who had since divorced his father.
His issues persisted, and he developed hypochondria – a condition in which a person believes they have, or is excessively worried about having, a serious illness. He often complained that his heart would “stop beating” or that “someone had stolen his pulmonary artery.” On occasion he came to believe he was nothing more than a walking corpse.
During this time, he also became convinced that something was wrong with his brain. He believed that his cranial bones had become separated and were moving around, so he shaved his head to keep track of their movement.
Chase believed that his mother was trying to poison him, and managed to get his father to pay for him to move out and into a new apartment. It was then that things began to escalate. He captured, killed, and disemboweled various animals. He ate them raw, sometimes mixing their organs with Coke in a blender to make a sort of smoothie.
He came to believe that by ingesting the blood and meat of the animals, he was preventing his heart from shrinking. In 1975 he took the ingestion of blood one step further. He injected rabbit blood directly into his veins. Richard Chase suffered blood poisoning and was involuntarily institutionalized at Beverly Manor, a psychiatric facility.
Doctors examined him, his behavior, and ultimately diagnosed with severe schizophrenia. Chase underwent a series of treatments, but he didn’t react to the anti-psychotic medication he was prescribed, leading doctors to believe that his mental issues were related to the number of recreational drugs he had taken over the years.
Somehow, he managed to escape. He ran to his mother’s house, but she swiftly returned him to Beverly Manor. Chase told the doctors about the animals he would catch and kill. He told them that he would drink their blood. The staff nicknamed him “Dracula” because of his fixation on blood.
Neither doctors nor nurses believed him when he spoke of his acts involving animals. That is until they found two dead birds on his windowsill, his mouth bloody. Some reports claim that he stole syringes and extracted blood from therapy dogs.
Later in 1976, doctors came to believe that Chase was no longer a danger to society. Despite concerns from several staff members, he was released from the facility into the custody of his mother.
For reasons unknown, his mother chose to wean him off his medication and move him into an apartment. It didn’t take long for his roommates to move out.
Chase was not a changed man. Neighbors reported that he constantly brought home new pets, including dogs, cats, and rabbits. None of which were ever seen again. During one visit, his mother witnessed him tear open a dead cat and smother himself in its blood.
Richard Chase bought several guns. He also had new delusions. Suddenly he was being poisoned by Nazis in UFO’s. He claimed their poison was turning his blood into dust, therefore he had to consume others’ blood to replenish his own.
On August 3, 1977, police found Chase’s truck stuck in the mud near Pyramid Lake in Nevada. When they looked inside they found two rifles and a pile of mens’ clothing. The interior of the truck was smeared with blood. Then they saw a bucket. The bucket contained a liver.
Immediately the search for Chase began, and when they found him, he was naked and covered in blood. Though he tried to run, they were able to catch him. He told the police that the blood was all his, that it had seeped out of his body. Tests confirmed that the blood was not his, rather it, along with the liver, had belonged to a cow.
No charges were filed.
In December, Chase purchased a .22-caliber semiautomatic handgun.
He began to unravel. On December 29, 1977, he shot 51-year-old Ambrose Griffin in a drive by.
Ambrose Griffin, a father and engineer, was unloading groceries in the driveway of his home when he was struck. His wife heard him yelling at someone then two loud “pops” just before he collapsed. She rushed to his side, thinking he may have had a heart attack, but it quickly became evident that he had been shot.
Ambrose was rushed to the Emergency Room. Despite their efforts, doctors were unable to save him.
During his autopsy, a .22-caliber slug was found inside his body. Interestingly enough, two days earlier, a woman called police claiming a man had shot at her home. Investigators found two spent casings, also from a .22-caliber slug. They had both come from the same gun. Unfortunately, this was also their only lead and the case quickly went cold.
Two weeks later, Chase tried to enter the home of a woman, but found her doors locked. He walked away and later told detectives that he believed locked doors were a sign that he was not welcome. On the contrary, unlocked doors were an invitation.
Then police got a call for an apparent break-in at a home near the Griffin home. When they arrived, Robert and Barbara Edwards reported that they had just returned from a shopping trip when they heard a loud noise in their house. Robert saw the intruder fleeing through the backyard and ran to stop him, but was unsuccessful when the man jumped the fence.
The home was a mess, as though they had interrupted a burglary. But then they entered their infant child’s room. There they discovered that the man had not only urinated on their child’s clothes, he had also defecated on the child’s bed.
Robert was able to give the police a description of the man. He was white, fairly tall, and skinny with long dark hair. Robert described him as being “dirty.”
Police canvassed the area and on January 23, 1978 they spoke to a neighbor, Jeanne Layton. She told police that she had also discovered a man trying to open her patio door, then her windows. When she approached him, she said he showed no emotion. Instead, he lit a cigarette and walked away.
Later that night, Chase came upon Teresa Wallin taking out the trash. Teresa was three months pregnant, but he didn’t care. He shot her twice, once through the hand, and once in the temple. He dragged her body from the front yard and into the bedroom. There, he pushed her top up to her chin and pulled her pants down around her ankles before he proceeded to have intercourse with her dead body.
As if that wasn’t enough, he stabbed her repeatedly and cut open her abdomen. He removed several organs and cut off one of her nipples. Then he collected feces from the family dog and stuffed it in her mouth.
Investigators on the scene followed the blood trail from the front yard into the bedroom. The scene before them was straight out of a nightmare. As they surveyed the home, they found an empty yogurt cup that had been filled with blood. There were lip impressions on the rim.
The Sacramento police immediately reached out to the FBI, looking for help from their newly formed criminal profiling unit (now known as the Behavioral Analysis Unit or BAU). The case went straight to Special Agent Russ Vorpagel. He believed, based on his analysis of the crime, (the brutality and disorganization), the killer would likely strike again, and soon.
Vorpagel called in Robert Ressler, the pioneer of criminal profiling. Together they developed a profile. “White male aged twenty-five to twenty-seven; thin, undernourished appearance; single; living alone in a location within one mile of abandoned station wagon owned by one of the victims. Residence will be extremely slovenly and unkempt, and evidence of the crimes will be found at the residence. Suspect will have a history of mental illness and use of drugs.
Suspect will be an unemployed loner who does not associate with either males or females and will probably spend a great deal of time in his own residence. If he resides with anyone, it will be with his parents. However, this is unlikely. Suspect will have no prior military history; will be a high school or college dropout; probably suffers from one or more forms of paranoid psychosis.”
As police followed every lead they had, Chase struck again.
Four days later, on January 27, he entered the home of 38-year-old Evelyn Miroth. He immediately encountered her friend, Danny Meredith, whom he shot in the head. Then he shot Evelyn, and her 6-year-old son, Jason. Evelyn’s nephew, 22-month-old David Ferreira was also murdered.
When Jason didn’t show up at the neighbor’s house, as expected, the neighbor went to investigate. She knocked on the door startled Chase, who fled the scene taking Danny Meredith’s car and David Ferreira’s body with him.
When police arrived, they found a grisly scene. Bloody footprints were all over the house. Danny lay dead in the hallway, in a pool of blood. Evelyn was found on her bed, naked, and spread-eagled. She had been shot in the head, and her abdomen had been cut open, her intestines protruding from the wound. Some of her organs had been removed.
Evidence showed that Evelyn had been sexually assaulted after she had been killed.
6-year-old Jason was found in Evelyn’s bedroom, lying beside the bed. He had been shot twice in the head, but had not been mutilated.
Investigators found a blood-soaked pillow and a .22-caliber slug in the crib where 22-month-old David Ferreira had been sleeping. His body wasn’t found until two months later, in a box behind a church near Chase’s apartment. The box contained the boy’s head and decapitated body. He had been stabbed multiple times and had a gunshot wound in his forehead.
The home was full of evidence, from the bloody boot prints to handprints in the victims’ blood. Investigators noted the boot prints were similar to those found at Teresa Wallin’s home. Speaking with neighbors also proved helpful. One neighbor told police she had seen a man around 11pm. He was skinny, disheveled, and wearing an orange parka.
Her description matched what others had also reported. Police were able to create a composite sketch which they released to the media.
Then came the break they were looking for. The next day a woman named Nancy Holden went to the police with what she felt might be helpful information. She told them that on the day Teresa Wallin had been murdered she was out shopping when a man wearing an orange parka approached her.
The man, who was skinny and filthy, asked her, “Were you on the motorcycle when Kurt was killed?”
When she inquired as to how the man would know about that, he asked her, “Don’t you recognize me?” That’s when he told her he was Rick Chase, and they had gone to high school together.
The whole situation made her uncomfortable. She thought she might have seen blood on his hands. Nancy got in her car as quickly as she could, locked the doors, and drove off. She didn’t think about it again until she saw the composite sketch and description on the news.
A background check showed a whole slew of information. A vital piece being that he owned a .22-caliber gun.
When police arrived at Richard Chase’s apartment, he would not answer the door. They knew he was home, or that someone was there, because they could har movement inside. So, they waited, hidden from sight. Thinking he was clear, Chase emerged from the apartment, wearing a stained orange parka and carrying a box.
When police tried to apprehend him, he fought back, but the police won. They searched him and found a blood-stained .22-caliber semiautomatic handgun as well as Danny Meredith’s wallet. They noticed that his shoes also appeared to have blood stains on them.
Looking in the box, they discovered several blood-stained rags and scraps of paper. During questioning, Chase admitted to killing a few dogs, but nothing more. He refused to talk about the murders.
While he was being questioned, police obtained a search warrant and quickly returned to his apartment. The first thing they noticed was the overwhelming smell of rotting meat. The walls, floor, ceiling, refrigerator, and more were all smeared with blood. Kitchen utensils, cups, plates, etc were all covered in blood.
A blender on the counter still had something in it. Upon further investigation it was believed to be rotting blood and organs.
Looking in the refrigerator, they found human body parts on plates as well as a container with brain tissue in it. The brain tissue was determined to belong to David Ferreira. The counter was littered with pet collars.
On the wall, Chase had a calendar with the dates of the Walling murder as well as the Miroth/Meredith murders marked “Today.” Looking forward, there were an additional 40 dates marked the same way.
Richard Chase’s trial began on January 2, 1979. He was charged with six counts of murder and pled not guilty by reason of insanity. Numerous psychiatrists examined him, with one diagnosing him with antisocial personality disorder, and not schizophrenia.
Despite this, the prosecution argued that although he suffered from severe mental health issues, he never said that he felt compelled to kill, only that he believed the blood to be therapeutic.
When he took the stand he looked sick. He was skeletally gaunt and claimed that he was only semi-conscious when he had committed the murders. Chase blamed his actions on the abuse he suffered as a child as well as the erectile dysfunction he suffered as a teenager.
He was sorry for the killings.
After just five hours of deliberation, Richard Chase was found guilty of six counts of first degree murder with the jury having previously deliberated and found him legally sane. He was sentenced to death in the gas chamber and transferred to San Quentin Penitentiary.
Other inmates were afraid of him, knowing the grisly nature of his crimes. According to prison officials, they often tried to persuade him to commit suicide.
During his incarceration, he was being medicated, given the drug Sinequan for his hallucinations and depression. Though the staff didn’t realize it, he had quit taking his medication and instead began to hoard it.
On December 26, 1980, Richard Chase was found dead in his cell. He had taken his own life, overdosing on Sinequan.
An autopsy showed that his internal organs, including heart, stomach, and skull, were all normal-sized and healthy.
During the time he was incarcerated, he granted a series of interviews with Robert Ressler during which he spoke of his fears of Nazis and UFO’s. He asked Ressler to give him access to a radar gun, which he could use to apprehend the Nazi UFO’s so that they could stand trial for the murders.
At one point he handed Ressler a large amount of macaroni and cheese from his pocket. He had saved it for him, to prove that the prison officials were in league with the Nazis and were attempting to poison him with the food.
Richard Chase has since come to be known as the “Vampire of Sacramento,” the “Dracula Killer,” and the “Vampire Killer.”
The interviews between Robert Ressler and Richard Chase are documented in Ressler’s book, Whoever Fights Monsters. Today, the FBI still uses this case as a study in disorganized killings.
Looking for another famous real-life vampire? Look no further than the Vampire of Dusseldorf.
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