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03 CHASE

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Richard Trenton Chase

Richard renton Chase (May 23, 1950 December26, 1980) was an American schizophrenic serial killer

and one time mass murderer who killed six peoplein the span o a month in Sacramento, Caliornia.He was nicknamed Te Vampire o Sacramento

because he drank his victims blood and cannibalizedtheir remains.

Childhood

A sel-described victim o abuse at the hands o hismother, Chase exhibited by the age o 10 evidence

o the Macdonald triad: enuresis, pyromania, andzoosadism. In his adolescence, he was known as an

alcoholic and a chronic drug abuser. He sueredrom erectile dysunction due to psychological

problems stemming rom repressed anger.

Early Adulthood

Chase developed hypochondria as he matured. Heoen complained that his heart would occasionally

stop beating, or that someone had stolen hispulmonary artery. He would hold oranges on his

head, believing the Vitamin C would be absorbedby his brain via diusion. Chase also believed thathis cranial bones had become separated and weremoving around, so he shaved his head in order to

watch this activity.

Aer leaving his mothers house (believing shewas attempting to poison him), Chase rented

an apartment with riends. Chases roommatescomplained that he was constantly intoxicated on

alcohol, marijuana, and LSD. Chase would alsowalk around the apartment nude, even in ronto company. Chases roommates demanded thathe move out. When he reused, the roommates

moved out instead. Once alone in the apartment,Chase began to capture, kill, and disembowel

various animals, which he would then devour raw,sometimes mixing the raw organs with Coca-Colain a blender and drinking the concoction. Chasereasoned that by ingesting the creatures he was

preventing his heart rom shrinking.

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Institutionalization

In 1975, Chase was involuntarily committedto a mental institution aer being taken toa hospital aer injecting rabbits blood into

his veins. He oen shared with the staantasies about killing rabbits. He was once

ound with blood smeared around his mouth,but hospital sta discovered he had been

drinking the blood o birds; he had thrownthe birds corpses out o his hospital room

window. Sta began reerring to him as

Dracula.

In one o the many incidents in which hewas held at the institution, he substitutedthe blood rom the therapy dog to curb

his addiction. He claimed he obtained thesyringes rom cracking open the disposable

boxes le in the doctors oces. It tookthem weeks beore they gured it out, and

then they no longer brought any therapeuticanimals in. Occasionally, he was discovered

to have deecated on himsel at whichpoint he would paint art on the walls o the

institution with eces.

Chase was diagnosed as a paranoidschizophrenic. Aer undergoing a battery

o treatments involving psychotropic drugs,Chase was deemed no longer a danger to

society and, in 1976, he was released underthe recognizance o his mother. Chases

mother decided that he did not need to beon the prescribed antipsychotic medication,

stating it made her son a zombie. Sheweaned him o the medication and got

Chase his own apartment. Later investigationuncovered that in mid-1977, Chase was

stopped and arrested on a reservation in thePyramid Lake (Nevada) area. His body wassmeared with blood and a bucket o blood

was in his truck. Te victim was ound to bebovine and no charges were led.

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Murders

On December 29, 1977, Chase killed his rstknown victim in a drive-by shooting. Te

victim, Ambrose Grin, was a 51-year-oldengineer and ather o two. Aer the shooting,

one o Grins sons reported seeing a neighborwalking around their East Sacramento

neighborhood with a .22 caliber rife. Teneighbors rife was seized, but ballistics tests

determined that it was not the murder weapon.wo weeks later, he attempted to enter the home

o a woman but, nding that her doors werelocked, walked away; Chase later told detectivesthat he took locked doors as a sign that he wasnot welcome, but that unlocked doors were an

invitation to come inside.

He was later chased o by a returning coupleas he pilered belongings rom their home

and urinated and deecated on their beds andclothing. eresa Wallin was Chases next victimon January 23. Tree months pregnant, Wallinwas surprised at her home by Chase, who shot

her three times, killing her. He then had sex withthe corpse, mutilated it, and bathed in the dead

womans blood.

wo days aer killing Wallin, Chase purchasedtwo puppies rom a neighbor. He killed themand drank their blood. On January 27, Chase

committed his nal murders. Entering the homeo 38-year-old Evelyn Miroth, he encountered

her riend, Danny Meredith, whom he shotwith his 22 handgun. Stealing Merediths walletand car keys, he rampaged through the house,atally shooting Miroth, her six-year-old son

Jason, and her 22-month-old nephew, David. Aswith Wallin, Chase engaged in necrophilia and

cannibalism with Miroths corpse.

A six-year-old girl with whom Jason Mirothhad a playdate knocked on the door, startlingChase, who fed the scene in Merediths car,

taking Davids body with him. Te girl alerteda neighbor, who alerted police. Upon entering

the home, police discovered that Chase had leperect handprints and shoe imprints in Miroths

blood.

Chase returned to his apartment on Watt Ave.,where he drank Davids blood and ate several o

the childs internal organs (including the childsbrain)beore disposing o the body at a nearby

church.

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AfermathIn1979,Chasestoodtrialonsixcountsomurder.Inordertoavoidthedeathpenalty,thedeensetriedtohavehim

oundguiltyoseconddegreemurder,whichwouldresultinaliesentence.TeircasehingedonChases

historyo

mentalillnessandthesuggestionthathiscrimeswerenotpremeditated.

OnMay8,thejuryinthehighlypublicizedcaseoundChaseguiltyosixcountsofrstdegreemurderandChasewassentencedtodieinthegaschamber.Teyrejectedtheargumentthathewasnotguiltybyreasonoinsanity.Hisellowinmates,awareothegraphicandbizarrenatureo

Chasescrimes,earedhim,andaccordingtoprisonocials,theyoentriedtoconvinceChasetocommitsuicide.ChasegrantedaseriesointerviewswithRobertRessler,

duringwhichhespokeohisearsoNazisandUFOs,claimingthatalthoughhehadkilled,itwasnothisault;

hehadbeenorcedtokilltokeephimselalive,whichhebelievedanypersonwoulddo.HeaskedResslertogive

himaccesstoaradargun,withwhichhecouldapprehendtheNaziUFOs,sothattheNaziscouldstandtrialorthemurders.HealsohandedRessleralargeamountomacaroniandcheese,whichhehadbeenhoardingin

hispantspockets,believingthattheprisonocialswereinleaguewiththeNazisandattemptingtokillhimwithpoisonedood.

OnDecember26,1980,aguardcheckingcellsoundChase

lyingawkwardlyonhisbed,notbreathing.Anautopsy

determinedthathecommittedsuicidewithanoverdoseoprisondoctor-prescribedantidepressantsthathehadsavedoverseveralweeks.Itisunclearihedidthisbecauseothe

inmatessuggestionsorhisownmentalstate.

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