Who is The Night Stalker? Zach Villa's plays real serial killer Richard Ramirez in AHS: 1984
26 September 2019, 06:51
Zach Villa plays "The Night Stalker", Richard Ramirez, a real life serial killer who also appeared in AHS: Hotel.
American Horror Story is about to give us everything we've ever wanted. AHS: 1984, the long awaited summer camp season, is set to begin on FX on September 18th and it looks like the set up might include a few call backs to previous seasons.
Starring Emma Roberts, Billie Lourd, Cody Fern, Leslie Grossman, DeRon Horton and Angelica Ross, to name a few, 1984 tells the story of a group of teens at a summer camp that was once the scene of a deadly summer massacre. There's a new serial killer called Mr Jingles, with another killer whose name AHS fans will instantly recognise.
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Actor Zach Villa is playing the role of Richard Ramirez aka The Night Stalker. That name should sound familiar to fans as he was one of the dead serial killers that was invited to James March's Devil's Night soirée in Hotel. (In Hotel, he was played by Anthony Ruivivar.)
Who is The Night Stalker?
As we know from the trailer, Brooke (Emma Roberts) was previously attacked by a serial killer but managed to survive. Fans are now convinced that Ramirez was the killer who attacked Brooke while she was sleeping in her room.
1984 begins in LA (as per the synopsis) before the group of friends drive out to Camp Redwood. Considering Brooke is a Los Angeles resident, it’s entirely possible that she was one of his first victims. In the trailer, we see her get attacked by a figure as she sleeps in her bed. The killer is also holding a knife.
Ramirez, in real life, was known as 'The Night Stalker' because he would break into people’s homes at night and kill them using a variety of weapons. He killed at least 14 people and tortured dozens, with his first murder happening in...you guessed it...1984. The majority of his attacks took place in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
In real life, his first victim was 9-year-old Mei Leung. He later killed 79-year-old Jennie Vincow, who was found with several stab wounds. Ramirez's fingerprint was found on a mesh screen he removed to gain access through an open window. In the 1984 trailer, Brooke's attacker is also seen slashing a mesh screen to gain access to the house.
Ramirez was caught in 1985 and was placed on death row. He spent 23 years on death row before he died in 2013 of complications from B-cell lymphoma.
Seeing as it looks like Zach Villa will be making a substantial appearance this season, could that mean Ramirez (if that's who he is playing) could possibly stop by Hotel Cortez again? Apocalypse was fairly Hotel heavy on the crossover front so it might be unlikely, but you never bloody know with American Horror Story, do ya?
Some fans are also speculating about a possible crossover with Asylum as there appears to be a break out at a mental ward. Outside of the Lana Winters appearance in Roanoke and the namecheck in Cult, the last time AHS called back to Asylum in a big way was in Freak Show. Could 1984 finally be the moment?
