Richard Chase's six-week reign of terror in 1977-78 left investigators horrified by the grotesque mutilation and cannibalism of his victims
Richard Trenton Chase was born on May 23, 1950, but the man he would become defied comprehension. By his teens, Chase exhibited the classic warning signs of extreme violence: he tortured and killed cats, mixed rabbit intestines with Coca-Cola, and displayed behaviors consistent with the Macdonald Triad. Yet nothing in his documented history prepared Sacramento for what was coming.
In December 1977, Chase began his killing spree. His first victim was Ambrose Griffin, a 51-year-old engineer shot while carrying groceries to his car. But it was the subsequent murders that revealed the true horror of Chase's pathology.
When Chase murdered Evelyn Miroth and her son Jason in January 1978, he didn't simply kill them—he subjected their bodies to unspeakable acts. He dragged the corpses to the master bedroom, where he mutilated Evelyn's abdomen with kitchen knives, engaged in necrophilia and cannibalism, and stabbed her anus repeatedly. Chase attempted to remove her eyes, sliced her neck open, and drained her blood into a bucket, which he drank from using a coffee cup. The scene was so disturbing that a Sacramento Police Department senior investigator with 28 years of experience called it among the "most grotesque slayings" he had witnessed.
Geburt von Richard Trenton Chase
Richard Trenton Chase wird in Sacramento, Kalifornien, geboren.
Erster Mord
Chase erschießt den Ingenieur Ambrose Griffin bei einem Drive-by-Angriff.
Vierfachmord an der Miroth-Familie
Chase ermordet Evelyn Miroth, ihren sechsjährigen Sohn Jason, Daniel Meredith und ein Baby. Er praktiziert Kannibalismus und Nekrophilie.
Verhaftung
Richard Chase wird von der Polizei in Sacramento verhaftet.
Verurteilung zum Tode
Chase wird wegen sechsfachen Mordes ersten Grades schuldig gesprochen und zum Tod in der Gaskammer verurteilt.
Tod durch Selbstmord
Chase begeht Selbstmord in seiner Gefängniszelle durch eine Überdosis Psychopharmaka.
Teresa Wallin became another victim of Chase's depravity. He shot her three times, stabbed her repeatedly with a butcher knife, raped her corpse, severed her nipples, consumed her blood, and smeared her internal organs on the walls of her home.
Chase believed his actions were necessary for survival. Driven by paranoid schizophrenia, he harbored delusional beliefs that UFO "death rays" were diminishing his blood supply, making it essential that he replenish it through the consumption of human blood. In his fractured mind, the murders made logical sense—gruesome evidence of a psychotic break so severe that reality held no meaning.
The investigation took a decisive turn when police discovered human remains in Chase's apartment and refrigerator. The brain of victim Ferreira was recovered from his belongings, providing concrete evidence of his guilt. When arrested, Chase initially denied the murders despite admitting to killing animals and drinking blood—a contradiction that would later form the crux of his trial.