Richard Chase

Case details

Richard Trenton Chase (May 23, 1950 – December 26, 1980) was an American serial killer who killed six people in California in the span of a month. He earned the nickname The Vampire of Sacramento because he drank the blood of his victims and ate their internal organs. He did this as part of a delusion that he needed to prevent Nazis from turning his blood into powder via poison they had planted beneath his soap dish.

Timeline

• May 23, 1950 — Richard Trenton Chase was born.
• 1975 — Chase was involuntarily committed to a mental institution after being taken to a hospital for blood poisoning, contracted after injecting rabbit’s blood into his veins.
• 1976 — After undergoing treatments involving psychotropic drugs, Chase was deemed no longer a danger to society and was released into the recognizance of his parents; he was weaned off antischizophrenic medication by his mother.
• 1977 — Chase rang his mother’s doorbell and greeted her by thrusting a dead cat in her face; Nevada state police later discovered his Ford Ranchero lodged in a sand drift near Pyramid Lake, Nevada, containing rifles, a pile of clothes, a bucket full of blood and a cow’s liver; he was naked and screaming in the sand.
• December 27, 1977 — Chase fired a .22 handgun into the home of a Sacramento woman; a police search found the slug in her kitchen; no one was harmed.
• December 29, 1977 — Chase killed his first victim, Ambrose Griffin, in a drive-by shooting.
• January 11, 1978 — Chase asked his neighbor for a cigarette and then forcibly restrained her until she gave him an entire pack.
• January 23, 1978 — Two days after killing Teresa Wallin, Chase purchased two puppies from a neighbor, which he then killed and drank the blood of, leaving the bodies on the neighbor’s front lawn.
• January 27, 1978 — Chase committed his final murder, which also qualified as a mass murder.
• August 3, 1977 — Nevada state police discovered Chase’s Ford Ranchero lodged in sand near Pyramid Lake, Nevada.
• December 26, 1980 — A guard doing cell checks found Chase lying on his bed, not breathing; an autopsy determined that he committed suicide with an overdose of prison doctor-prescribed antidepressants he had been saving for the last few weeks.
• May 8, 1979 — A jury found Chase guilty of six counts of first degree murder; he was sentenced to die in the gas chamber.
• January 2, 1979 — The trial began.
• March 24, 1978 — A church janitor came upon a box containing the remains of a male baby and called police; the remains were recognized as those of the missing boy from the Miroth home.
• May 8, 1978 — (As stated in the record) After five hours of deliberation, the jury returned a verdict of six counts of first degree murder.

The offence

Chase killed six people in California in a month.

First murder: Ambrose Griffin

On December 29, 1977, Chase killed Ambrose Griffin, a 51-year-old engineer and father of two, in a drive-by shooting. Griffin was helping his wife bring groceries into their home. A son of Griffin reported seeing a neighbor walking around their East Sacramento neighborhood with a .22 rifle earlier that week; the neighbor’s rifle was seized, but ballistics tests determined it was not the murder weapon. It was determined that the .22 used to kill Griffin was the same one used to fire a bullet into the kitchen of a Sacramento woman two days before.

Attempt to enter homes and encounter with Nancy Holden

On January 11, 1978, Chase asked his neighbor for a cigarette and then forcibly restrained her until she gave him an entire pack. Two weeks later, he attempted to enter the home of another woman but, finding that her doors were locked, went into her backyard and walked away. Chase later told detectives that he took locked doors as a sign that he was not welcome, while unlocked doors were an invitation to come inside. While wandering, he encountered a girl named Nancy Holden, with whom he attended high school. He attempted to get a ride from her, but she refused, frightened by his appearance.

Second murder: Teresa Wallin (pregnant)

Chase broke into the home of a young married couple, stole some of their valuables, urinated into a drawer of their infant’s clothing, and defecated on their son’s bed. The couple came home while Chase was still in the house; the husband attacked him, but Chase escaped. Chase continued to attempt to enter homes until he came across the home of David and Teresa Wallin. David was at work; Teresa, three months pregnant, left her front door unlocked while taking out the garbage. Chase surprised her in the home and shot her three times—once in the hand (a defensive wound) and twice in the head—killing her. The gun was stated to be the same one used to kill Ambrose Griffin. Chase dragged Teresa’s body to her bedroom and raped it post-mortem while repeatedly stabbing it with a butcher knife. He carved the corpse open and removed several internal organs. He used a bucket to collect the blood and then took it to the bathroom to bathe in it. He sliced off her nipple and drank her blood using an empty yogurt container as a drinking glass. Before leaving, he went into the yard, found a pile of dog feces, and returned to stuff it into the corpse’s mouth and throat.

Third murder/mass murder preparation: puppies

Two days after killing Teresa Wallin, Chase purchased two puppies from a neighbor, which he then killed and drank the blood of, leaving the bodies on the neighbor’s front lawn.

Final murder (mass murder): Evelyn Miroth, Dan Meredith, Jason Miroth, and David

On January 27, 1978, Chase entered the home of Evelyn Miroth, who was babysitting her 22-month-old nephew, David. Also present was Evelyn’s six-year-old son Jason, and a neighbor, Dan Meredith, who had come over to check on Evelyn. Evelyn was in the bath while Dan watched the children. When Chase entered the home, Dan went into the front hallway and was shot in the head at point-blank range with Chase’s .22 handgun, killing him. Chase then turned the corpse over and stole Dan’s wallet and car keys. Jason ran to his mother’s bedroom, where Chase fatally shot him twice in the head at point-blank range; Chase also shot David in the head during the sequence. Chase then entered the bathroom and fatally shot Evelyn once in the head. He dragged her corpse onto the bed, simultaneously sodomized it, and drank its blood from slices to the back of the neck. Medical examiners reported an inordinate amount of semen in the corpse’s rectum, indicating an “unusual amount” of ejaculations. Chase stabbed Evelyn “at least half a dozen times” in the anus, with the knife penetrating her uterus. He stabbed her in a series of vital points causing blood from internal organs to pool into her abdomen, which he then sliced open and drained into a bucket; he then consumed all of the blood. Chase retrieved David’s corpse, took it to the bathroom, and split its skull open in the bathtub; he consumed some of the brain matter. Outside, a six-year-old girl knocked on the door, startling Chase; he fled the residence, stealing Dan Meredith’s car. A neighbor discovered the bodies and contacted authorities. Police discovered that Chase had left perfect handprints and perfect imprints of the soles of his shoes in Evelyn’s blood. Chase took David’s corpse home, chopped off his penis, and used it as a straw to suck blood from the body. He sliced the corpse open and consumed several internal organs, made smoothies out of others, and disposed of the corpse at a nearby church.

Investigation

After the Wallin murder, FBI agents Russ Vorpagel and Robert Ressler were called to investigate. They compiled a profile of the killer, determining he would be tall, malnourished, a loner, physically unclean, and that he would continue to kill. Five days after the mass murder, Nancy Holden contacted police, saying she believed Richard Chase could be the killer.

Detectives ran a background check and found Chase’s registration of a .22-caliber semiautomatic pistol.

Arrest

Detectives and a team of police went to Chase’s apartment to speak with him. Chase refused. Detectives and police hid down the hallway and waited for Chase to leave, arresting him when he left the apartment carrying a bloodstained box. His parka and shoes were likewise bloodstained. Inside were pieces of shredded, blood-soaked wallpaper and the bloodstained .22 with which he had committed the murders. Chase claimed the bloody wallpaper and bloody gun were a result of his killing several dogs. When police searched Chase’s person, they found that he was carrying Dan Meredith’s wallet. Detectives, along with Ressler and Vorpagel, searched Chase’s apartment and found walls, floor, ceiling, refrigerator, and all of Chase’s eating and drinking utensils soaked in blood. On the counter was the blender Chase used to make smoothies. The blender was caked in coagulated blood and the rotting matter of internal organs. In the refrigerator police found several animal body parts wrapped in aluminum foil, David’s brains in a Tupperware container, and pieces of his body wrapped in Saran Wrap. Police also found several of Evelyn Miroth and Teresa Wallin’s internal organs. On another counter police found several pet collars. On Chase’s kitchen table they found numerous diagrams depicting various aspects of human biology.

Trial

Charges

In 1979, Chase stood trial on six counts of murder.

Defence

The defence tried to have Chase found guilty of second degree murder to avoid the death penalty, which would have resulted in a life sentence. Their case hinged on Chase’s history of mental illness and lack of planning, presented as evidence the crimes were not premeditated. During the sanity phase, a judge determined that Chase was not legally insane.

Prosecutor and exhibits

The lead prosecutor was Ronald W. Tochterman. He intended to seek the death penalty. The prosecutor emphasized throughout the trial that Chase had had a choice and mentioned several times that Chase had brought rubber gloves with him to victims’ homes with the intent of murder. Altogether, there were 250 prosecution exhibits. The strongest were Chase’s gun and Dan Meredith’s wallet, found in Chase’s pocket.

Verdict and sentencing

On May 8, the jury found Chase guilty of six counts of first degree murder. The defence asked for a clemency hearing, in which a judge determined that Chase was not legally insane. Chase was sentenced to die in the gas chamber.

Outcome

While awaiting execution, Chase became a feared presence in prison. Other inmates, including several gang members, feared him because of the graphic and bizarre nature of his crimes and often tried to convince Chase to commit suicide rather than kill him themselves. Chase granted a series of interviews with Robert Ressler, speaking about fears of Nazis and UFOs, claiming that although he had killed, it was not his fault and he had been forced to kill to keep himself alive. He asked Ressler to give him access to a radar gun to apprehend Nazi UFOs so they could stand trial for the murders. He also handed Ressler a large amount of macaroni and cheese which he had been hoarding in his pants pockets, believing prison officials were in league with Nazis attempting to kill him. On December 26, 1980, a guard found Chase not breathing. An autopsy determined that Chase committed suicide with an overdose of prison doctor-prescribed antidepressants he had been saving up for the last few weeks. The cause of his death was toxic ingestion. The prison psychiatrist noted that Chase had been psychotic since the time he had entered prison.

Other details

Chase had a history of mental illness. He was involuntarily committed in 1975 after being taken to a hospital for blood poisoning contracted after injecting rabbit’s blood into his veins. He escaped from the hospital and went home to his mother, was apprehended, and sent to an institution for the criminally insane, where he often shared fantasies about killing rabbits. He was once found with blood smeared around his mouth, and staff discovered he had captured two birds through the bars on his bedroom windows, snapped their necks, and sucked their blood out. Hospital staff began referring to him as “Dracula.” After undergoing psychotropic drugs, he was released in 1976 into the recognizance of his parents. His mother weaned him off antischizophrenic medication. Chase’s parents put him in an apartment where he began to capture, torture to death, and drink the blood of rabbits, dogs, and cats, and at times killed and ate neighbor’s pets. At least once he contacted a neighbor by telephone to explain what he had done. Chase developed a fascination for firearms and purchased several handguns, with which he practiced obsessively. He became fascinated by the crimes of the Hillside Strangler and believed the Strangler was also the victim of a Nazi/UFO conspiracy. Chase neglected personal hygiene, stopped eating, and dropped to a weight of 145 lb. At one point, Nevada state police discovered Chase’s Ford Ranchero near Pyramid Lake, Nevada, with two rifles, a pile of clothes, a bucket full of blood and a cow’s liver, and blood smears inside the vehicle. When questioned, he claimed the blood was his and that it had leaked out of him through his flesh. In 1988, the movie Rampage was loosely based on Chase’s crimes.