Vampire: The Richard Chase Murders
Ratings1
Average rating4
15
Ratings1
Average rating4
VAMPIRE: The Richard Chase Murders is the tale of a diabolical, homicidal madman running amok, mutilating and murdering the unsuspecting residents in the quiet neighborhoods of Sacramento, CA. His diabolical and unrelenting desires, not just to kill his victims but to drink their blood, unleashed a terror within the city unlike anything the residents had ever known. By the time Richard Trenton Chase graduated high school, everyone knew he was strange. But no one had any idea how bizarre he'd become, or what dark impulses were flowing through his troubled brain. The transformation from the outwardly strange young man to the diabolical killer he ultimately became, was gradual and would not become known until it was too late. First it was the killing of small animals and birds, and the drinking of their blood. However, when these sacrifices failed to satiate his needs, Richard Chase would seek out the highest form of life, and the city of Sacramento, California would react in horror to the hideous murders and mutilations committed by his hands. For those living in the quiet neighborhoods where the murders occurred, it was nothing less than a time of terror until the fiend was captured. VAMPIRE is an in-depth look into the life and disturbed mind of a killer, his family, and his many victims, the living as well as the dead. Within these pages you'll discover what it was like for the police, and what a difficult job they had finding a killer they knew wouldn't stop until he was apprehended. It was a race against time, in a series of murders that would stun even the most hardened investigators. It is the story of a city under siege, held captive by the man whose appetite for blood could not be satiated.
Reviews with the most likes.
This true crime book was difficult for me to read, since it made me feel physically sick due to the graphic detail of the murders committed by “the vampire of Sacramento” Richard Trenton Chase.
I will not mention the details of tbe murders due to the disturbing and graphic and disgusting detail of what he did, none of the victims deserved to be killed in the way they were murdered especially the 22 month old baby, it made me feel sick reading about it.
Richard Trenton Chase was a paranoid schizophrenic but sane during the murders he committed, he was a vampire, cannibal, necrophile and killed 6 people including a 22 month old male baby, a pregnant woman, rabbits, a cat that was his pet, dogs that he shot, mutilated and consumed the flesh and blood due to his delusional beliefs that he needed to “consume blood to repair his body” because he believed that he was/had been “poisoned with iodine or mercury” He purchased rabbits and drank their blood, and attempted to inject himself with their blood which lead to him being hospitalised for a few days where he was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic due to his behaviour and paranoid beliefs. He purchased dogs, hung them up, cut their organs out of the body and partially ate them and drank their blood. He was “eating dog viscera raw”
He used a .22 calibre Luger pistol and knives during the murders and kidnapped the baby after murdering his family, he shot the baby in the head, consumed part of his brain matter, mutilated his body and decapitated him because “cause...I needed something to eat” After he murdered a victim he would keep a copy of the newspaper asa trophy to re-live the crime by reading about it.
He was similar in some ways to Jeffrey Dahmer both seem like they were loners wrapped up in their deluional fantasy world that only existed in their minds. All the victims were not connected to eachother except the small geographical area whefe they lived and were murdered was very close to where Richard Trenton Chase was living at the time of the murders.
The murders occured within walking or driving distance from his house, where he was living at the time of the murders. From a young age he was developing a extremely violent and predatory nature towards animals or people, so even if he wasn't a risk to others he would have been a risk to himself. He cut the paw of his pet dog andwould frequently have attempt to crush the jaw of the dog by tightly griping it around it's jaw almost to the point of broking it's jaw. He believed his family was trying to poison him or control his mind, he also had conversations with people that were not real or no one else saw. His mother thought it was a good idea to slowly stop giving him his medication till eventually he wasn't taking his medication and his paranoia became a problem again.
If he continued taking his medication he would have been fine, and possibly none of the deaths of any of the animals or people he killed would or happened, it could have been avoided and lives would have been saved.
He was a disorganised killer that left fingerprints or evidence of his presence at the crime scenes, due to the violent, graphic way he killed his victims.
People were known to fire guns in a creek, near or around the area of some of the crimes and the gunshots were heard by multiple people in the area at various times of the night.
When Richard was living with his family he behaviour become very bizarre and they all thought that something was off about him, that something was wrong despite acting or appearing normal most of the time, he was known to talk to himself however. “Richard, you're a good boy aren't you? Yes you're a good boy” He would do a handstand because he wanted the blood in his body to flow back to his head and would wrap a towel with oranges slices on it around his head. He was u able to keep a steady job due to not doing his job properly and inadequate in terms of dating due to a inability to perform sexually with women, which is one of the reasons he might of hated women and murdered them due to humiliation and rejection. The closer he came to murder the better he looked in terms of apoareance or deameanor. He was aware of social condemnation in social for his actions.
He would target homes that didn't have a car outside, but he would knock first to see if anyone was at home so no one would die. During the murders he was considered sane due to being aware of his actions being wrong, he was aware of what was right or wrong so wasn't able to claim “temporary insanity” as a way to get a more lenient sentence he knew what he did was wrong and excited about reading about his crimes in the newspaper after he committed them, he liked the attention.
Eventually he was caught due to eyewitness testimonies and the the daughter of the one of the investigators being approached by Richard in a supermarket, that felt uncomfortable being around him and talking to him. All the evidence pointed to Richard Trenton Chase and he was finally brought in to be questioned, then brought to trail in a court and convicted of 6 counts of murder in the first degree and sentenced to death in the gas chamber. He decided to killed himself to cure whatever he believed ailed him his whole life that he never re eived sufficient help for because he was delusional andit was all in his head. He overdosed on Sinequan (a medication for depression) while in prison.
