A 66-year-old inmate convicted of the 1983 murder and rape of a 22-year-old woman outside a bar in Orange County died at a Stockton facility, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said.
Richard R. Ramirez – not associated with the Night Stalker – died on May 24, 2026 while incarcerated at the California Health Care Facility.
The facility, located at 7707 Austin Road in Stockton, provides medical care and mental health treatment to incarcerated people who have severe and long term needs, according to CDCR.
CDCR said Ramirez was pronounced dead at about 10:20 p.m. The San Joaquin County Medical Examiner will determine the cause of death, officials said.
On November 20, 1983, Kimberly Gonzalez, a Bank of America teller, was at Mr. Barry’s bar in Garden Grove at night, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office said in a 2013 statement.
The DA’s office said Gonzalez and Ramirez, 24 at the time, were seen inside the bar. Prosecutors said Ramirez spent the night drinking, talking, dancing and kissing the victim.
Gonzalez had met Ramirez at the same bar two weeks prior while she was out with her brother and a friend.
At about 1 a.m., on Nov. 21, 1983, Gonzalez had left the bar through a door that led to the rear parking lot, according to the DA’s statement. Ramirez then followed the woman outside carrying a “long-neck” bottle of Budweiser beer.
In a nearby alley outside Ramirez attacked Gonzalez. He raped her, then stabbed her 19 times, which led to her death, the DA officials said.
One of the stabs Gonzalez received went through her neck and severed her spinal cord. Her body was found in the alley at about 6 a.m. on Nov. 21, 1983.
She was naked from the waist down with her pants and underwear pulled down near her ankles and knees, prosecutors said. Medical tests found traces of semen on the woman’s body.
Ramirez had fled the scene following the murder. His fingerprints were later retrieved from the beer bottle that was found 15 feet from Gonzalez’s body.
On May 15, 2013, Ramirez was convicted of the rape and murder. He was found guilty of one felony count of special circumstances murder in the commission of rape, one felony count of rape, and a sentencing enhancement for the personal use of a deadly weapon.
Previously in 1985, Ramirez had been convicted and sentenced to receive the death penalty, but his conviction was overturned by the Federal District Court for the Central District of California on writ of habeas corpus.
Record reporter Victoria Franco covers public safety in Stockton and San Joaquin County. She can be reached at vfranco@gannett.com. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.
This article originally appeared on The Record: Man convicted of 1983 rape, murder of OC woman dies at Stockton facility
Reporting by Victoria Franco, The Stockton Record / The Record
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