Research Paper on Richard Chase: The Vampire of Sacramento and the Dracula Killer

Introduction

Richard Chase was a known serial killer in the history of America; he was famously referred to as the Vampire of Sacramento and the Dracula killer. He was born on 23rd May 1950 in Santa Cruz, California; at the time of his birth his mother was mentally-ill (Storey, Strieter, Tarr, & Thornton, 15) and his father was a drunkard. Richard's childhood was disturbing as he was often physically abused by the father; he had authoritarian and controlling parents. It is these events that led to even more destructive behaviors later in his years as he used to kill small animals at a young age and drink their blood afterward. He was delusional as he believed that he needed to clean his blood for it was poisoned. His lack of empathy would later develop into the dark activities and killings that he got involved in.

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During his teenage years, he became a chronic drug abuser, something that made him develop hypochondria. Richard's hypochondriac state made him start believing that there was something wrong with him and would even think that his heart would sometimes stop beating and that his pulmonary artery was stolen by someone; he would then become anxious and even place oranges on his head for he believed that his brain would absorb Vitamin C from it.

His behaviors got worse when he decided to shave off the hair on his head as he kept saying that the bones on his head were moving and that he could feel them, the shaving was so that he could keep an eye on them and also for others to have a look at his head. These were signs of a myriad of sociopathy behaviors. As a young man, he moved out of their home as he had reasons to believe that his mother wanted to poison him. He went ahead to rent an apartment with his friends, but they could not move together for long as his drinking habits and drug abuse became unbearable for them; he would occasionally move around naked an act that made his friends uncomfortable causing them to move out. While now living alone, he not only continued to consume blood from animals, but he also started eating raw flesh from the same animals.

All these affected him academically too as he used to perform poorly at school, he only scored poor grades, something that leads to failure in the attainment of his diploma. As he transitioned into adulthood, he kept exhibiting his strange behaviors as he still kept partaking animals' blood which instead of cleansing his blood as he believed, negatively affected him thereby making him ill; he occasionally experienced stomachache and suffered head injuries. He also got involved with different ladies, but the relationships were rested on shaky grounds as he had erectile dysfunction. This aspect would shed light on why the sadistic nature with which he used to treat his female victims, he would torture and sexually abuse them before he could finish them off by killing them.

His continued use of drug escalated his delusional moments, and at this time he was under the watch of medical doctors and a psychiatrist who examined Richard and found him to have been engrossed in anger and therefore concluded that he had reasons to believe that he had a mental illness. (Ramsland, 23) He never suggested with regards to further counseling. He was also unable to keep his job neither could he reside in one geographical location for long. This was due to his unwanted character that was considered a nuisance to others. At the time when he was still living alone while receiving support from his parents and grandmother, he gave himself an injection containing rabbit's blood and it was at this point that his father decided to take him to the hospital where they later refused to discharge him for they claimed that he was a danger to the community. This move saw his transfer to a psychiatric hospital where he kept capturing birds and consuming their products that is the blood and the raw flesh, dead remains of the same were discovered in his room.

On searching for his apartment, containers, and blenders whose components were the remains of animal and human victims were discovered. There were also blood stains on the walls and a mark on the calendar that had a target on accomplishing more deaths for the next 40 days that were to come. He had kept some organs and bones of the victims in the fridge, and the smell emanating from his house was unbearable. It struck several people how he kept living under such conditions and how he ultimately survived for the period he was there; it was later learned that he suffered from conditions known as neurotic behavior and severe dysfunction. He had no emotional feelings towards his family or friends as evidence shows, he was only a financial burden to his parents who made sure he was well fed and sheltered but he never let them into his apartment, he could exhibit paranoia signs whenever they tried to.

Looking at Richard's criminal history, one can establish that he was arrested for several crimes. Firstly, he was arrested for having drugs, and he was also taken forcefully to a psychiatric hospital for several reasons; one being an incident in which he was caught naked while holding a gun with blood stains on him, he had slaughtered a cow at the time. In a different setting, he was also arrested for having stolen firearms and went ahead to kill the dogs of the owner of the firearms. He was also known to assault women on numerous occasions and cruelly treating animals.

He used to take psychoactive drugs at the time of the commission of the crimes. He committed his first murder at 27 years when he shot at a person while driving. He hurriedly left the crime scene, and this act shows that he was still uneasy when it came to the commissioning of such personal attacks. This incident led to his capture, and he was contained in an institution for it was discovered he had paranoid schizophrenia, he kept having thoughts of the change in the size of his head. He did not spend a lot of time at the institution, and as such, he was released after a while. The release later came to be seen as an escape route for he was witnessed by a neighbor slaughtering and drinking animals' blood again.

He began robbing homes, he evaded capture when he invaded a couple's house who was out for grocery shopping, and on returning home, they found he had urinated on their child's bed and also stalked feces in their children's drawer. All these acts portray an act of humiliation and dominance on his side towards his victims, and he extracts a sense of satisfaction when he kills human beings and even animals. His actions may also be connected to the rejection he might have faced as a young child. Reports from the robbery incidences indicated that he used to steal valuable objects such as jewelry and also destroying properties intentionally.

The second murder crime that he had committed took place on 23rd January 1978. It was that of a 22-year-old who was a female victim and pregnant at the time. He got hold of her when he went out to throw the trash, and that was when he decided to strike. The lady tried to defend herself, and when she raised her hand, he shot them and the elbow causing her to fall after which he went ahead to shoot her on the head. He later dragged her into the house, where he began to assault the deceased sexually. He went as far as cutting off her nipples and disfiguring her lungs as was shown by several laboratory tests. He took the feces belonging to a dog owned by the lady and put it in her mouth, he later drunk the victim's blood using a dirty yogurt cup that he had taken from the lady's trash bin.

The next murder he had committed took place in a group totaling to his sixth murder crime. As he committed a group murder of two adults (Evelyn and Dan) and two children (Jason and David) this was committed in the context of burglary as he always thought to himself that an unlocked door was an invitation to him. He shot the male victim who was standing on the hallway by the time he walked in and proceeded to shoot the female victim who was also sexually assaulted and degraded in several ways, he even went as far as piercing her anus several times, he also humiliated the children in the most degrading way he knew best and drunk their blood. He never cared if at all, he will be captured at some point. (Bartol & Bartol, 7).

Eventually, he was arrested and charged with six counts of murder, the defense attorney raised the ground of insanity, but this was later denied as it was discovered that he knew right from wrong and was aware of what he was doing at the time of the commission of the crimes. At one point, he blamed on the fact that he believed he was dying and the fact that he could not sustain his relationship with girls, he also claimed to be of Jew origin and that he was mad at the Nazi officials. It was later found out that he is not a Jewish; it was these arguments that he was sentenced to the death penalty. The death penalty never came to pass as he committed suicide by an anti-depressants overdose while on death row.

Works Cited

Storey, A., Strieter, C., Tarr, C., & Thornton, K. Richard Trenton Chase; "The Vampire of Sacramento." (2005)

Barton, R. C., & Bartol, M. A. Criminal Behavior; A Psychological Approach. 2011 Upper Saddle River: Pearson, Prentice Hall.

Ramsland, K. Lady of Blood: Countess Bathory. (2011)