Richard Chase
Richard Trenton Chase was an American serial killer, cannibal and necrophile known as the Vampire of Sacramento, the Dracula Killer and the Vampire Killer, who killed six people between December 1977 and January 1978 in Sacramento, California.
All of Chase's victims were chosen at random. His first victim was killed in a drive-by shooting; his subsequent victims were murdered inside their own homes, with the primary motive behind these murders being the mutilation of their bodies and the consumption of their blood and organs.
Tried and convicted of six counts of first degree murder, Chase was sentenced to death on May 8, 1979, with the jury ruling he was legally sane at the time of the commission of the crimes. He died of an overdose of Sinequan on December 26, 1980, in an apparent suicide.
Chase became known by such titles as the "Vampire of Sacramento" because the majority of his murders were committed with the intention to consume his victims' blood in his delusional belief he needed to consume the blood of other beings to replenish his own supply. The murders themselves have been described by a senior investigator within the Sacramento Police Department as the "most grotesque slayings" he had ever investigated in the 28 years he served with law enforcement.
Early life
Richard Chase was born in Sacramento, California, on May 23, 1950, the first of two children born to Richard Edgar and Beatrice Lorene Chase; his only sibling was a younger sister named Pamela Lee.The Chase household was middle class, and the family followed the Presbyterian faith. His parents were disciplinarians, and both siblings were frequently beaten by their father throughout their childhood. Both parents were prone to arguing with each other during Chase's childhood, and his mother—tormented by suspicions her husband was unfaithful to her and trying to poison her—sought psychiatric treatment on at least two occasions in the early 1960s. The couple separated in 1964, with their children briefly residing with relatives in Los Angeles, but later reconciled.
By the age of ten, Chase had begun exhibiting the traits of the Macdonald triad: cruelty to animals, fire-setting, and bedwetting, three behaviors frequently associated with violent behavior in adulthood. He is also known to have developed a rich fantasy life dominated by thoughts of power in addition to a selfish and inconsiderate personality. These internal issues did not greatly affect Chase's early school or social life, with over sixty children attending one of his birthday parties.
Adolescence
From 1964 to 1968, Chase attended Mira Loma High School. While enrolled at high school, he developed a reputation among his peers as something of a loner, although he did have a small circle of friends—many of whom were known throughout the school as "acid-heads". By his mid-teens, he had become a heavy user of drugs such as marijuana and LSD in addition to frequently drinking heavily. He would accrue a minor criminal record throughout the 1960s for both possession and theft, for which he was ordered to perform community service. Although Chase possessed an average IQ of 95, he was a largely unmotivated student—typically achieving C, D and F grades. Nonetheless, Chase did graduate from high school on June 6, 1968. He received a Volkswagen from his parents as a graduation present.Although Chase generally had difficulty interacting with women, he did begin dating girls in 1965; however, he soon discovered that he was impotent, which greatly affected his self-esteem. According to one former girlfriend, she and Chase were unable to have sex the first time they attempted to do so due to his inability to maintain an erection. The relationship continued nonetheless, although his continual failure to achieve or maintain an erection contributed to their eventual split in 1966. Shortly thereafter, at a friend's party, Chase—intoxicated—broke down in tears and confided his frustrations regarding his impotence to his friends.
Seven months after Chase's eighteenth birthday, he visited a psychiatrist who specialized in adolescent issues to discuss his impotence and tensions within his family; he was informed his inability to maintain an erection may source from extreme suppressed anger, possibly directed at women in general.
Early adulthood
College
Shortly after graduating from high school, Chase enrolled at American River College. Beginning in 1969, while still enrolled at American River College, Chase began working as an administrative assistant for Retailers Credit Association. This employment lasted several months, but would prove to be the only job Chase held for any significant duration of time. Chase would alternate between various roles of employment over the following two years, although due to his poor work ethic and drug use, none of these jobs lasted more than a few weeks.In 1970, Chase moved out of his parents' home and into an apartment on Annadale Lane. He shared this apartment with two young women named Cyd Evans DeMarchi and Rachel Statum, both of whom he knew and whom he had convinced to let him become their roommate. His parents gave him $50 each month to help him pay his share of the rent. Three months later, DeMarchi and Statum moved out of the apartment due to Chase's behavior and his neglecting of household responsibilities. He was usually high on drugs, suspected of dealing marijuana, and frequently walked around naked in front of female visitors. Increasingly isolated, he also barricaded himself in his room, explaining that he did this so no one would be able to "sneak up" on him. Shortly thereafter, Statum's brothers and their friends moved into the apartment. These roommates had a rock band, and Chase often interrupted their rehearsals, insisting on playing the conga with them; however, they resisted these requests due to his poor musical ability. This resistance frequently caused arguments, but Chase joined in anyway.
File:Richard Chase Mugshot Sacramento Police Department December 1971.jpg|161px|thumb|December 1971 mug shot of Chase, taken following his arrest for possession of marijuana
Within months, Statum's brothers and their friends had also moved out of the apartment due to Chase's erratic behavior, extreme drug use, and poor hygiene. As Chase was unable to afford the rent, he soon moved back into his parents' home.
Typically achieving C grades and again developing a reputation among his peers as a loner, a lackadaisical student and a heavy user of drugs and alcohol, Chase eventually dropped out of college in 1971. In December of the same year, he was arrested by the Sacramento Police Department for the possession of marijuana.
Mental deterioration
Chase's parents separated in June 1972; they divorced six months later, and his father later remarried. Thereafter, Chase divided his time between his parents, although both parents found it difficult to deal with his increasingly erratic behavior in addition to an increasingly slovenly lifestyle. His father continued to believe that the troubles in his son's life sourced not from mental illness, but a poor work ethic and misguided values. As such, the two frequently argued, with Richard Sr. frequently instructing his son to "straighten up" and "get a job". During one heated argument with his mother in late 1972, Beatrice attempted to call the police. In response, Chase grabbed the phone and struck his mother across the head with it before running out of the house and jumping over a fence. Chase's mother did call the police; she was informed she could press charges against her son if she wished, but decided not to.During one lone trip to Utah in 1972, Chase was arrested for driving under the influence. Two weeks later, having returned to California, he claimed to his parents that he was "quite ill" due to being gassed by officers in a Utah jail, and that he intended to sue the police. His father—who had bailed him out of jail—convinced him against suing the police.
By early 1973, Chase had begun obsessively worrying about his physical health. That summer, he began cutting out photos of human organs from a Gray's Anatomy medical book and pasting the images on his bedroom walls in an effort to understand what he believed was wrong with him. He also began seeking medical help for his perceived ailments; on one occasion in approximately 1973, Chase called an ambulance to his house, which arrived with a stretcher that he had requested. However, the paramedics refused to take him to the hospital when they determined that he was not suffering from a medical emergency and suggested he undergo a psychiatric evaluation. By this stage, Chase's sister had become markedly afraid of him and made efforts to avoid being alone in his company; his mother—having noted he had begun hearing voices and regularly made comments to the effect of "Stop bothering me!" to himself—made arrangements for him to see two separate doctors. Chase was dissatisfied with the prognosis these doctors gave him, so he went to see a doctor named Donald Ansel. Ansel discovered no physical ailments, and concluded that Chase had a "psychiatric disturbance of major proportion."
In part due to increasing tensions between himself and his parents, Chase relocated to Los Angeles to live with his paternal grandmother in May 1973. His grandmother and uncle both worked for a school for mentally disabled children, and his uncle was able to obtain employment for Chase as a school bus driver. He was fired from this job for failing to perform the necessary maintenance work on the vehicle and allowing it to run low on oil.
After being fired from his job, Chase spent most of the day in his bed, roaming the house at night. His grandmother also noted his odd behavior and evident hypochondria, with Chase constantly complaining of heart and stomach pains. He refused to eat any meals his grandmother cooked for him, and insisted on cooking his own meals. His grandmother also heard him talking to himself when alone in his bedroom — most frequently asking himself the question, "Richard, are you a good boy?" before replying to himself, "Yes, you're a good boy." On other occasions, Chase's grandmother observed him standing on his head; his explanation was that his head hurt and he was attempting to increase the circulation of blood to his head. Chase's grandmother later bought him a plane ticket to return to Sacramento.