Richard Chase's Reign Of Terror In 5 Photos

Meet Richard Chase, a deranged man who took lives of six people, five of whom were brutally murdered in just one week.

A cannibal, who drank his victims’ blood and cannibalized their remains.

A man who spent the majority of his short life in and out of mental institutions.

During his adolescent years, Chase began drinking and using drugs. The substance abuse, coupled with underlying mental health issues, caused him to develop hypochondria. While hospitalized, Chase frequently complained of his heart occasionally stopping or someone having stolen his pulmonary artery.

In 1976, Chase was hospitalized for blood poisoning after injecting himself with the blood from a rabbit he had killed.

He was released into his mother’s custody the same year.

A year later, Chase was found in a field naked and covered in cow’s blood.

Only a few months after the incident, Chase committed his first murder, killing Ambrose Griffin in a drive-by shooting.

Two weeks later, Chase attempted to claim another victim, but changed his plan because the door to her residence was locked. Chase told the police that he took locked doors as a sign that he was not welcome, but unlocked doors were an invitation to come inside.

On January 23, 1978, Chase shot and killed 22-year-old Teresa Wallin inside her home.

The Vampire of Sacramento left a bloody trail while dragging his victim into the bedroom — The bloody trail Chase left while dragging Teresa Wallin’s body into the master bedroom.

He then sexually abused the dead body while stabbing it with a butcher’s knife. Before leaving the crime scene, Chase removed Wallin’s organs, cut one of her nipples off and drank her blood.

The mutilated body of 22-year-old Teresa Wallin.

A bloody footprint left by the Vampire of Sacramento — The bloody footprint Chase left at the crime scene.

Four days later, Sacramento Sheriff’s deputies attended the scene of a multiple murder. A woman, who had gone to visit her next-door neighbor, made a shocking discovery of three lifeless bodies lying in a pool of blood.

The deceased 36-year-old Evelyn Miroth had been shot three times and eviscerated.

Her 52-year-old boyfriend died of gunshot wounds to the head.

Miroth’s 6-year-old son had been shot dead. A 22-month-old baby, whom the woman was babysitting, was missing from a bloodstained crib.

The eviscerated body of Richard Chase’s victim Evelyn Miroth — The eviscerated body of Chase’s victim Evelyn Miroth. Chase was known to engage in anthropophagy, the consumption of human blood and flesh to achieve sexual satisfaction.

Following Miroth’s murder, investigators received information about a potential witness who might have interacted with the perpetrator in a supermarket parking lot behind the residence of the first victim on the day of the murder.

An individual named Richard Chase had asked the witness, whom he knew from high school, for a ride. The witness declined because Chase appeared unkempt and was behaving very strangely.

After staking out his apartment, police took Chase into custody.

Inside his apartment, investigators found a 12-inch butcher knife, rubber boots, animal collars, three blenders full of blood, and a refrigerator containing body parts.

The ringlet of blood from the cup that Chase used to drink the victim’s blood.

A mummified, decapitated infant’s body was discovered in a box outside a vacant lot. It was identified as the missing 22-month-old nephew of Evelyn Miroth.

After a four-month trial, the jury found Richard Chase guilty of six counts of first-degree murder. They rejected the argument that he was not guilty by reason of insanity and sentenced him to die in the gas chamber.

Due to the violent nature of Chase’s crimes, fellow inmates feared him and often encouraged him to commit suicide, as reported by prison officials.

Instead of taking the prescribed antidepressants, Chase stockpiled it until he had enough to end his life. The Vampire of Sacramento was found dead in his cell on December 26, 1980.