SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A form of cancer killed the serial killer known as the Night Stalker who terrorized Southern California in the mid-1980s, coroner's officials said Monday.
Richard Ramirez died June 7 at age 53 at a hospital where he had been taken for treatment of liver failure.
He died of complications from B-cell lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic system, according to the Marin County coroner's office. It listed other "significant conditions" including chronic substance abuse and hepatitis C, which is often spread by the use of intravenous drugs.
The drug abuse predated Ramirez's time in prison, said Lt. Keith Boyd, assistant chief deputy coroner.
"That's chronic drug use prior to incarceration," he said. "There's nothing to support any kind of drug use while incarcerated."
The drug use was the likely cause of the hepatitis C infection that probably lingered in Ramirez's system for a quarter-century before eventually destroying his liver, Boyd said.
Ramirez's medical records remain confidential even after his death, said Joyce Hayhoe, a spokeswoman for the federal official who controls medical care in California prisons.
Terry Thornton, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, could not immediately say if Ramirez had any disciplinary history of using drugs or obtaining contraband in prison. His voluminous file is kept only in hard-copy and would have to be reviewed by hand, she said.
