Richard Chase — The Vampire of Sacramento

Richard Chase, dubbed "The Vampire of Sacramento," was a paranoid schizophrenic who committed six murders in Sacramento, California during a three-week period spanning December 1977 and January 1978. He drank the blood of his victims and cannibalized them, driven by the delusion that his blood was being turned to powder and that he needed fresh blood to survive. Prior to his murders he had been institutionalized after being found injecting rabbit blood into his veins. Chase had been released from a psychiatric facility in 1976 against the recommendations of some staff members who considered him dangerous. He began stalking his victims months before his first murder and kept detailed notes. His crimes were characterized by extreme post-mortem mutilation — he would drink blood from containers and remove and consume organs — which left crime scenes of unusual horror even for seasoned investigators. He was identified through physical evidence left at crime scenes, including a footprint and a piece of newspaper used to hold collected blood. A tip from an acquaintance who had encountered Chase and found him disturbing led police to focus on him as a suspect. He was arrested in January 1978 with blenders and containers stained with blood in his possession. His apartment contained proof of the extent of his delusions and preparations. Chase was convicted of six murders in 1979 and sentenced to death in California's gas chamber. Psychiatric experts who evaluated him described him as a genuine paranoid schizophrenic rather than a manipulative predator, making his case a landmark in the debate about the insanity defense in capital cases. He died in his cell at San Quentin on December 26, 1980, from a deliberate overdose of antidepressant medication he had hoarded over several months.