Richard Chase's apartment

This is Richard Chase's former apartment.

It is located at 2928 Watt Avenue in Sacramento, California.

Chase, who was nicknamed the Vampire of Sacramento, murdered six people between 1977 and 1978.

At the time of his arrest, the serial killer was living in apartment #15. Before that, he had also reportedly lived in #12.

Psychiatric problems

Chase developed paranoid schizophrenia and hypochondria in his early 20s.

In 1976, he was committed to a psychiatric hospital called Beverly Manor after he kept injecting animal blood into his arms. By that stage, he had become convinced that his heart was shrinking and that his blood was slowly turning into powder. He also believed that he was the victim of a conspiracy involving Nazis and UFOs.

After treating Chase and prescribing him psychotropic medication, doctors eventually determined that he was no longer a threat. Consequently, they released him into the care of his parents, who had been granted conservatorship over him.

Shortly afterwards, Chase's mother, Beatrice, decided to take him off his medication without informing his doctors. She also waived her right to renew his conservatorship and helped him move into this apartment complex on Watt Avenue.

This proved to be a terrible mistake on Beatrice's part, as her son quickly regressed into his previous paranoid state.

Initially, Chase had roommates. However, they decided to move out of the apartment due to his bizarre behavior and heavy drug use.

Left to his own devices, he began capturing small animals and pets from the neighborhood so that he could remove their organs and put them into a blender.

In his mind, consuming their blood and raw innards was the only way to stop his own blood from disintegrating into dust.

During this period, he also became fascinated with firearms and started purchasing handguns.

Murders

Chase committed his first murder on December 29th, 1977, when he killed 51-year-old Ambrose Griffin in a drive-by shooting.

Following Griffin's murder, he started entering houses and committing barbaric acts.

On January 23rd, 1978, he walked into Teresa Wallin's house and immediately shot her dead. He then engaged in necrophilia with her body, shoved dog feces down her throat, and drank some of her blood.

A few days later, Chase entered another house and shot four people dead. The victims were Evelyn Miroth (38), Dan Meredith (51), Jason Miroth (6), and David Ferreira (1).

Following the murders, he mutilated Evelyn's body and engaged in necrophilia. However, he was eventually disturbed by a knock on the front door. Fearing that he might get caught, he took Ferreira's remains with him and fled the scene.

During the investigation, FBI profilers theorized that the killer was a disorganized offender, as he had left footprints and fingerprints at the crime scene. These were brutal, unplanned murders that were committed by someone who clearly wasn't thinking rationally.

With this in mind, they concluded that he was a loner who lived nearby. They also believed that he was white, in his mid-20s, and that he was noticeably malnourished.

Arrest

After speaking to Miroth's neighbors, the police released a sketch of a strange man who had been seen hanging around the area. Not long after, they were contacted by a young woman named Nancy Holden, who recently had an "odd" interaction with an old classmate.

The classmate in question was Richard Chase.

Holden said that she was shocked by Chase's gaunt and disheveled appearance. More importantly, she was certain that he was wearing the same kind of clothes as the man in the sketch.

At that point, the police ran a background check and determined that Chase was living at this apartment complex on Watt Avenue. They also discovered that he had recently purchased a .22 caliber handgun, which was the exact same caliber used in the murders.

When the police arrived at his address, he refused to open his door. As a result, they decided to hide down the hallway and wait for him to leave.

Shortly afterwards, the officers arrested Chase while he was attempting to leave the complex with a bloodstained box.

During a search of the apartment, the police discovered that the floors, walls, ceilings, cooking utensils, and refrigerator were completely soaked in blood. They also found brain matter and internal organs belonging to Ferreira, Miroth, and Wallin.

Death

On May 8th, 1979, Chase was convicted of six counts of first-degree murder after the jury rejected the defense's argument that he was not guilty by reason of insanity.

Following the verdict, he was sentenced to death in the gas chamber.

On December 26th, 1980, he committed suicide by overdosing on antidepressant pills that he had been secretly stockpiling in his prison cell.

Photos

Photos of the apartment and other related images.

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