Mabel Bell

Mabel Bell, an 83-year-old white woman known to her family as "Ma Bell," was a retired secretary described by friends as a "gutsy, independent old lady." A native of Kentucky, she had moved to California 35 years before her death and was widowed at a young age, raising two children on her own. For 25 years, she had lived in a modest home on a winding road in Monrovia, California, a house framed with roses and a white picket fence. A practical and caring woman, she was the center of her family, which included 12 grandchildren, two of whom she helped put through college. So that her invalid sister would not have to be institutionalized, Mabel had taken her into her home. Though her own health was beginning to decline, she still drove her car and played bridge several times a week.

In the spring of 1985, a wave of violent home invasions was terrorizing the San Gabriel Valley. The perpetrator, who became known as the "Night Stalker," was later identified as Richard Ramirez. On the night of May 29, 1985, Ramirez drove a stolen car to Monrovia and entered the sisters' home through an unlocked door. Inside, he found a hammer in the kitchen and used it to brutally attack both women. He bludgeoned and bound 81-year-old Florence "Nettie" Lang in her bedroom. He then bound and bludgeoned Mabel before shocking her with an electrical cord. Before leaving, the attacker used Mabel's lipstick to draw satanic pentagrams on her thigh and on the bedroom walls.

The two sisters lay undiscovered for two days. On the morning of June 1, their gardener, Carlos Valenzuela, grew suspicious when he saw that their door was open. He entered the small house and found the battered women, both comatose, in their respective bedrooms. Mabel was on the floor with a table on her chest, having suffered massive head trauma. Florence was on her bed, bound with a wire cord and electrical tape. Emergency responders rushed them to a hospital, where doctors noted their injuries appeared to be two days old.

The Monrovia Police Department began an investigation, and the case was soon linked to the string of violent crimes attributed to the Night Stalker. Evidence presented at a preliminary hearing included testimony about the pentagrams found at the scene, symbols Ramirez was known to favor. Investigators also found a broken hammer in Florence's bedroom. The house had been ransacked, and a television set was missing.

Mabel Bell clung to life for six weeks following the brutal assault. On July 15, 1985, she died from her injuries at Southern California Methodist Hospital in Arcadia. Her sister Florence survived the attack but was left unable to speak and required indefinite hospitalization.

The reign of terror across California ended on August 31, 1985, when a group of citizens in East Los Angeles recognized Richard Ramirez from a recently published photograph and captured him. His subsequent trial was one of the most sensational in the state's history. In 1989, Ramirez was convicted of 13 murders, including that of Mabel Bell, as well as numerous other felonies including attempted murder, sexual assault, and burglary.

Ramirez was sentenced to death for his horrific crimes. He was sent to California's San Quentin State Prison, where he remained on death row. The case of Mabel Bell was officially closed with his conviction. Richard Ramirez died of natural causes in 2013 while still awaiting execution. Mabel's memory endures as a beloved matriarch who was the center of her family and a tragic victim of one of America's most infamous serial killers.