If you are a true crime fan in El Paso, you already know the fact that tends to stop people cold at parties: Richard Ramirez, the Night Stalker, one of the most terrifying serial killers in American history, was born right here in the 915. He grew up on these streets, and as a boy he would wander to Concordia Cemetery to sleep, telling people later that it gave him a feeling of being safe, quiet, and calm in a chaotic home life. That same cemetery has carried his dark legacy ever since.<\/p>\n
Courtesy of Redeemed Ink Press<\/p>\n
Courtesy of Redeemed Ink Press<\/p>\n
Now, a new book is bringing the most personal side of that story to light, and it comes from someone who knew him not as a monster, but as family.<\/p>\n
Rosie Juarez, an El Paso native and Richard Ramirez’s niece, has released her debut memoir, His Niece, published by El Paso’s own Redeemed Ink Press.<\/a> In an\u00a0in-depth interview with El Paso Matters<\/a>, Juarez opens up about what it meant to grow up alongside a man the world would come to fear, recounting early memories of sitting on his shoulders at Disneyland before the horror of who he was became impossible to ignore.<\/p>\n Courtesy of Rosierjuarez.com<\/p>\n Courtesy of Rosierjuarez.com<\/p>\n The book details the years of sexual abuse Juarez says she endured at Ramirez’s hands beginning at age 6, the silence that followed, the disbelief she faced from her own family, and the long road toward healing through faith, education, and eventually speaking publicly on the Tamron Hall Show in 2021. It is not a true crime book. It is a survivor’s book, and that distinction matters.<\/p>\n Juarez will appear at two El Paso bookstores on April 25th as part of Independent Bookstore Day, first at the\u00a0Nook Bookstore Cafe<\/a>\u00a0from 10 a.m. to noon, then at\u00a0Margin Notes Bookbar<\/a>\u00a0from 1 to 4:30 p.m.<\/p>\n