Special Note: All addresses are of public record as described in the book: The Dracula Killer by Lt. Ray Biondi and Walt Hecox.
Michele Stump, HPI Researcher and Paranormal Investigator sends me an email. It read: “Richard Trenton Chase was known as The Vampire of Sacramento. He killed several people in the Sacramento area. He eventually committed suicide while he was in jail. The book (The Dracula Killer by Lt. Ray Biondi and Walt Hecox) does not give a specific address of his apartment but does give a pretty clear description. His apartment was on Watt Avenue, apartment 15 one block east of 2909 Burnece Street. Murders occurred on 2630 Tioga Way (The murder of Teresa Wallin), 3734 Robertson Avenue (The murder of Ambrose Griffin), 3207 Merrywood Drive (The murder of Evelyn Miroth, Daniel Meredith, Jason Miroth, age 6, and Daniel Meredith Jr., age 2). The body of Little Daniel Meredith was found, without a head, behind a church at the corner of Watt and Whitney Ave. Hope I was of help! -Michele”
It was time to give Shannon McCabe, our illustrious leader a call. There have been reports of possible residual hauntings near and around the victims’ homes and possibly a haunting at the infamous Country Club Apartment Homes #15. Yes, we found his actual apartment, the home of Richard Trenton Chase. I explained to Shannon the details and that it was possibly good to get a HPI Splinter Cell Undercover Scouting Task Force to look into this matter. Shannon agreed, there is no harm in looking to see if there was a possible haunting at some of these locations. With this splinter cell, the reason why I would say this was an undercover investigation, because possibly people may live at these homes and I didn’t want it to be obvious we are trying to uncover possible hauntings.
Going over the HPI membership roster, looking at photos and bios, I came up with the team of Michele Stump — HPI Researcher/Paranormal Investigator, Jennifer Baca — Scout and Paranormal Investigator, and finally Cherie Vincent — Scout and Paranormal Investigator. I would be the lead investigator on this adventure. Now that I have Charlie’s Angels together for this assignment… I mean “Paul’s Angels,” let’s get rolling. The date was July 28, 2007, Saturday. Time 10am. I arrive at Jennifer’s home and met up with Michele and Cherie. Jennifer’s mom whipped me up some homemade Chow Mein. Wow! Jennifer’s mom is a great cook! Jennifer and I took my car and Michele took her vehicle and she had Cherie as a passenger. Jennifer mapped out all of the locations. A trail of a serial killer. A serial killer who beheaded a child, who drank the blood from his victims, and who cannibalized his victims. Richard Trenton Chase was a monster and for him to commit suicide in prison was an easy way out. Richard Trenton Chase was a mad man and started off mutilating animals and drinking the blood of animals. He graduated to slaughtering and drinking the blood of humans.
Richard Trenton Chase has a Web site, it reads in part:
“SACRAMENTO, California: This maniac became known as the Vampire Killer of Sacramento after a four day blood binge in January 1978, in which he claimed six lives. Previously he had tried to inject rabbit’s blood into his veins and had been institutionalized for exhibiting such strange behavior that merited the nickname “Dracula” within the hospital staff. In the hospital he complained that someone had stolen his pulmonary artery and that his head kept changing shape. Rich thought that his blood was turning into powder and that a Nazi crime syndicate that was haunting him from high school was paying his mother money to poison him. So he did what any other red-blooded American would do under such duress. He became a vampire.
A typically “disorganized” killer, Chase picked his victims randomly and left as much evidence as he could around his home and the crime scene. He drained his victim’s blood, blended it with body organs and drank it to stop his own blood from turning into powder. He also took some body parts of his victims home to munch on later. It’s seems that Ritchie should have never been taken off medication.
Chase moved into another apartment and began to catch and torture cats, dogs, and rabbits. He killed them to drink their blood. Sometimes he stole neighborhood pets, and he once even called a family whose dog was missing to tell them what he had done to the animal. He bought guns and started to practice with them.
Although he was on psychiatric medication, he remained unsupervised. His mother weaned him from the medications herself, deciding that he did not really need them. In 1977, the court-awarded conservatorship expired, and his parents did nothing to renew it, leaving Chase on his own.”
To quickly sum up Richard Trenton Chase’s life, he did the following:
1. He was suspected of weirdness at Pyramid Lake, Nevada when deputies discovered 2 rifles on his front seat and a plastic bucket with a cow liver in it.
2. He was a fan of the Hillside Strangler.
3. In his killings, he shot people, mutilated people, ate the brains of some of his victims. Such as a 22 year-old victim named Teresa Wallin who was 3 months pregnant. He shot her and then mutilated her beyond recognition. He also mutilated a puppy near the Wallin home.
4. He was known to place animal feces in his mouth.
5. Some of his victims, he pulled out their intestines.
6. The 1992 movie Unspeakable is based on Richard Trenton Chase.
7. The FBI still use the Chase case for the study of a disorganized serial killer.
Now, I have said a lot of gloomy stuff in this article. As we started this investigation leaving Jennifer’s home, I tried to throw on some positive motivating music, so we don’t have to think of the grisly acts of this madman. I threw on Sheryl Crow’s “All I Wanna Do.” Jennifer listens half way into the song and yanks out the CD and says, “Paul, you need to get with the music, I made you a CD, listen to this!” Yes, Jennifer and I, can’t agree on the music, but I must admit her CD had some good jams, so with all of the driving I was doing, we were listening to her new CD with songs like: “Hot in Here” by Nelly, “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It” by Will Smith, “Promiscuous” and “Say it Right” by Nelly Furtado, among other up-beat tunes.
Our first stop was the Robertson Avenue home, where Ambrose Griffin was shot while taking groceries inside the house. The team took digital photos and tried to entice any lost spirits with their digital audio recorders for any EVP activity. No activity was detected. Next stop was the Arcade Wesleyan Church where 22 month-old David Ferrera was found by a janitor. The baby was stuffed in a box and the baby’s body laid on top of its own severed head. We went to the dumpster location to see if EVPs were detected. No activity detected.
We needed a break from the ghost hunting and stopped off at my godson’s 2nd birthday party at the NY Buffet in Carmichael. My godson Mark Edward Landon Crews was full of bright smiles! I gave little Markee a big hug! I ran into Markees’ godmother Jean Paman and her martial art published author husband Joey. Joey will soon be writing a collection of ghost stories about his family in the Philippines, so be on look out for Joey’s ghost stories! In fact Joey’s brother is writing a book on various ghosts from around the world. I introduced my ghost hunting team to Markee’s dad Dirk and the Pamans. We feasted on some delicious food, then we watched Markee blow out the candle on his birthday cake and open up his presents. I snapped away with my camera as Markee opened up my present, a very cool Spider-Man toy! It was joy to see Markee enjoying his birthday around family and friends. After the festivities and the hugs, we departed and continued our trek into the unknown.
As I was driving, I was thinking about this vampire cannibal and what came in mind was what my neighbor Rukesh Kumar told me about his days living in the Fiji Islands. Rukesh told me a story about the Cannibal Warrior Specter of the Fiji Islands. Along the sandy beaches of Fiji Islands, people have witnessed a ghost of a warrior past carrying a hand-carved cannibal fork weapon, or known as a “brain fork.” The warrior ghost is running and as it approaches the witness it vanishes. The difference between this cannibal and a cannibal like Richard Trenton Chase is that the cannibal in the Fiji Islands was raised to be a cannibal, this was his society. Modern day society does not accept cannibalism. Cannibalism is inhuman and barbaric. Richard went against modern day society and reverted to a primitive stage of mankind. This was Richard’s madness.
Our next stop was the home on 2800 Tioga Way. This is where 22 year-old Teresa Wallin was killed. Richard spotted her at the pantry market according to Michele. Teresa went there to cash in a check, she arrived at the front door of her home, was shot in the head by Richard. Richard dragged her body into the bedroom where he opened up her stomach and ripped out her intestines. When the husband arrived he was petrified at the horrific sight. The investigating team tried to determine the house, but the house numbers did not coordinate with the book. I asked one of the neighbors who lived in the neighborhood when the crime was committed and he said the house was demolished. When I mentioned Richard’s name, he trembled. He said it brought back bad memories. This house is a UTL (Unable to Locate)…due to the fact it was demolished.
The next stop was the Merrywood House. In this home Evelyn Miroth, son Jason, 2 year-old nephew David Ferreira and friend Daniel Meredith were killed. The neighbor found the bodies by looking through the window. The body of David was missing, later found in the dumpster by the church we visited. Evelyn’s corpse was severely mutilated. There was a knife wound to her rectum. Jason was shot in the head as he went though the walkway toward the home. The house was abandoned and I was able to snap some photos of inside the home and the child’s bedroom. Analyzing the digital photo I took, there appears to be white mist. No EVPs detected.
Our last stop was Richard Trenton Chase apartment. Country Club Apartments, Apartment #15. In the book it said it was one block east of 2909 Burmese (a house he once robbed). We found the apartment and asked Tracie & Bryon Lampson who lived in these apartments if that was the right apartment. They confirmed it. Bryon’s friend Wayne found the body parts of David Ferreira in the dumpster. Tracie says that when there is a full moon, the apartment complex feels “odd,” she has heard “people hollering,” and when she went to investigate, there were no people around. She has even heard her name called and there is nobody around calling her name. On this night there will be a full moon, but we won’t be around, we are doing this investigation during the day.
As we walked around Richard’s former apartment, we were supposed to be undercover, but after Cherie learned about the horrendous crimes of Richard, she was enticing Richard to make his presence know, hoping to capture an EVP. No EVPs were ever detected, but we got the confirmation from Tracie Lampson that strange things do occur at this apartment complex. As the investigation ended, Bryon Lampson walked us out of this locked community and sang the song “If I Was a Serial Killer” by the Insane Clown Posse.
This was a very chilling investigation and perhaps it was best we did this investigation during this hot July day, instead under a full moon in the darkest of night. If there is a Lake of Fire, let’s hope that Richard has found his home there.