Ramon Escobar | World’s Most Evil Prisoners | Forensic Files

[foreboding music] NARRATOR: In America, some of the world's most depraved criminals are locked behind bars.
One of these vile inmates is serial killer Ramon Escobar. [suspenseful music] CYNTHIA MARTINEZ: He had this look in his eyes,
it scared you. NARRATOR: Escobar violently murdered two members of his family. JAMES QUEALLY: Escobar uses a police baton
and bashes his uncle over the head repeatedly until he dies. DR. LINA HAJI: The way that he kills
his aunt is extremely personal, looking into her eyes as she's taking her last breath.
NARRATOR: Escobar's lust for killing moved on to the streets when he murdered complete strangers.
JAMES QUEALLY: Escobar come up behind these three men while they're sleeping. He hits them over the head with a baseball bat.
[ominous music] CAPT. BILLY HAYES: This is a violent predator walking around, preying on innocent people.
LEROY EL: He came and attacked me. You're not expecting the devil to come around the corner.
JAMES QUEALLY: He's killed seven people in less than a month. And he's injured or seriously injured seven others.
NARRATOR: Even behind bars, Escobar continues to be a threat. HECTOR BRAVO: He strangled his cellmate
to death with his bare hands. [tense music] PAUL LOPEZ: Escobar, to me, is someone who enjoys not
just killing but slaughtering. That's who he is. [foreboding music] [audio logo]
[theme music] HECTOR BRAVO: North Kern State Prison in California is what we call a reception center.
So when inmates get into the system, they will go there and they will be classified to which prison
they would eventually end up at. NARRATOR: The prison can house up to 3,000 inmates.
- The inmates are either coming from the streets or county jail. We have to go through their police
report, their previous criminal sentences. We find out who they are. [foreboding music]
NARRATOR: Quickly, identifying the inmates danger factor is vital. [high-intensity music]
HECTOR BRAVO: They get assigned a point level. If they do have an incel murder, meaning that an inmate has killed another within the cell.
A letter will be affixed to their file, showing that they cannot have a cellmate because they
present a danger to them. NARRATOR: In North Kern, one inmate made their threat level very clear.
A serial killer, Ramon Escobar. [foreboding music] JAMES QUEALLY: This is a man who
was seemingly prone to violence with little provocation. If we're just talking about danger and savagery,
uh, those two words are probably synonymous with Escobar. [foreboding music] LEROY EL: The prison system is where you're
supposed to learn your lesson. There is no rehabilitation for a person like that.
There's just not. There's no hope. He is the embodiment of the devil. [foreboding music]
JAMES QUEALLY: My name is James Queally, I'm a Criminal Justice Reporter for The Los Angeles Times
and I covered the serial killings involving Ramon Escobar. [ambient music] Ramon Escobar was born in El Salvador in the 1970s.
He was born and grew up during the brutal Civil War between the government and left wing guerrilla groups there.
This led to a lot of violence in the streets. [ambient music] Escobar's mother was killed during this conflict,
and I believe in explosion, he was one of many people fleeing from that region in that time frame.
[ambient music] PAUL LOPEZ: Escobar was in his early teen years. At that point, he illegally migrated
into the United States, Texas, where he was taken in by his Aunt Dina. [tense music]
DR. LINA HAJI: Escobar had a tragic early upbringing due to the war and due to the loss of his mother.
It's an abrupt rupture in the caretaking that he had. That's got to be extremely traumatizing,
and it's going to change the trajectory of a child's life. Luckily, he's taken in by his aunt.
[tense music] PAUL LOPEZ: Ramon's Aunt Dina treated him as if he were her own child, raising
him along her own children as if they were siblings. [somber music] OSWALDO SALAMANCA: My name is Oswaldo Salamanca,
I am the son of Dina Escobar. [somber music] And I don't like to say it like this,
but cousins of Ramon Escobar. [ominous music] NARRATOR: Oswaldo's family had also fled war torn El Salvador,
making Houston, Texas their home. [tense music] OSWALDO SALAMANCA: My family had to restart all over.
My mother-- I know she was a very well-educated woman. She was a registered nurse in El Salvador.
[somber music] OSWALDO SALAMANCA: She went to church. She prayed for everybody. My mother was one of the greatest person that
ever walked this Earth to me. A lot of people knew her. My mom had not one bad bone in her body.
CYNTHIA MARTINEZ: My mother-in-law, she was a ball of positivity, that's all I could say.
You could be having the worst day, and she found some type or form to bring that ray of sunshine
into your life. She was just a wonderful person. [somber music] NARRATOR: Oswaldo was three years old when
his teenage cousin Ramon came to live with him and his siblings. [ambient music]
OSWALDO SALAMANCA: I always shared a room with him. I was young, I remember growing up side by side
with him like a brother. My mom made sure that we always treated him like a brother.
My mother loved him and she loved him as her own son. We're just happy, it was your regular family.
[foreboding music] NARRATOR: Though as he became an older teenager, Ramon started acting up at home.
[tense music] OSWALDO SALAMANCA: There were times where-- something would set him off.
He always was just a little bit that much more aggressive. PAUL LOPEZ: In 1988, Ramon had his first run
in with the law when he was about 17, and as a result of that, he was transported back to his country
in El Salvador. [ominous music] OSWALDO SALAMANCA: I don't remember the case, I was young.
I know it will happened to be like a domestic altercation with an ex that he had.
So he got deported after that. DR. LINA HAJI: It's interesting because he came from such horrific circumstances
to much better circumstances in the United States, but yet it seems that wasn't enough for him.
Was it that he was already predisposed as somebody who was going to commit a life of crime,
go against authority, no matter what kind of nurturing environment he had. PAUL LOPEZ: After Escobar returned a few years later
to the United States, he was arrested again and ultimately sentenced to five years for burglary,
where he served some time in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. [foreboding music]
NARRATOR: After spending two years in prison in Texas, Escobar was deported again back to El Salvador in 1997.
[tense music] But he kept trying to come back. PAUL LOPEZ: Between 1997 and around 2011,
he was arrested and convicted six different times of burglary and illegal entry.
[foreboding music] JAMES QUEALLY: Escobar was deported multiple times by immigrations and customs enforcement.
Sometimes it was simply for being an illegal alien. Sometimes it was due to arrests and convictions
on other crimes, mostly in Texas. [foreboding music] NARRATOR: When he was forced to live back in El Salvador,
the family did their best to support him. [ambient music] OSWALDO SALAMANCA: My mom always helping him,
and she was always sending him money. Even me, we would put money on his books commissary
all the time because, you know, we're family. [tense music] DR. LINA HAJI: This idea being constantly reinforced
that you're not wanted here in the US could have been something that Escobar internalized,
but he wasn't being accepted by society because he was engaging in criminal activity.
So you would think that he would say to himself, this is not working for me. The more I engage in criminal activity,
the more I get deported back to a place that I don't want to be. Yet that didn't stop him.
So to me, that further paints the picture that he really had no regard for authority,
no regard for the law. NARRATOR: When Escobar managed to get back to the US illegally, he would stay with Oswaldo and his Aunt Dina
while they started the appeal process for him to remain. [ambient music] But his behavior didn't help.
OSWALDO SALAMANCA: He was always into drinking. Me and my mother, we were always trying to keep
him away from the party life. [tense music] PAUL LOPEZ: Escobar he was having an increasing
issue with his illicit drug use and his alcoholic beverage problem. Drinking too much.
[tense music] NARRATOR: After another deportation, Escobar illegally re-entered the US again in 2016
and went straight to the board of Immigration Appeals. He said he was in fear for his life back in El Salvador.
[tense music] OSWALDO SALAMANCA: And this was when all the gangs were still going on.
I remember one time that he ended up in the hospital because they almost murdered him.
They hit him with machetes on his head, on his hands. If you were to see pictures of him, he has scars everywhere.
They almost killed him over there. I saw something different in his eyes. [tense music]
You could tell that there was something different when he came back. [tense music]
NARRATOR: A judge granted a stay on Escobar being deported again, while his case
was being reviewed. [ambient music] In 2018, Escobar went to live with his uncle Rogelio.
[ambient music] OSWALDO SALAMANCA: My uncle, Rogelio Escobar, opened his doors to everybody in his family that needed it.
He was a great man. [tense music] NARRATOR: Despite having a home, Escobar found it difficult to get work.
OSWALDO SALAMANCA: He struggled a lot because every time he was at a job, he was always fighting with-- with the other employees,
he was very aggressive. He didn't like nobody telling him what to do. [tense music]
CYNTHIA MARTINEZ: I met Ramon not on very many occasions. I met him maybe three or four times.
Ramon wasn't somebody you wanted to be around. I guess that's the only way I could put it.
The way of his being, it scared you. [tense music] NARRATOR: Escobar's anger turned towards his cousin.
OSWALDO SALAMANCA: He started building a jealousy over me, having things that he didn't.
He started asking me to give him stuff that he wouldn't work for. Jealousy enraged him.
PAUL LOPEZ: Uncle Rogelio had gotten involved and separated both of them before they could actually get
into a physical altercation. OSWALDO SALAMANCA: He didn't like that my mom and my uncle
stopped him from fighting. DR. LINA HAJI: Escobar's family was fed up with his behavior.
It's telling him either you get better or we cannot be in your life. It wouldn't surprise me if Escobar went ahead
and twisted that as being. Well, it's your fault my life turned out the way it is.
It's your fault that you're rejecting me. This is what we call blame externalization.
Instead of taking accountability for his actions, he's now going to point that outwards, as if it's
everybody else's fault. JAMES QUEALLY: Escobar believed his uncle had disrespected him
and made a plan to kill his uncle as a result of this perceived slight. [ambient music]
NARRATOR: Months later, 47-year-old Escobar put his plan into action. [suspenseful music]
JAMES QUEALLY: Escobar goes to his uncle's room, asks him for a cigarette. Rogelio presumably turns around to find him a cigarette,
and while he is distracted. [suspenseful music] Escobar uses a police baton and bashes his uncle over the head
repeatedly until he dies. [somber music] NARRATOR: Escobar then stuffed his uncle's body
into a large cardboard box. [somber music] PAUL LOPEZ: He transported it to a warehouse
in southwest Houston, where he just essentially discarded him in a dumpster. [tense music]
NARRATOR: 48 hours later, Rogelio's sister Dina started to worry. [tense music] OSWALDO SALAMANCA: Your uncle hasn't been home for two days.
We thought maybe-- maybe he's just with somebody in the neighborhood, but she knew there was something wrong.
[tense music] CYNTHIA MARTINEZ: At that moment in time. Oswald was grandma and Oswald's mother were living with us
in the apartment that we had. Oswald was in the shower, and she came and she told me,
she said, I have to go look for my brother. And I said, well, go tell Oswaldo, bye.
And she said, no, no, no, mija, I'll be right back. And she left. [tense music] PAUL LOPEZ: Ramon's Aunt Dina came to her brother
Rogelio's house to search for him. Now, when Aunt Dina showed up, Ramon was there,
and he was closely watching his Aunt Dina's search efforts. [tense music] Ramon took the opportunity to enter her van and hide in it,
waiting for her to come out to the van, and when she did, he launched his attack on Dina.
[suspenseful music] He strangled her from behind, eventually dragging her to the ground, continuing to strangle her.
He also knelt on her chest, using his entire body weight, causing her to suffocate to death.
[ominous music] JAMES QUEALLY: Ramon Escobar takes his aunt's body and hides it in a dumpster.
He then takes the van and burns it on a beach near Galveston, Texas. [somber music]
The way Ramon killed his aunt and uncle is absolutely brutal. These are the people that have taken care of him
for most of his adult life. DR. LINA HAJI: This is where the evil in Escobar really rears its ugly head, because the way
that he kills his aunt is extremely personal. He is face to face with her. He has his knees on her chest, likely looking into her eyes
as she's taking her last breath. This is the woman that acted as a second mother, that
nurtured him and loved him. What that really tells us is how little respect Escobar has for life,
even those closest to him. [tense music] OSWALDO SALAMANCA: My uncle is missing, now my mom's missing,
and Ramon has something to do with it. [suspenseful music] So me, my sister, my brother got in a car,
went to my uncle's house. Me and my brother knocked his door down, grabbed him, and pulled him outside while my sister was calling the cops.
He was acting very suspicious. And at that time, me and my brother were just so mad that my mom wasn't around.
He could see the anger in us and he never seen something like that before. Once the cops got there, he knew not to say nothing.
That's when the cops seen all the scratches on his neck. And for that reason, he ended up taking
him in for interrogation. It was heartbreaking. I knew some foul play had happened.
[suspenseful music] JAMES QUEALLY: Ramon becomes a person of interest to Texas Law Enforcement as they open a missing
persons investigation. But after they question him and can't hold him because there's no evidence, he gets in his car
and he just starts driving west. Pretty much until he hits the Pacific Ocean and ends up in Santa Monica, California.
[tense music] NARRATOR: Back in Texas, Dina's family's faint hope she was still alive faded when her burnt out van
was discovered on a beach near Galveston. [somber music] OSWALDO SALAMANCA: We already knew it.
Once you find a van burnt like that and he's gone, I've never had a feeling as horrible as that one that day.
My sisters, my brothers hearts were broken that day. [somber music] [suspenseful music]
NARRATOR: While Houston Police urgently sought Escobar for further questioning, he was hiding out in Santa Monica.
[suspenseful music] HECTOR BRAVO: Santa Monica is a beautiful place located in Los Angeles County.
It's a Beach City, you got a pier with amusement parks, sand, a lot of restaurants,
very tourist area. [ambient music] NARRATOR: But there's another side of life to the city.
JAMES QUEALLY: Santa Monica has an issue with homelessness. Much like the rest of southern California.
It's not as pronounced as in Los Angeles proper. It is common to find people sleeping on the beach
out there, specifically under the Santa Monica Pier. [tense music] NARRATOR: Leroy was one of those that
were unhoused at the time. He was living in a camp on the outskirts of Santa Monica.
[tense music] LEROY EL: Living on the streets is one of the most difficult lifestyle situations to be in.
One of the main things is being exposed to the elements. You have to worry about your safety.
Sleeping next to people who are going to take your things once you drift off to sleep.
Once nighttime hits, it gets really, really dangerous. Really sketchy, really sketchy.
[tense music] NARRATOR: 11 days after fleeing to California, Escobar was sleeping in his car.
He was homeless, but instead of becoming part of the community, he would prey on them.
[foreboding music] PAUL LOPEZ: In the early morning hours of September 8, Escobar brutally attacked a male subject
on a Santa Monica beach. [suspenseful music] JAMES QUEALLY: He attacked a homeless man with a baseball
bat, robbed him. PAUL LOPEZ: The subject sustained severe head injuries and was subsequently transported
to a nearby hospital after being discovered by police. However, even though the subject did survive and
eventually was released from the hospital, he had no recollection of the attack whatsoever
and could provide no suspect information at all. [somber music] NARRATOR: Just 48 hours later, Escobar struck again.
[ominous music] JAMES QUEALLY: The man was a 51-year-old victim. A man named Juan Antonio Ramirez.
He is also living in Santa Monica, also homeless, also sleeping on the beach. Sometime around dawn, Escobar strikes
the men in and about the head. Juan Ramirez was in a coma for years after the attack,
but eventually succumbed to his injuries in January of 2021. [somber music] Escobar, he was robbing people to get money, to get food,
and the softest targets he could pick were sleeping homeless people. [somber music]
NARRATOR: These attacks did not make the news. JAMES QUEALLY: Unfortunately, violence
against the homeless community in Southern California is not an uncommon crime. Sadly, if you ask around here, a lot of the times,
if your average person, even your average police officer, hears about an attack on a homeless person,
their first assumption is that they got into a fight with another homeless person.
Escobar, and the idea that there was a pattern killer doesn't come into focus until a little bit later.
NARRATOR: Over the next few days, Escobar attacked two more individuals who were homeless.
They were fortunate to survive. [foreboding music] He would then go on to commit a crime so visible,
it would be impossible to ignore. JAMES QUEALLY: We're standing in Downtown Los Angeles.
We're right over there at the intersection of Flower and Wilshire. Ramon Escobar attacked three men
while they were sleeping outside, all of them were homeless. [ominous music] Escobar, come up behind these three men
while they're sleeping. He hits them over the head and shoulders with a baseball bat,
one at a time, and then rifles through their possessions, stealing money, belongings, whatever
he could get from them. Two of those men later died from their injuries. NARRATOR: The men killed while they slept
were 59-year-old Kelvin Williams and Branden Ridout, who was 24. [somber music] DR. LINA HAJI: It's really showing how predatory and
kind of a bully Escobar is. Homeless people are not great targets to rob. They don't have a lot of possessions.
They don't have a lot of money. So why are you robbing homeless people is the very first question?
They're so vulnerable, a lot of them are malnourished. It would have been so easy for Escobar
to maybe hit them, take whatever small belongings they have and move about his way.
That's not what he did. So to me, that says that Escobar's motivation was actually not robbery.
Escobar went after them because he enjoyed killing, and he knew that he could very easily kill homeless people
because he had very easily killed his own family members, which just tells me he's evil to his core.
[tense music] JAMES QUEALLY: This was the crime that finally put him on the radar of local law enforcement,
and made pretty clear to the public that we had a serial killer on the loose targeting
homeless men in Los Angeles. [tense music] NARRATOR: An investigation was launched,
releasing CCTV of Escobar captured just after his latest attacks. The LAPD hoped to pinpoint the killer.
[suspenseful music] CAPT. BILLY HAYES: Today, we're requesting the public's assistance in identifying an individual
responsible for three brutal attacks yesterday morning in central area. The most distinctive thing about this individual
is that he has bowed legs. This is a violent predator that's walking around preying
on innocent people. We want to get them as quickly as possible. [tense music] JAMES QUEALLY: There is this boogeyman, the specter, just
like lurking in the night. You could go to bed and never wake up again if this guy chose to rob you.
[tense music] NARRATOR: Escobar's potential victims were the hardest to warn. [tense music]
LEROY EL: We had no idea that he was on the loose, or that we had to be worried about something
like that at all. We don't have the news. We don't have television to see what's going on in society
or it happened yesterday or the day before. [suspenseful music] NARRATOR: The publicity didn't deter serial killer Escobar.
Just three days after the murders downtown, he strikes again. - Escobar attacks two more homeless people.
- Leaving them severely injured. NARRATOR: And again-- - He goes back to a familiar hunting ground.
He goes back to the beach at Santa Monica. [ambient music] NARRATOR: 39-year-old, Stephen Cruze Jr.,
a father of two was sleeping under the Santa Monica Pier. [foreboding music] PAUL LOPEZ: He had many jobs, but
one of which he was commonly engaged in was working on a charter fishing boat that he would sometimes sleep under the pier
to avoid having to drive back to the San Gabriel area. [tense music] JAMES QUEALLY: Escobar looking to rob.
He attacks Cruze with the bat. Seriously injures and kills Mr. Cruze. This is a man with children.
This is a man with a job who apparently was just in the wrong place at the absolute wrong time.
[somber music] NARRATOR: Committing crimes at random across LA County, it was proving impossible for police to track
the serial killer down. When he struck again, Leroy was his next victim. [suspenseful music]
LEROY EL: He walked up and it was still daytime and he shook my hand. He had a strong grip.
When I first seen him, I had no idea of the beast that was inside of him at all.
He just looked like a normal homeless guy. And he's kind of muscular, you know, and I'm a little guy.
I wasn't going to get too close to him, you know what I mean? [foreboding music]
NARRATOR: As night fell, Escobar approached Leroy again. LEROY EL: And he wants to lay right next to where I was at.
And I told him, no, you can't. We don't-- we don't know who you are. We don't trust you.
The people that were in the camp that I was at, none of us knew him. I told him to go at the end of where we were at
and set himself up down there. He looked at where I was pointing to and he understood it.
And he, [nods] and he just walked away. But that, [nods] yeah. That's what I seen, like OK, he-- he gets it
but he's not happy about that. [ominous music] NARRATOR: Later that night, Escobar
came to Leroy asking him if he knew where he could get drugs. LEROY EL: I told him, I know how
I can hook you up with that. So just hold on. Let me put on some shoes. And I went inside of my tent to put those shoes on.
NARRATOR: While Leroy crouched down, Escobar suddenly attacked. [suspenseful music]
LEROY EL: All I feel is like a ton of bricks fell on the back of my head, just out of nowhere.
I did not even know he was attacked. I didn't know what that was. So I'm trying to come up out of the tent.
And when I came out of the tent, he went for a head blow, and that's when I got struck in my head.
The next blow, I caught him like, here. [ominous music] I have a little martial arts training,
so I tried to hip toss him, not knowing that he had already shattered this-- this elbow here.
So when I turned and did that, I ended up falling. So that's when he was able to just keep pounding on my back.
[tense music] The right side of my body, just from the top to the bottom. [tense music]
He would not stop beating on me until I had just laid still and let him finish, until he thought I was dead,
and walked away. And then I'm just sitting there bleeding, and I'm just in my head thinking like, oh my God, I'm on my way
to heaven. [tense music] NARRATOR: Barely conscious. Leroy managed to alert help from a passerby.
LEROY EL: Told them to call the police for me, and at that point, that's when I faded out.
I drifted off into another world. [tense music] Till I woke up in the hospital like, OK, I'm still here.
NARRATOR: Escobar's savage assault on Leroy with a bolt cutter left him with multiple broken
bones and lacerations. He also had to undergo an emergency craniotomy to remove part of his skull.
LEROY EL: He had hit me so hard in my head that it made some of my skull fractures.
Threatened to poke my brain. I look like I had just come through through hell. NARRATOR: A police detective visited Leroy at the hospital
and showed him the CCTV footage from the press conference. LEROY EL: He pulled his cell phone up and said,
I just want to is this the man that attacked you. And when I looked at it and I could see his shape,
I knew that that was the man. And I said, yeah, that's him. I did not know that he had just come from murdering
someone in Santa Monica. I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe that I had came
face to face with the devil. [sigh] Pure evil. [tense music] NARRATOR: The identity of this devil
was still unknown to the police and he continued to kill. [tense music] PAUL LOPEZ: On September 24, Escobar
returned to the Santa Monica area, where he brutally attacked Jorge Martinez on the beach.
[eerie ocean waves] JAMES QUEALLY: Martinez, unfortunately, also eventually succumbed to his injuries following the severe damage
inflicted by Escobar. [ominous music] NARRATOR: With all the signs pointing to another attack from the killer they were hunting.
Police scoured the streets nearby. JAMES QUEALLY: And they go looking in the immediate vicinity, and not far from there,
they find Escobar walking funny, walking bow legged, as was depicted on the CCTV footage
of the Downtown La attacks, and they arrest him. And they find the pair of bolt cutters on his person.
[suspenseful music] NARRATOR: Police had finally caught the man terrorizing La County.
PAUL LOPEZ: Additionally, they located Escobar's black Honda CRV parked nearby where they located the murder weapon,
the baseball bat that was used to brutally kill his victims. NARRATOR: Following Escobar's arrest,
police held a press conference confirming they'd caught the man who had been menacing the two cities.
[suspenseful music] - Based on the collaborative work by the Santa Monica Police department and
the Los Angeles Police Department. We were able to capture this suspect. [tense music]
The people that live, work, and visit Santa Monica and Los Angeles are safer today because this suspect
is in custody. [ambient music] LEROY EL: The next thing you know they had caught him.
He's a coward because you have to wait till these people go to sleep before you do anything.
Like he had me face to face twice. You shook my hand, but you waited till I went inside of the tent.
The people that he targeted was these homeless people who have nothing. They can't even fight.
Taking them from their families, taking them out of existence. That's-- that's just nothing but a coward.
Nothing but a coward. NARRATOR: The news reached Oswaldo's family in Texas. OSWALDO SALAMANCA: We were in disbelief.
We just couldn't believe that all this was going on. I never believed that somebody in our family
would end up becoming something like that, because we were all raised a lot better than that.
[somber music] NARRATOR: Soon after his arrest in California. Houston Police questioned Escobar about the disappearance
of his aunt and uncle. [somber music] He eventually confessed to their murders and disposing of their bodies at a landfill site.
OSWALDO SALAMANCA: The people that raised them, the people that give them their hand,
they give everything off their back. And you turn around and brutally murder these people.
It's horrible. It was horrible for the whole family. We're just all not the same anymore without her.
[somber music] CYNTHIA MARTINEZ: In my heart, there is no repaying something like that that he did.
Taking somebody so innocent, you know, in the form that he did it just-- there's no justice to that.
[somber music] JAMES QUEALLY: Escobar ultimately pleaded guilty to all five murders
he was accused of in Los Angeles and the murders of his aunt and uncle in Texas,
as well as multiple counts of attempted murder and robbery. The only condition he made in exchange for his plea
was that he would not face the death penalty. As a result, he was sentenced to life in prison
without possibility of parole. [somber music] DR. LINA HAJI: I'm not surprised Escobar made a deal
to avoid the death penalty. Escobar strikes me as a very cowardly person, as somebody who's not willing to take accountability
for their actions, for the fact that he took the lives of so many people and he's looking out for himself.
He doesn't want to die. It's all about him. [somber music] OSWALDO SALAMANCA: The judge asked him if he was
guilty of murdering my mother. He laughed and said, very guilty. The whole time he was just giving
me this stare like wishing it was me and not him in that chair. [somber music] [foreboding music]
NARRATOR: After conviction, Escobar was transferred from County Jail to North Kern State Prison, where he would be temporarily
housed until it was decided what penitentiary he would be sent to. [theme music]
HECTOR BRAVO: From my experience working in the California Department of Corrections,
I have had the experience of working around serial killers in prison. Usually those individuals, when they're around authority,
they're very quiet and very respectful. They almost seem to act against victims that are prey.
[foreboding music] NARRATOR: Escobar's cellmate was 53-year-old Juan Villanueva.
He arrived at North Kern State Prison after being sentenced to life for aggravated sexual assault
of a child under the age of 14. [tense music] JAMES QUEALLY: Juan Villanueva finds
himself with the unfortunate role of Ramon Escobar's cellmate. NARRATOR: It didn't take long for Escobar
to develop a strong dislike for Villanueva. [suspenseful music] HECTOR BRAVO: On the morning of February 24,
at approximately 8:49 AM, inmate Villanueva, who was the cellmate of Escobar, missed one of his medical appointments to have
his blood pressure taken. [suspenseful music] The correctional officer in the unit
did a security and welfare check. [suspenseful music] The correctional officer noticed
Villanueva's lifeless body unresponsive. [ominous music] He then summoned a code one medical emergency
where the response came. They tried life saving measures on Villanueva, and then they ultimately transferred
him to an outside hospital, where he was pronounced deceased. [foreboding music]
PAUL LOPEZ: Correctional officers searched the cell, and they located a letter that had been written
by Escobar, clearly citing five reasons that he killed Villanueva. [tense music]
NARRATOR: The first reason Escobar gave was Villanueva refused to shower or clean the cell properly.
PAUL LOPEZ: To provide the exact quote in the letter. He stank like, [bleep]. [tense music]
HECTOR BRAVO: On that list of motives that Escobar left. Number 5 on the list said he did not
want to take me serious, so it was time for him to meet the devil. [somber music]
PAUL LOPEZ: Escobar explained to prison staff that he killed Villanueva by using his bare hands
to strangle him to death. [tense music] He stated that it took approximately five minutes
before the job was done, and he was able to successfully kill Mr. Villanueva. [suspenseful music]
DR. LINA HAJI: Escobar shows us that his reasons for murder are just as flimsy as the last ones.
I was just murdering because I needed the money. I was just murdering because I felt disrespected.
He's very selfish, but yet, at his core, I don't believe that Escobar actually likes
himself as a human being. And as a result, he's incapable of liking or loving anybody else.
[ominous music] NARRATOR: On September 18, 2023, Escobar was charged with first degree murder of Villanueva.
[suspenseful music] JAMES QUEALLY: If Escobar is convicted, that would be his eighth murder conviction.
[tense music] NARRATOR: With as many victims as the infamous East Bay Slayer, Ramon Escobar's security
was upgraded accordingly to protect those incarcerated alongside him. [eerie music]
JAMES QUEALLY: Escobar is currently being held in a California State Prison in Sacramento.
HECTOR BRAVO: It is a high maximum security institution. It's a very dangerous and very volatile prison.
[suspenseful music] Going forward, Escobar will never have another cellmate. It is affixed on his file everywhere he goes,
he should not be housed with anybody else. [suspenseful music] NARRATOR: Escobar's actions scarred the lives of many,
not just the ones he took. [somber music] LEROY EL: I'm still feeling the effects of that attack.
When I stand up from this position right now, it's going to be pain in my hip. It's pain in my knees.
[somber music] One more thing is that, that's actually what helped me get off of--
off of the-- the substances too. [somber music] If he wouldn't have tried to kill me,
I wouldn't have been reunited with my family. I wouldn't be looking like this today right now.
It was fly. [laughs] NARRATOR: Oswaldo and his brother and sisters also had to rebuild their lives after the loss
of their mother, Dina. [somber music] OSWALDO SALAMANCA: Weren't even able to retrieve her body from the dump site
where she was thrown at. My uncle too, we weren't able to salvage his body since it
had already been three months. They were saying that we probably wouldn't even get bones back.
There's never really going to be any closure for us. [foreboding music] NARRATOR: Denied the chance to bury their loved ones.
Oswaldo's family celebrate their lives instead. OSWALDO SALAMANCA: The impact my mother and my uncle
had on us. They showed us how to be family, how to love our children, how to love each other.
[somber music] Dina Escobar and Rogelio Escobar, two of the greatest people that walked this world.
[mellow sad music] CYNTHIA MARTINEZ: We really, really miss her and him. When my mother-in-law went missing,
unknowingly, I was a month and a half pregnant with my oldest daughter, and that's why we decided
to call her after her grandma. [mellow sad music] NARRATOR: But there's one family
member they choose to forget. OSWALDO SALAMANCA: Ramon Escobar. This man is evil in so many ways,
and I know that he is where he's supposed to be. And God has the last word with him.
When he decided to hurt somebody in our family, he is not family, he is nothing to us.
[somber music] PAUL LOPEZ: Escobar is not human. In my mind, he's an empty vessel.
He's violence wrapped in human skin who does nothing but pray like a coward on the vulnerable and the defenseless.
LEROY EL: When I found out who he was and what he had done, I was even more thankful for God
that I even made it because he was really a straight beast, just a monster. [somber music]
[theme music]

After murdering his aunt and uncle, Ramon Escobar rampages across L.A., bludgeoning five strangers with a baseball bat and bolt cutters. Even prison cannot stop him — he strangles his cellmate.

World’s Most Evil Prisoners is a chilling exploration of the terrifying offenders sentenced to a lifetime behind bars. Locked away, yet still driven by their twisted desires, these inmates delve into acts of torture, abduction, and homicide. Prepare to confront the criminals from the darkest facets of humanity.

For More FilmRise Check Out Our Other Channels: FilmRise Television: https://www.youtube.com/@FilmRiseTelevision FilmRise Movies: https://www.youtube.com/@FilmRiseMovies Highway to Heaven - Full Episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@HighwaytoHeavenFullEpisodes

Brief Summary

Ramon Escobar's violent murders of family and homeless victims highlight his brutal nature and troubled past.

Key points

Ramon Escobar: A Violent Predator. Escobar's violent history includes the brutal murder of family members and strangers.
Escobar's Jealousy and Violence. Escobar's jealousy towards his cousin escalates into violence.
Escobar's Family Dynamics. Escobar's family struggles with his violent behavior and eventual rejection.
Escobar's Brutal Murders. Escobar's killings were personal and violent, even against family.
Escobar's Attack on the Homeless. Escobar targets vulnerable homeless individuals for robbery and violence.
Escobar's True Motivation. Escobar targeted the homeless not for robbery, but for the thrill of killing.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

He is the embodiment of the devil.

Dr. Lina Haji speaks about Escobar's nature.

3:23WatchJan 16, 2026

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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