Can you think of any others than bundy killers who blamed pornography on their action? Do you think pornography can be the reason for some of the heinous crimes?

So 6 (!) years ago, I made a post about some Richard facts I found doing research from newspaper archives and books. I now come bearing new facts. I’ll include the ones I had in my first post at the end.

*Most reports about his time in SQ describe him as keeping to himself, not eating (going up to ten days without eating), and being disliked and being cajoled into suicide. Already a thin and underweight man, he reportedly lost twenty pounds during his stay. It has been reported that on his first night in Sacramento Co. jail that urine (and possibly feces) was thrown at him.

*1980: He spent a few months in Vacaville for suicide risk. He made lots of threats. Six weeks before his death, he had to get treatment for malnutrition as he would rarely eat. He’d only eat candy bars and sandwiches as he believed SQ’s food had “tumors” and “veneral disease.”

*I found a differing image from June 1980 that states he was in good spirits about his appeals and he had been given a TV and a typewriter. Chase had “his own status quo.”

*He was an avid bowler and enjoyed rock hunting. He played baseball as a child, was on the track team in high school, and reportedly played basketball and volleyball during his stay in Beverly Manor (mental health facility). He also expressed some interest in lifting and weights were found in his apartment.

* He went around the neighborhood shortly before the murders asking people for magazines, specifically requesting Mad and Cosmopolitan. One lady even gave him her address and said come back later for her collection.

* He presumably was a Black Sabbath and rock / metal fan because he had pets named Sabbath, Black, and Heavy. He also hung around the “acid head” group in high school and once tried to join his roommates’ friends’ rock band (denied). He attended a Rolling Stones concert in high school with a date.

*His mother likely had a mental illness of her own. She accused her husband of stealing her rings during her sleep, poisoning her, and infidelity, including claiming he hid a mistress in the woods during a family camping trip.

*His father worked in computers for the Air Force. He had difficulty accepting his son’s mental illness and tried to play it off as laziness or due to the drugs.

*He was given a Volkswagen as a graduation present in 1968. Sometime after that, he had an old Ford, then a motorcycle. He primarily used a bicycle until buying a Ford Ranchero in Colorado.

*Despite being someone usually described as having a flat affect, Biondi said that despite unable to get Chase to really “crack,” he did seem to tear up when discussing the murder of the toddler.

*He kept clippings of both his crimes and the Hillside Stranglers’.

*He did have insight that what he was doing was wrong hence why he did not get reason by insanity (admitting what he did was wrong, using gloves at the scene, disposing of evidence, running from the police).

*The orange ski parka was bought from a Sacramento Dept. Store called Weinstock’s. It was a present from his father that Chase picked out.

*Death: There seems to be some debate on if he truly wanted to end his life versus thinking he was trying a new idea for his afflictions. He had saved his pills for 2 - 3 weeks. Four papers were found in a cardboard box with one detailing “when Richard takes the pills…” and his thoughts on future events. He was last seen alive at 8 AM lying on his back in bed with the pillow over his face. He did not respond when asked if he wanted breakfast. He was found deceased at 11 am with him facedown on his bed, legs hanging off. His face was turned slightly and some blood was near his head. He was wearing jeans, pullover sweaters, and tennis shoes.

*A lawsuit was pursued against Chase’s parents and his doctors but it was dismissed.

*Nancy Holden, the woman who encountered him in the grocery store and reported him to the police after seeing his police sketch, was given a a public service award and a check for 1,000 dollars from the Sacramento Bee’s Secret Witness.

*Beatrice Chase reported he was an easy baby and could walk by nine months and hit all his milestones on time; however, he wet the bed until he was eight. He also played with matches (once actually setting a fire) and demonstrated cruelty towards animals. This would be a hallmark of his life.

*His childhood included great discord amongst his parents and their financial issues. While he was in junior high, the family lost their home.

*His maternal grandfather died in a tractor accident months after Richard’s birth. His maternal grandmother died just weeks before him. His mother died in 1990, his father 1991, and his stepmother in 1995. I can confirm his sister is still alive and lives in a different state.

Beatrice reported Richard began cooking at age 13 but would burn up pans and not clean up messes such as spilling things onto the floor.

His maternal grandmother also reported hearing him at night speaking to himself, including in third person. “Are you a good boy, Richard? Yes, you’re a good boy.”

*His jobs often didn’t last long. He worked for a paint store for a few days. He worked as a bus driver for his grandmother and uncle’s program for special needs children, but was fired for not cleaning the bus or getting gas or the oil changes. He also worked as a typist. He began receiving welfare shortly after his schizophrenia diagnosis, which his father was not a fan of. Chase was able to do well enough working on home renovations with his father but not with typical employment.

*His apartment was so covered in blood it was even on a Crest toothpaste cap.

*The reading materials in his apartment included gun and psychology magazines, things about the Old West, book called Psychic People and one about totalitarianism by William Ebenstein. He also had kept his high school yearbooks as well as kept newspaper articles about violent deaths. He kept an overlay from a medical textbook, photocopied article called “Evolution of Menace,” and underlined an article about “Understimulation” from Introduction to Psychology by Ernest Hilgard. He kept a rambling notebook and had a subscription to Prevention Magazine.

*He had a list of people he believed conspired against him that included Bill Cosby, Hugh Hefner, Raymond Burr, and Frank Sinatra.

*He had a fear of needles, which seems apt considering his somatic delusions, especially those about blood.

*This is speculation but I believe the origin of his middle name, Trenton, may come from the fact his father hailed from New Jersey.

My old post:

Researching Richard Chase in newspaper archives and found some interesting facts

• In addition to the orange ski parka, Richard allegedly also wore a leather visor adorned with "crudely" drawn depictions of a pitchfork, a bird, and a six pointed star around a swastika during his arrest.

• Richard's motion to defend himself was denied, as was his request for a lawyer from the Jewish Defense League or ACLU.

• Richard claimed the jail food included "tumors" in the meat, which gave him cancer. He also stated he was once from the food so sick he couldn't speak for days. His diet consisted mostly of prepackaged candy bars. Richard testified in late March 1979 for three hours. Part of this testimony included his treatment by other prisoners. Chase said he experienced "extermination camp tactics" with threats of "having his nose cut off." He also was called a "baby eater."

•While on death row, guards reported he ate around once a week and six weeks before his death had to be admitted to a medical facility due to his malnutrition from a hunger strike. Chase allegedly "taunted" suicide, although the guards claimed he showed no signs of depression. He also rarely exercised, never went outside, and kept to himself.

• On his sexual impotence, Richard claimed his roommates called him "queer" and other slurs. He thought his condition could be linked to hernias. Also, Chase claimed one "Jesus freak" housemate piqued his interest in religion. Richard claimed he "could be a descedent of Jesus" despite his false claim of being Jewish.

• After his death, in Richard's cell a note was found. This note was a timeline Chase created for "events he thought were going to happen." Some of these listings were written in third person e.g. "Before Richard takes the pills..." Officials said the writings were in a way only Chase could understand. Also, he mentioned his being in space and "zapping things."

• A high school girlfriend of Chase's reported he had an interest in writing and once wrote a piece on surfing she found so impressive she couldn't believe he wrote it. She also said he informed her he bought a pet duck he killed the next day when he rolled over it in his sleep. She claimed his sexual dysfunction caused a damaged self image. The couple broke up in 1969, but Chase visited her in 1972 to ask if she had any marijuana for sell, which he used daily during their relationship.

• One of the dog breeders Richard purchased puppies from reported Chase was constantly dirty and also wore strange feminine and "Hollywood" like sunglasses. Chase interrupted the testimony to tell his lawyer that these were yellow glasses.

• Richard had a fixation on Old West outlaws, especially the Younger Brothers. His mother reported he once requested a cowboy hat and red handkerchief, which she did not buy. He once superimposed his image onto a poster of old outlaws.

• In the days following the arrest, Richard's stepmother reported the elder Chase was being seen by a doctor due to the strain. Richard's father when taking the stand reported he visited his son only once in the jail. The younger Richard discussed wanting an English lawyer with blue eyes while his father "mostly cried." The elder Richard Chase called his son a "beautiful child" who ended up once hitting a door with a golf club while his father stood on the other side. He also said his former wife accused him of poisoning her, commiting adultery, and teaching their son how to smoke marijuana. Richard E. Chase stated "society will kill my son," upon learning his son's impending execution, "and maybe they're right, I don't know." He was unsure if he cried more for "all those people he killed" or "for Rick."

•Chase's little sister stated she became afraid of her brother during his high school years. She "never talked to him" following his June 1968 graduation. She said Richard in one phase took a bath every two hours to "improve circulation" before seldom cleaning himself. At the time of her testimony, she claimed she never called or visited her brother in jail.

• Chase rarely showed emotion in the trial, but during the testimony of Mr. Wallin, Richard turned to his mother and grandmother to smile "distractedly" at them. While he apparently often gazed at the crowd with no interest, he stared at his mother while his lawyer described their relationship. At the end of one trial day, Chase being taken away suddenly turned around to press his teeth together and make a face at the crowd. He once spit on the floor.

• Beatrice Chase claimed her son talked to voices as soon as 1971 or 1972, but stated he never mentioned being anemic. Richard interrupted to say he brought this up when he turned twenty three. During the trial, she took notes and disagreed with large amounts of testimony, especially that of her ex-husband. She also deflected Richard's involvement in the Wallin killing by blaming the family dog for not protecting her. After his testimony, Mr. Wallin directed the comment "some son you have" towards her. She alleged the jury did not take the severity of her son's mental illness when sentencing him.

• A psychologist, John W. Adams reported Chase "tends to dehumanize females," by treating with "overt tenderness" to cover "airy contempt and refusal to take them seriously" and as "exploitable." This report linked Chase's relationship with his mother to his "ruthless aggression." Chase displayed an "immature personality" and "is sexually inept." He also stated Chase's IQ as 88 although other sources have claimed the number as 95.

• In a 'calm' voice, Richard interrupted the judge with rambling about UFOs and other conspiracies during the verdict.

•Chase at some point told a friend he wanted to work out. Weights were found in the apartment.

• In a notebook, he wrote in 'small and crabbed handwriting', "My name is Richard Chase. I am a 0100 computer. I was sent here in the year 10,000." Chase's father worked as a computer programmer, which may have played a role in this writing. He also drew a "phallic symbol pointed towards the figure's internal organs." Another rambling was “When you think you see us when we’re not there we are around the corner. I will end the world by flooding if I get killed. Gott.”

• In June 1977, an associate of Richard's childhood Cub Scouts reported Chase wore a coat and scarf despite the heat. Chase also called him to ask about UFOs.

• Chase claimed he worked as a dishwasher at a place called "Chuck's. He believed his low pay compared to the "German" waiter and former friend was due to Nazi persecution. Chase said he realized he was Jewish due to large jugular veins. The psychiatrist, Elmer Galioni, pointed out Richard gestured to the wrong vein. Chase claimed he was a "half-breed" by being half German, half Jewish. An "underground Nazi gang" in his high school provided his introduction to drugs.

• Chase claimed he received a phone call in 1974 which told him he needed blood to survive being poisoned with dish soap and detergents by his mother. The same year he sent his mother a last will and testament claiming he had a set of "mashed bones 6,000 years old in India."

•Early in the trial an unknow source called in a threat against Richard Trenton Chase's life.

•His appearance varied during the trial. In video archives he wears a white collar shirt in his testimony and often wore black jacket over in other clips. Other times he wore a brown plaid shirt. He shaved portions of his hair throughout, but neglected his facial hair. His prison garb included a red jumpsuit, which emphasized his frail frame and other days a long sleeve blue work shirt with a bright orange t-shirt over and slippers.

•Prosecution compared his mental illness to a Waylon Jennings song called “I’ve Always Been Crazy, But It’s Kept Me From Going Insane.”

•Chase received around 250 dollars a month for his disability with about 120 - 140 going towards his rent.

• Around 1969, Richard worked briefly as a dry cleaning company's delivery driver. Another job in this time period was for Retailers Credit Association answering phones and typing. His mother recalls he was "very good" at this job.

•In his senior year of high school, Richard obtained a kitten from his girlfriend. He raised the cat named Calico Kitten, but upon watching a television segment in 1973 or 1974 on a cat receiving medical treatment Richard killed the cat in a rage and drank its blood. He claimed he was angered an animal could receive help when he felt he could not, but said he felt remorseful.

•An estimated fifty classmates attended his eleventh birthday party.

•Despite his ritualistic pattern of killing and drinking blood for health, Richard admitted he perceived no improvement in his medical status, but that the drinking still felt therapeutic.

•In June 1977, Chase claims he called the White House and FBI to report on unsolved murders which “they didn’t understand.”

•His nickname as a child was “Chickie.”

•In a letter submitted to the court in March 1978, Richard recounted his early life with encounters of inadequacy. He allegedly failed tryouts for teams and entered last while on the track team. His parents once argued in a language he “could not understand.” Richard blamed his usage of drugs on an underground Nazi syndicate. He also mentions jumping off the Fair Oaks Bridge with a party.