Richard Trenton Chase

Richard Trenton Chase was born on May 23^rd 1950 in Santa Clara, California. Chase was raised in an abusive environment, and by the age of 10 he already exhibited signs of the homicidal triad [see previous blog for an in depth explanation of this term] By the time that chase entered into his adolescent years he was already abusing alcohol and drugs and had developed a severe case of hypochondria.

            Chase’s hypochondriac tendencies included; Complaining that his heart would stop beating on many occasions, stating that someone had stolen his pulmonary artery, he believed that the bones in his head were separating and so he shaved his head to monitor the activity, he believed that he needed to hold oranges to his head so that his brain would absorb vitamin C through diffusion, and he left his mother’s house to live with friends because he believed that she was trying to poison him.

            Shortly after moving into an apartment with his friends, they started complaining that Chase was always messed up on alcohol, marijuana, or LSD. His roommates also had the complaint that Chase would constantly walk around completely naked, even when they had guests over. Ultimately they asked Chase to move out of the apartment and when he refused, they decided to vacate the premises and left him to the apartment alone. Once Chase had the apartment to himself, his behavior became even stranger. Chase began to capture, kill, and disembowel various animals and would then devour them RAW. Chase would even mix the raw organs with Coca-Cola in a blender and then drink the mixture with the belief [another extension of his hypochondria] that ingesting the animals would keep his heart from shrinking. Chase’s obsession with eating animals raw went even further when he decided to inject himself with rabbit’s blood in 1973 which ended in a trip to the ER and ultimately an involuntary stint in a psychiatric ward.

            Upon inspection by psychiatrists at the mental facility Chase had been sent to, they determined that Chase had a case of Paranoid Schizophrenia. Chase then underwent a multitude of psychiatric treatments, which included the use of psychotropic drugs, and it was in the year 1976 that Chase was deemed by his psychiatrists to no longer be a threat to himself or to others and was released into the custody of his mother. Chase’s mother weaned him off of his meds and rented him an apartment.

            In 1977 Chase reverted back to his strange behaviors and ended up being arrested in Nevada; His body had been covered in blood and he had a bucket of blood in his truck. The blood was later discovered to be cow’s blood and so no charges were filed. Later that same year, on December 29^th Chase killed his first victim; 51-year-old father of 2, Ambrose Griffin. Chase killed Griffin by means of a drive-by shooting.  Two weeks later, Chase attempted to enter a woman’s home, but lucky for her, her doors had been locked. Chase later told detectives that he believed locked doors to be a sign that he was not welcome [yeah no shit] and that unlocked doors were meant as an invitation to come inside [add to the reasons why my doors stay locked 24/7] A week or so later, Chase was caught while he was inside a couple’s home, going through their belongings. The couple managed to chase him off, but unfortunately for them… Not before he had shit and pissed on their bed and clothes.

            Teresa Wallin became Chase’s next victim; her murder took place on January 23^rd 1978. Wallin was 3 months pregnant at the time of her death. Chase entered her home and shot her 3 times using the same gun he had used in his drive-by shooting of Griffin. After he killed her, Chase raped her corpse whilst simultaneously stabbing her multiple times with a butcher knife from her kitchen. Once he was finished with that, Chase then decided to remove several of Wallin’s organs, cut off one of her nipples, and drink the blood from her breast. Before deciding to leave Wallin’s house, he grabbed dog shit from her yard and proceeded to shove it in her mouth and down her throat.

            On January 27^th 1978 Chase killed his last victims. He entered the home of 38- year old Evelyn Miroth… Upon entering he came across Miroth’s friend Danny Meredith whom he shot on sight. Chase then stole Meredith’s wallet and car keys off his body before continuing his rampage through the rest of the house. He shot Miroth, her 6- year old son Jason, and her 22- month old nephew David Ferreira. Chase then raped, and dismembered and devoured parts of Miroth’s corpse just as he had done with Wallin. Chase’s maniacal acts were stopped short due to a 6- year old girl with whom Jason Miroth had had a scheduled play date with that afternoon; knocking on the door. Chase was startled by the knocking, and quickly fled the scene in Danny Meredith’s car, taking with him the body of little David Ferreira. The little girl alerted the neighbor, who alerted the police. When police entered the crime scene, they discovered in his hurry to leave, Chase had left behind perfect hand and shoe prints in Miroth’s blood… Leading them to eventually finding and arresting Chase.

            In 1979 Chase stood trial on 6 counts of 1^st degree murder. To avoid the death penalty and to receive only life in prison, Chase’s defense lawyers pushed to have him tried on 2^nd degree murder instead, their case resting solely on Chase’s history of mental illness to suggest his crimes had not been premeditated.

            On May 8^th 1979 the jury assigned to Chase’s case found him to be guilty on all 6 counts of 1^st degree murder… The jury had rejected the defense’s argument that his mental illness had meant that his crimes couldn’t have been premeditated and also rejected Chase’s plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. Chase was sentenced to death by gas chamber.

            Once Chase was imprisoned, his fellow inmates became aware of the nature of his crimes and often tried persuading him to commit suicide. This ultimately worked, whether it was because he was persuaded or just because he wanted to…On December 26^th 1980 at the age of 30, Chase was discovered in his cell unresponsive and not breathing. The autopsy report revealed that Chase had overdosed himself on his prescribed antidepressants he had been hoarding for weeks instead of taking.