Douglas Dietrich and the "Master Sergeant Michael Ramirez" Lie

After reviewing an unpublished draft article from August 2018, I decided to investigate Dietrich's claim that he met the "uncle" of serial killer Richard Ramirez, "MSgt Michael Ramirez," while working as a librarian at the US Army Post,  Presidio.

I was able to find a 2018 interview "Satanism in the Military" with Offplanet Radio host Randy Maugan:

Dietrich's claim:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVYvSsD1u_o&t=2s

From 32:55 - 38:00

"Richard Ramirez was a product of Michael Aquino. As a matter of fact, I met an individual who was a Master Sergeant of the United States Army's Special Forces Green Berets just as Michael Aquino was an officer in the Special Forces Green Berets, and then you realize this isn't John Wayne at all, these are murderous, psychotic peoples and practicing Satanists.

In the sense of MSgt Michael Ramirez, when I met him at the Presidio he was going to Letterman Army Medical Center for Methadone treatments which he could get when he was in San Francisco just as he could get them from Veterans Administrations when he was in Los Angeles. Well, he would come into the Presidio military base library and he would have a shoebox full of memories of photographs of young Vietnamese girls who he would rape while he was murdering them.

He would force them to provide him oral sex while he was having a gun pointed to their heads.  He would take POV shots of them giving him a blowjob while pointing a gun to their head then the next photographs would show that he had beheaded them. Various other atrocities he committed to them, various desecrations...

These were damning evidence for war crimes but remember it wasn't a legally declared war.  So this was one of the reasons Richard Nixon had to pardon the idiot Lt. James Calley, who was responsible for the Mai Lai massacre.  The reason he did that was because if he didn't do that it would open the floodgates for other American servicemen to be tried of war crimes  in Vietnam and that would have brought out the horror of individuals like MSgt Michael Ramirez.

Now it was in my preventing MSgt Michael Ramirez from going into the children's room because of course where I worked at the Presidio Military Base Library as a Department of Defense Research Librarian, we had a children's room that was open to all the preditors.

But the "old biddies" who worked as Federal employees were far too intimated by men like MSgt Ramirez to protect the children from him. He would literally go in there to molest or grope or rape the children.  And people would take his shoebox of memories, his photographs. Other GIs, men off duty, or retirees would take his photographs into the bathroom and masturbate.

So at some point, I had to speak to this man several times to prevent him from going into the children's room.  I found out he was on his Methadone treatments and asked him why he wasn't in prison because obviously he had been sentenced to Methadone treatment, and he said, "Oh, the judge sentenced me because I was a veteran Green Beret and did service in Vietnam but he gave me this light sentence".

Well, I asked what did you do? and it turned out he had murdered his wife. Most guys get away with it, how did you even get caught? Most of the guys I knew who killed their wives never even made it to trial!  And he said I did it in front of a witness and I said, well, who was the witness and it turned out that it was his nephew, Richard Ramirez, the Night Stalker."

"He killed his wife under orders from Michael Aquino so he could do that in front of his nephew in order to create a primal trauma to create the Night Stalker in the same way that Michael Aquino boasted to me that he had created the Zodiak Killer".

Who is U.S. Army MSgt Michael Ramirez?

Could it be possible for Douglas Dietrich to have met this man? I already knew the answer and it is NO.  I have already proven that Dietrich was never employed by the Department of Defense as a librarian at the Presidio. 

https://rkcolejr.blogspot.com/2019/11/more-proof-douglas-dietrich-was-never.html

Yet something about this story involving the "Night Stalker" Richard Ramirez and a relative and combat veteran of Vietnam was provoking enough to take a closer look.

As I followed the scant trail of internet references, I discovered they all appeared to originate from a single source: New York crime novelist Philip Carlo and his 1996 book: "The Night Stalker: The Life and Crimes of Richard Ramirez (The True Story of America's Most Feared Serial Killer)."

Carlo described "Mike" as being Richard's older cousin, (not his uncle as Dietrich claimed) who had returned to El Paso, Texas in 1972 after serving two tours in Vietnam as a US Army Green Beret.

Miguel A. Valles 1970-71

(Image source:  https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/1272135/miguel-angel-valles)

"Cousin Miguel or, “Mike” as he was often called, returned from Vietnam a war hero with two tours of duty under his belt and four medals on his thickly muscled chest. His Green Beret platoon of twenty men had been surrounded by the Vietcong at one point, and Mike and another soldier had been the only ones who’d made it out alive... According to Richard, Mike had twenty-nine known kills".

"Mike grew to actually enjoy war. When the American soldiers learned the Vietcong believed they wouldn’t ascend to heaven if they lost a body part before dying, the soldiers began mutilating their bodies. It was not uncommon to see an American soldier with a necklace of human ears. The raping of the enemy’s women was commonplace, too, and Mike had more than his share of Vietcong women. 

When Mike returned from Vietnam, Richard began hanging out with him. He was twelve. To Richard, Mike was special—a bona fide, real live hero, a man who’d gone into battle and come back victorious, with medals and Polaroid photos to prove he had been there and done it".

"In these pictures—which Mike showed Richard many times—there were Vietnamese women on their knees being forced to perform fellatio on Mike. In each, he looked grimly at the camera and held a cocked .45 to the woman’s head, genuine fear in the woman’s eyes.

Mike kept these black-and-white pictures, all bent by handling, in a shoebox at the top of a closet. He also kept eight shrunken heads he’d brought back from ’Nam in a battered suitcase under his bed. He told Richard he’d used the heads as pillows in Vietnam."

Douglas Dietrich had described the same details in his interview that Philip Carlo claimed were related to him about "Mike" by the killer Ramirez himself.

But Carlo never published specific details such as the dates of "Mike's" service, his duty assignments, his rank, and most importantly, his real name. 

Carlo's failure to properly identify Richard's "cousin Mike" led to the decades-long speculation that his last name was also Ramirez.

A Reddit forum posting from 2020 titled "What happened to Richard Ramirez's Cousin?" provided a clue: "His Full name was Miguel Angel Valles if you wanna find his Obituary".

https://www.reddit.com/r/serialkillers/comments/gjjqpm/what_happened_to_richard_ramirezs_cousin/

The truth about Cousin Miguel Valles:

I submitted a FOIA request to the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) for releasable information from his service record.  I strongly suspect that Valles was not a member of the US Army Special Forces for many reasons including his 7th-grade level of education, rank at discharge, and years of service.

NPRC FOIA Request (address redacted)

According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Miguel Angel Valles served in Vietnam and was discharged from the US Army as a Private First Class (PFC) E-3.

Valles was likely married with two children prior to and during his service in Vietnam. Local El Paso news sources reported in 1973 that he had a wife and two sons, Miguel Jr (5) born in 1967, and Jose, (2) born in 1971.

A Fatal Tragic Accident:

A gas explosion occurred on the early morning (6:00 am) of Easter Sunday, April 22, 1973, taking the lives of seven occupants of an apartment building including the five-year-old son of Miguel and Josefina "Jessie" Valles. Miguel Valles and his wife were reported as being severely injured.

The El Paso Times reported that Valles had "recently been released from a VA Hospital and had received a check from the US Government for his disability."

This report contradicts statements made by Valles's lawyer and later by Philip Carlo and others, that Miguel Valles had not received adequate diagnosis and treatment by the Veterans Administration.

In order for Valles to have "received a check", he would have undergone a series of evaluations ultimately resulting in diagnosis and treatment.  The process would also have involved Valles applying for VA disability benefits based on any previous diagnosis.

Valles would have ultimately faced further evaluation resulting in a "Claims and Pension" (C&P) Exam. Valles would have been adjudicated and awarded a "Rating" for a percentage of disability.  

The monetary award associated with the rating would have been retroactive to the date of Valles's application for VA disability. Although medical records are not publicly releasable, the existence of such an award is evidence that he had been evaluated and received treatment by the Veterans Administration.

Valles and his wife were hospitalized in critical and serious condition. The 2-year-old was satisfactory, but the 5-year-old, Miguel Angel, Jr. died.  The explosion was not "bizarre" as some internet sources claim, and was ruled an accident.

Certificate of Death: Miguel A. Valles, Jr.

No mention of the accident was ever made by Richard Ramirez or by Philip Carlo in his book and the dates he provides for almost all the events he mentions related to Miguel Valles are incorrect as the following copies of the El Paso Times newspaper reports show.

El Paso Times - Monday, April 23, 1973

El Paso Times - Monday, April 23, 1973

From page 3-A El Paso Times - Monday, April 23, 1973

Valles kills his wife:

On the evening on May 4, 1975, Josefina "Jessie" Valles returned to their 3024 Frutas Ave. #10 apartment from grocery shopping to find Miguel Valles had been drinking all day.  An argument ensued and evidence found later at the scene seemed to indicate she had taken off her wedding ring and had thrown it onto the floor. A packed suitcase was also found at the scene.

At about 8:30 pm, Miguel Valles shot his wife Josefina in the face with a .38 caliber revolver. Neighbors alerted the El Paso Police who responded to find Valles intoxicated and hysterical. 

El Paso Times - May 5, 1975

El Paso, TX Police photo: Miguel A. Valles

Contrary to author Philip Carlo, Josefina Valles did not die at the scene.

El Paso Times - May 7, 1975

According to the Texas Department of State Health Services; Austin Texas, Josefina B. Valles died on May 15, 1975. 

Certificate of Death - Josefina B. Vallez

                                  
According to the Certificate of Death, the body of Josefina Valles was removed from R.E. Thompson General Hospital by the funeral director J.E. Vargas, Jr., and taken to Juarez, Mexico.

Miguel Valles would remain in the El Paso County jail for over 3 years. During that time he was diagnosed as being a "severe schizophrenic unable to function without medication".  He was found incompetent to stand trial twice until a jury found him guilty of Voluntary Manslaughter in November 1978.

El Paso Police Detective Alfredo Bonilla testified that Valles had been drinking heavily the day of the murder and that he had observed the wife's wedding ring to be on the floor and that a suitcase had been packed.

The El Paso Times report stated: " There were no witnesses to the shooting"

The Richard Ramirez Version:

You can listen to Philip Carlo tell the obviously fact-twisted tale himself in this 2022 video by YouTube creator OraleCarillo: "Richard Ramirez witnessing the murder of Jessie (First-hand account story)"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Trp-bot4gt4

There are several blatantly false statements made by Carlo. 

1. "The shooting occurred at about 4:00 in the afternoon"  Neighbors alerted local El Paso police at 8:30 pm.

2. "Mike shot Jessie in the forehead." She was shot just above the right lip with the bullet exiting behind her right ear.

3. "Jessie died instantly."  She was shot on the evening of May 4th and hospitalized in critical condition for more than a week before she died on May 15, 1975.

4. "Richard Ramirez was a witness."  Police reported there were no witnesses.

5.  "Mike's two young sons were witnesses."  Miguel Valles did not have two sons in 1975. One (Miguel Jr.) died at age 5 two years before in 1973. The other son (Jose, age 5) was not at the scene when the police arrived shortly after the crime.

6.  "Mike called the cops."  Neighbors were alerted by the argument, gunshot, and Mike screaming he had killed his wife and called the police.

7.  "Mike" was released and got away with the murder."  Miguel Valles was found guilty of Voluntary Manslaughter and sentenced to 5 years in Texas State Prison.

Carlo wrote that Richard Ramirez was an eyewitness to the killing and paraphrased Ramierez in typical Hollywood crime writer style.

"In one quick move, Mike raised the pistol and shot Jessie right in the face at point-blank range. Dead, she hit the ground hard, a finger of blood squirting from her wound as her body shook, trembled, and quaked in death’s final embrace".

Ramirez: "Strange. I mean to see something like that—the line between life and death right there in front of me. Intense. When she went down I saw it all in slow motion". 

Carlo: "He shot her in front of you, Richard? "

Ramirez: "Yes, me and my two cousins, his two kids, boys three and six".

Carlo: "How close? "

Ramirez: "A few feet away"

(Carlo, Philip. The Night Stalker: The Disturbing Life and Chilling Crimes of Richard Ramirez (p. 673). Citadel Press. Kindle Edition). 

Both Carlo and Ramirez stated "Mike's" residence was a "house".  

3024 Frutas Ave, El Paso, TX is a small, multi-family apartment complex called "Truth Apartments." The two single-story brick buildings total 10,000 square feet. The 10 small apartments (1,000 sq. ft each) are separated by a narrow alley with doors and windows facing each other. 

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/3024-Frutas-Ave-El-Paso-TX-79905/2083566839_zpid/?

3024 Frutas Ave (front)

3024 Frutas Ave. (alley with entrances and windows facing inward)

Given the close proximity, it would have been nearly impossible for Richard Ramirez to have left the scene after the shooting without the neighbors or responding police noticing him.

According to Carlo, "Mike" told Richard to leave after telling him, “You don’t ever say you saw this!” he said. “You understand?”

The story has been perpetuated and embellished for decades now.  Probably the most egregious "inaccuracies" by Philip Carlo that continue to be repeated are the details of Valles's trial and aftermath.

"Seven months after the incident, Mike went to trial for the killing. His defense was temporary insanity. His lawyer argued that Mike had been exposed to too much combat, had never gotten therapy, and was not legally sane. The prosecutor argued that war or not, Mike had killed his wife in cold blood and should be sent to jail, not to an asylum where he could be released when and if the doctors deemed him cured. 

"The jury, sympathetic toward Mike, a hero who had fought gallantly for his country against the dreaded Communists, found Mike innocent by reason of insanity, and he was committed to a Texas state mental hospital."

Incredibly, Carlo wrote that Miguel Valles was released from a State Mental Hospital in 1977, one year before he was actually found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to serve 5 years with time served!

"Mike was released from the Texas State Mental Hospital in late 1977, four and a half years after killing Jessie. The doctors felt he had stabilized and was fit to be returned to society. The doctors reasoned that his not having gotten extensive therapy after the horrors of Vietnam was to blame. He deserved another chance."

"Mike explained the concepts of guerilla warfare to Richard and told him more about his sexual conquests in ’Nam. These stories hung inside Richard’s head like obscene, perverse paintings. Mike still had the pictures of his conquests, which he showed Richard, and these photographs gave dimension, life, and sustenance to Mike’s tales of sexual dominance and sadism and Richard’s subsequent fantasies. Mike and Richard again drove up and down Alameda Street, listening to music and smoking pot—just as they had done when Richard was twelve. The good old days were back. Cousin Mike was free as a bird."

It was then that Richard claimed "Mike"  took him under his wing and trained him to be a killer. 

The problem is that none of it is true.

El Paso Times - Nov. 14, 1978

Valles had already served 3.5 years in jail by the date of his sentencing and would serve another 1.5 years in a Texas State Prison before his release date in May 1981.  

As a result of his felony conviction and incarceration for murdering his wife, Valles's VA disability award payments would have been reduced after he served over 60 days. "Once a Veteran is released from prison, compensation payments may be reinstated based on the severity of the service-connected disability at that time".  

https://www.benefits.va.gov/persona/veteran-incarcerated.asp

Death of Miguel A. "Mike" Valles:

According to the El Paso Times obituary, Valles had remarried and was survived by eight of his nine children.

He was also reported to have had an addiction to Heroin and had problems with obesity and a heart condition. He died on April 8, 1995.

El Paso Times- Obituary

Miguel A. Valles was buried next to his son at Ft. Bliss, Texas National Cemetery:

Source: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs 

Ft. Bliss. TX National Cemetery - Section I ~ Row 24 ~ Site 3260

Source:  U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

Grave of Miguel Angel Valles, Jr.

Conclusion:

Unfortunately, the story continues to be manipulated by numerous internet sources. One, in particular, YouTube creator "Explore With US" produced a video in 2021 titled: "What Netflix Didn't Tell You About the Nightstalker: Richard Ramirez," claiming that Richard Ramirez went to live with his sister Ruth and her husband Roberto.

The video claims that Ruth's husband "Roberto was a voyeur who trained Richard to sneak around at night" and repeats the fraudulent claim by Philip Carlo that cousin "Mike" was released in 1977.

Philip Carlo claimed he spent 3 years of research and over 100 hours at San Quentin prison's death row interviewing Ramirez. He claimed that Ramirez was in possession of the same Vietnam-era photos he was shown by his cousin "Mike" and Ramirez had actually shown them to him.  

How could this be possible?  Ramirez had been incarcerated in California since 1985, 1,000 miles from his cousin Miguel in El Paso.

If this were even remotely true, it disproves Douglas Dietrich's claim that "MSgt Michael Ramirez" had the photos in the Presidio Post Library. It is more likely that Dietrich is lying and that Philip Carlo deliberately published the lies of a manipulative serial killer for his own notoriety and financial gain.

Richard Ramirez died in prison in 2013 while awaiting execution. 

He was keenly aware of the public’s fascination with him.  He had skillfully manipulated the press, including Philip Carlo, and aggressively promoted his public identity as the satanic "Night Stalker". 

Unfortunately, his broad appeal among serial killer aficionados, particularly women, continues. And the book by Philip Carlo remains the primary source of misinformation regarding "cousin Mike" found on the internet today.

Sources:

Carlo, Philip: The Night Stalker: The Disturbing Life and Chilling Crimes of Richard Ramirez, (1996, 2016) Kindle Edition: p. 238-245, 261, 262.

Carlo, Philip: The Night Stalker: The Life and Crimes of Richard Ramirez (The True Story of America's Most Feared Serial Killer), Kensington (1996) ISBN 1-57566-030-X

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Carlo

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Ramirez

https://www.reddit.com/r/serialkillers/comments/gjjqpm/what_happened_to_richard_ramirezs_cousin/

https://crimeviral.com/2021/03/richard-ramirez-cousin-mike-5-disturbing-facts/

https://www.trulia.com/p/tx/el-paso/3024-frutas-el-paso-tx-79905--2072829175

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/1272135/miguel-angel-valles

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs -National Cemetery Administration: https://gravelocator.cem.va.gov/ngl/index.jsp

El Paso Times News Archives - Miguel Angel Valles, Sr.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4k_K6ySKlM

Cipriano, Andrea (2021): https://www.thecrimesheet.com/post/night-stalker-peeling-back-an-evil-mind

Professor Ramos's Blog: Carolina (2018) https://professorramos.blog/2018/05/21/did-a-rough-childhood-create-a-monster/

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/wicked-deeds/201805/why-many-serial-killers-crave-public-notoriety

Texas Department of State Health Services; Austin Texas, Josefina B. Valles