Ramón Bojórquez Salcido (born March 6, 1961) is a Mexican convicted

spree killer A spree killer is someone who commits a criminal act that involves two or more murders or homicides in a short time, in multiple locations. The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics defines a spree killing as "killings at two or more locations wit ...

who is currently on

death row Death row, also known as condemned row, is a place in a prison that houses inmates awaiting execution after being convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution ( ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

San Quentin State Prison San Quentin State Prison (SQ) is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men, located north of San Francisco in the unincorporated place of San Quentin in Marin County. Opened in July 1852, San Quentin is th ...

. He was convicted for the 1989 murders of six female family members and one male supervisor at his workplace. His victims included his wife and two of his daughters, four-year-old Sofía and 22-month-old Teresa. A third daughter, three-year-old Carmina, was left lying in a field beside the bodies of her sisters for thirty-six hours after being slashed across the throat by her father but was eventually rescued. Salcido's victims were killed in the cities of Sonoma and

Cotati, California Cotati (; Miwok: ''Kota’ti'') is an incorporated city in Sonoma County, California, United States, located approximately north of San Francisco in the 101 corridor between Rohnert Park and Petaluma. Cotati's population as of the 2020 Cens ...

. Maria, Marion, and Ruth Richards were killed at a house at Lakewood Drive in Cotati, and Salcido's relatives and Toovey were killed in Sonoma.

Details

On April 14, 1989, after a night of drinking and snorting

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly used recreationally for its euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from the leaves of two Coca species native to South Am ...

, Ramon Salcido drove his three young daughters to a county dump, slashed their throats, and threw them into a ditch, killing Sofia and Teresa; Carmina survived. Salcido then drove to

, where he killed his mother-in-law and her two daughters. He then returned to his home in

Boyes Hot Springs Boyes Hot Springs (also called Boyes Springs or The Springs)is a census-designated place (CDP) in Sonoma Valley, Sonoma County, California, United States. The population was 6,656 people at the 2010 census. Resorts in Boyes Hot Springs, El Verano ...

, where he shot his wife, Angela Salcido. He then went to the Grand Cru winery, his place of employment, where he killed a co-worker, Tracey Toovey. Salcido fled after the killings to Mexico via Calexico. He was arrested in

Guasave Guasave () is a city and the seat of the homonymous municipality in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. It is located in the northwestern part of Mexico, southeast of the city of Los Mochis. It stands at . In the 2010 census, the city reported a popu ...

, Mexico, on April 19, 1989. When arrested, Salcido told police that he committed the murders because he suspected his wife was having an affair with a coworker.

Victims

* Ángela Salcido, 24, wife of Ramon Salcido * Sofía Salcido, 4, daughter of Angela Salcido * Carmina Salcido, 3, daughter of Angela Salcido (survived) * Teresa Salcido, 1, daughter of Angela Salcido * Marion Louise Richards, 47, mother of Angela Salcido * Ruth Richards, 12, daughter of Marion Richards * Maria Richards, 8, daughter of Marion Richards * Tracy Toovey, 35, winemaster at Grand Cru winery

Trial

Salcido's trial had been moved out of

Sonoma County Sonoma County () is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 488,863. Its county seat and largest city is Santa Rosa. It is to the north of Marin County and the south of Mendocino ...

due to extensive news coverage of the case. On October 30, 1990, Salcido was found guilty by a jury of six counts of first-degree murder, one count of second-degree murder, and two counts of attempted murder. On November 16, 1990, Salcido was sentenced by a jury to the death penalty. Marteen Miller, Salcido's attorney, contended that his client was under the influence of cocaine and alcohol during the slayings. The defense had sought a verdict of second-degree murder or

manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th ...

under the circumstance that the drugs had put Mr. Salcido in a state of psychotic depression when the rampage began.

Media

Investigation Discovery Investigation Discovery (stylized and branded on-air as ID since 2008) is an American multinational pay television network dedicated to true crime documentaries owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. As of February 2015, approximately 86 million Amer ...

portrayed the Ramon Salcido case in the docudrama series "Evil I", episode: "Killer in the Sun", originally aired 2012. The investigative reporting series ABC's ''

20/20 Visual acuity (VA) commonly refers to the clarity of vision, but technically rates an examinee's ability to recognize small details with precision. Visual acuity is dependent on optical and neural factors, i.e. (1) the sharpness of the retinal ...

'' features exclusive interviews with survivor Carmina Salcido; the episode is titled 'What Happened to Carmina", originally aired in October 2009.

Notes

External links

Not Lost Forever: My Story of Survival
by Carmina Salcido with Steve Jackson

''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...