Killer Summer

About Killer Summer

In the summer of 1985, Richard Ramirez — the serial killer known as the Night Stalker — unleashed a seven-month reign of terror across Los Angeles, leaving a trail of murder, rape, and home invasion that stretched from the San Gabriel Valley to San Francisco. He became the most feared man in California, and one of the most notorious serial killers in American history. Killer Summer is a narrated memoir podcast about what it was like to be nine years old in the San Fernando Valley while all of it unfolded. Writer and narrator Scott A. Weiss grew up in Canoga Park, just miles from where Ramirez struck. This is his story — and the story of a city that locked its windows, bought guns, and held its breath through the hottest summer on record, waiting to find out who would be next. Drawn from personal memory, contemporaneous Los Angeles news broadcasts, and the historical record, Killer Summer weaves true crime investigation with coming-of-age memoir — the Night Stalker case told through the eyes of a kid who lived inside the fear, organized a neighborhood watch with his friends, and watched the capture unfold on live television on a Labor Day weekend that changed everything. Topics covered across three episodes: the Night Stalker murders, Richard Ramirez, LAPD and LA County Sheriff's investigation, the San Fernando Valley in the 1980s, serial killer psychology, the Boyle Heights capture, Los Angeles true crime history, childhood trauma, and the end of innocence. If you grew up in Los Angeles in the 1980s, you remember that summer. This is for you. Visit the show website at https://killersummerpodcast.com (https://killersummer.netlify.com)for additional details.

Publisher

Scott A. Weiss

Category

true crime

Language

en

Explicit

Yes

First episode

3 Jul 2026

Latest episode

27 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

5 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   27 Sept 2026

   Unresolved Mysteries (Special)

   Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note. (https://rss.com/podcasts/killer-summer/voicemail) Episode 4 traces the internal aftermath of the Night Stalker's capture, exploring how the residue of childhood horror metabolizes into a lifelong relationship with dark stories. Beginning in the autumn after Ramirez’s arrest, the narrative follows a young narrator moving past the immediate terror only to face the daily anxieties of middle school, the ground-shaking disruption of the 1987 Whittier earthquake, and his growing fixation on slasher cinema as a way to process unaddressed trauma. Ultimately leading to the creation of his own monster in a student writing competition, the episode closes on the edge of a new chapter as a family move to Seattle unexpectedly places him at the doorstep of the Green River Killer's domain. It’s a reflection on horror as a mechanism for control, the enduring weight of childhood memory, and how hard it is to outrun the shadows of the past.

2. 

   26 Sept 2026

   Unresolved Mysteries

   Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note. (https://rss.com/podcasts/killer-summer/voicemail) Episode 4 traces the internal aftermath of the Night Stalker's capture, exploring how the residue of childhood horror metabolizes into a lifelong relationship with dark stories. Beginning in the autumn after Ramirez’s arrest, the narrative follows a young narrator moving past the immediate terror only to face the daily anxieties of middle school, the ground-shaking disruption of the 1987 Whittier earthquake, and his growing fixation on slasher cinema as a way to process unaddressed trauma. Ultimately leading to the creation of his own monster in a student writing competition, the episode closes on the edge of a new chapter as a family move to Seattle unexpectedly places him at the doorstep of the Green River Killer's domain. It’s a reflection on horror as a mechanism for control, the enduring weight of childhood memory, and how hard it is to outrun the shadows of the past.

3. 

   3 Jul 2026

   We Got Our Guy

   Host Billy Jensen recounts the dramatic morning East L.A. residents Manuel de la Torre and Faustino Penon captured Richard Ramirez, exploring the lasting impact of that summer's fear and personal history.

4. 

   3 Jul 2026

   The Night Stalker

   Host [Host Name] interviews detectives Frank Salerno and Gil Carrillo about the Night Stalker's reign of terror and the city's escalating fear.

5. 

   3 Jul 2026

   The Valley

   In this interview, host [Host Name] explores how a nine-year-old boy's idyllic 1985 suburban childhood in the San Fernando Valley collides with the Night Stalker's murder spree, revealing the chilling realization that the killer's hunting ground is his own.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

3.9 / 5

39 ratings

Contact Killer Summer

Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.