Born in 1960 in El Paso, Texas, Richard Ramirez (real name: Ricardo Leyva Muñoz Ramirez) was the youngest of Mexican immigrants Mercedes and Julian Ramirez's five children.

According to A&E, Ramirez's four siblings were born with birth defects "ranging from respiratory difficulty to bone deformities," which were all a result of the chemical fumes their mother was exposed to while pregnant and working at a boot factory.

When Ramirez was just 2 years old, a dresser fell on his head, knocking him unconscious and causing a large forehead laceration that required 30 stitches. Three years later at the age of 5, he was hit by a swing that also made him fall unconscious. 

At the age of 6, he began to have seizures and was diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy. It was also at this age that he first witnessed his father, who he described as having a violent temper, beat his older brother Ruben. 

Ramirez, who was raised in a strict Catholic household, went on to become an altar boy. 

According to the Herald Sun, his classmates thought Ramirez "seemed a bit unusual," but he was overall a good student as a kid. At the age of 9, though, he began isolating himself and was described as a loner.