Coroner: 'Night Stalker' Serial Killer Ramirez Died of Lymphoma

Richard Ramirez, the convicted serial killer who died on June 7 at Marin General Hospital while on death row at San Quentin State Prison, was felled by complications from lymphoma, the Marin County Coroner's office said Monday.

Ramirez, 53 and best known as the "Night Stalker," suffered from B-Cell Lymphoma, and also was dealing with the effects of chronic substance abuse and chronic hepatitis C, according to Keith Boyd, a sheriff's Lt. and the assistant county coroner.

Ramirez was pronounced dead at 9:10 a.m. on June 7 while being treated at Marin General. He had been on death row at San Quentin State Prison since 1989, when he was found guilty of 13 murders committed in Southern California in 1984 and 1985, as well as other attempted killings, sexual assaults and burglaries that primarily occurred in Southern California in the 1980s.

Ramirez also shot and killed a man in San Francisco in August 1985 and assaulted the man's wife, who survived the attack.

After his arrest in 1985 and subsequent trial and conviction, Ramirez was put on death row. Prison officials said since 1978, 59 condemned inmates in California have died from natural causes, 22 have committed suicide and 13 have been executed.

There are 735 inmates on death row in California.