Trigger Warning: Rape/sexual assault

There is an odd sense of satisfaction (addiction for some) to watch movies/series about serial killers, knowing about their strange psyche and seeing them getting caught. But no one would have ever wished to encounter them in real life – nor their wildest dreams! Even if we did, it must be a terrifying and horrific experience - something that you won’t even wish for your fierce enemies.

Now imagine what would be a condition of a person who encountered one of America’s most notorious serial killers when she was just six years old.

Anastasia Hronas, a six-year-old toddler, was peacefully sleeping in bed when Richard Ramirez climbed her window in the middle of the night in 1985.

Anastasia Hronas was one of the survivors of America’s most notorious serial killer Richard Ramirez, who came to be known as “Night Stalker.” He terrorized Los Angeles and some part of California in the 1980s.

Unlike any serial killer, Ramirez picked his victims at random and targeted men, women, and children aged 6 to 83. Serial killers usually have a specific type when it comes to picking their victim; their victims may be similar in age, gender, belong to the same profession or have any other similar trait. On the other hand, Ramirez randomly picked his victims, regardless of their gender and age!

Netflix’s four-part docu-series “The Night Stalker: A hunt of a Serial Killer” pays respect to all those people who fought this monster and brought him to justice. And Anastasia Hronas is one of those brave survivors…

Watch the trailer here:

Here are five facts about Anastasia Hronas and her encounter with the infamous killer:

Anastasia Hronas was abducted from her home while she was sleeping

One ill-fated night, six-year-old Anastasia Hronas was sleeping peacefully in bed when Richard Ramirez entered her room and carried her out of the window to his car.

She woke up the moment he carried her in his arms, but she didn’t make any noise. She felt a sense of comfortableness in the arms of a person who was carrying her, so she thought that there was nothing to worry about. But by the time she realized she was wrong, it was too late!

Anastasia Hronas was taken to an abandoned home where she was raped repeatedly

Richard Ramirez kidnapped her and drove her across Los Angeles to his home. “I don’t know how long I was in the car. He wanted me to look at him and touch him and things like that,” Hronas recalling her experience in Netflix’s docu-series.

He zipped her into a duffle bag and carried her inside the home. He only let her out of the bag to repeatedly sexually assault her. She screamed, cried and begged him to stop but he continued what he had decided to do. “I remember saying: ‘Stop, this hurts.’ Something in the way that he would look at me, it was almost like:

‘I’m sorry that I’m doing this to you. But I’m not sorry,’ cause I’m not gonna stop,” Anastasia recalls.

Ramirez kept his gun nearby all along, as he was afraid that something might go wrong. “He didn’t want to take any chances,” said Anastasia.

Richard Ramirez dropped Anastasia off a nearby station

After brutally assaulting and raping her, he carried her back into the car, drove to a nearby gas station and dropped her off there. Ramirez instructed her to ask someone for help and to have someone call 911. He made sure that the six-year-old went back to her home safely. Now, adult 41-years-old Anastasia Hronas, still wondered why he spared her life when he could have just killed her.

Anastasia Hronas helped identified Richard Ramirez

Richard Ramirez was apprehended in August in 1985. And guess who brought this monster down? A six-year-old Anastasia Hronas herself! She was vital in sending this beast behind bars for good!

She identified him from a lineup of other captured individuals, and also cooperated with the police throughout the process. Despite knowing that she would have to face her rapist in the court, she decided to testify against him anyway, so that no other women would get through this experience as what she did.

Lead detectives also praised her bravery in the series

Anastasia Hronas is a person who demonstrated great courage and bravery when she encountered a ruthless serial killer at the age of just six. She not only helped police to identify him but also decided to testify in court against him. Detective Frank Salerno commended her bravery; he said, “They brought a six-year-old surviving victim. For six years old, she was just unbelievable. She sat in the audience of potential witnesses.”

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