It's a classic love story: boy commits violent crime, girl keeps sending letters to boy in prison, boy and girl get married. At least that was the case for Richard Ramirez, the "Night Stalker," and Doreen Rioi. They married in 1996, while Ramirez was on death row at San Quentin State Prison in California after being convicted in a series of shocking murders, sexual assaults, robberies, and carjackings in Los Angeles and San Francisco in 1985.

The new Netflix drama "The Night Stalker: In Pursuit of a Serial Killer" follows Detectives Frank Salerno and Gil Carrillo as they investigate Ramirez's seemingly indiscriminate string of crimes, leading to his arrest in August 1985. However, the series ends there without detailing Ramirez's tumultuous trial, sentencing, and the barely 24 years he spent on death row (including his relationship with Lilloy). To fill in the blanks, here is everything you need to know about Lyoi's marriage to Nightstalker.

When she began dating Ramirez, Lyoi was a freelance teen magazine editor in Burbank, California. According to the San Francisco Chronicle (opens in new tab), she had sent Ramirez dozens of letters since 1985. According to the testimony of a Los Angeles Times reporter who met with Ramirez in prison (opens in new tab), Lyoi was initially shocked by Ramirez's "weakness" that she saw in television reports about his crimes.

As her relationship with Ramirez, a convicted murderer and rapist, grew more serious, Lyoi's family almost disowned her, and her twin sister told the San Francisco Examiner (opens in new tab) in 1996, "It is unfortunate that I got involved in this. I was surprised by the news. It is good to be related by birth. I don't want to be involved in this case. It was a painful event for my family."

Ramirez proposed in 1988, but they were not married until 1996, and their wedding in San Quentin was attended by Ramirez's brother, sister, niece, lawyers, and the author of a book that argues Ramirez's innocence, Lyoi told the Examiner During the 15-minute service, Lyoi reportedly wore a short white dress and presented Ramirez with a platinum band.

After claiming in a 1996 interview with the Examiner that she loved Ramirez "more than anything in the world," Lioi, then known as Doreen Ramirez, continued to unabashedly declare her love for the notorious night stalker in the years since they became a couple. 'He's kind, funny, charming,' she told CNN (opens in new tab) in 1997. I think he's a really great guy. He's my best friend.

As for how she could fall in love with a convicted murderer, Rioi's answer was simple. She told CNN, "Because I believe in his innocence."

And while she admitted that marrying a man on death row was a "lonely lifestyle" and an obstacle to fulfilling her dream of having a family of her own (since death row inmates are not allowed conjugal visits), Rioi seemed content to replace that dream with a new dream: " being with Richard."

But despite his seemingly unwavering affection for Ramirez, Lioi's love for him allegedly cooled after about 13 years of marriage; in 2009, a DNA test showed that long before his 1985 night stalking spree with Ramirez, in early 1984 The rape and murder of a 9-year-old girl in San Francisco in early 1984, long before he went on a rampage as a night stalker in 1985, has been linked.

Although Lioi did not comment on his relationship with Ramirez after these reports occurred, their alleged separation was apparently confirmed by a Daily Beast article published after Ramirez's death in 2013, which revealed that no one had taken possession of his body weeks after his death (opens in new tab), which seems to confirm this. Furthermore, a San Quentin spokesperson noted that Ramirez was not allowed personal visits in 2010 and refused to see him in his later years, suggesting that he and Lyoi were separated at that point.

Lioi has been absent from the public eye for the past decade since her possible separation from Ramirez. The only recent mention of her is in her father's obituary in 2019 (open in new tab), where she is listed as Doreen Ramirez. Other than that, her current whereabouts are unknown, and she has issued no statement since Ramirez's 2013 death, which was attributed to complications from B-cell lymphoma, among other chronic health issues.