252: Ringing the Wrong Doorbell & the Disappearance of Maribel Ramos

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This week, Kristin starts us off with an old, yet very timely story. In 1992, Yoshihiro Hattori and his friend Webb Haymaker arrived at what they thought was the location of a halloween party. In reality, the two teenage boys were at the wrong house. When they went up to the house and knocked on the door, a woman opened a side door, spotted the two boys, then quickly slammed it shut. Yoshi and Webb were confused, but they figured they’d arrived at the wrong home. As they were walking away, the door opened again. This time, a 30 year old man stood in the doorway with a gun. When Yoshi approached him, saying that they were there for the party, the man shot Yoshi in the chest.

Then Brandi tells us about Maribel Ramos, who thought she’d found the perfect roommate when Kwang Choi “KC” Joy responded to her ad on Craigslist. KC described himself as an easygoing professional. He soon moved into Maribel’s home in Orange County, California. Initially, Maribel and KC got along great. They even went on vacation together. But when KC couldn’t pay rent, their relationship went downhill. Maribel feared that things might get violent between them. Then she disappeared.

And now for a note about our process. For each episode, Kristin reads a bunch of articles, then spits them back out in her very limited vocabulary. Brandi copies and pastes from the best sources on the web. And sometimes Wikipedia. (No shade, Wikipedia. We love you.) We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the real experts who covered these cases.

In this episode, Kristin pulled from:
“Yoshihiro Hattori: The door knock that killed a Japanese teenager in the US,” by Toby Luckhurst for the BBC
“Defense depicts Japanese boy as ‘scary’,” The New York Times
“Acquittal in doorstep killing of Japanese student,” The New York Times
“Student’s trust in people proved fatal,” by Adam Nossiter for The New York Times
“Judge awards damages in Japanese youth’s death,” by Adam Nossiter for The New York Times
“Mother of slain teen felt murdered herself,” by Leslie Zganjar for the Associated Press
“Each other’s arms,” by David Schimke for the Carleton College Voice
The book, “I have lived in the monster,” by Robert K. Ressler and Tom Shachtman
“How the mother of Japanese student shot dead became a force for US gun reform,” by Daniel Hurst for The Guardian
“Homeowner testifies in shooting death of Japanese exchange student,” UPI Archives
“Slain teen’s parents hope U.S. gun control fight continues, 30 yrs on,” Kyodo News
“Parents of slain Japanese student push for gun control from afar,” by Akiko Fujita for ABC News
“Gun violence conference to remember 20 years since Yoshi died,” by Kira Chawla for WAFB
“Rodney Peairs found innocent in exchange student shooting case,” UPI Archives

In this episode, Brandi pulled from:
“The Rent Check” episode See No Evil
“Murder Can’t Be Proved in Death of Maribel Ramos: Defense Attorney” by Melissa Pamer and Chip Yost, KTLA5 News
“Roommate Found Guilty of 2nd-Degree Murder in Death of Maribel Ramos” by Melissa Pamer and Chip Yost, KTLA5 News
“Maribel Ramos’ Killer Sentenced to 15 Years to Life in Prison, Says He Cared for Victim ‘More Than Anyone’” by Melissa Pamer and Chip Yost, KTLA5 News
“KC Joy gets 15 years to life in prison for Maribel Ramos murder” by Greg Lee and ABC7 News Staff, ABC7 News
“Who Is Kwang Chol 'KC' Joy, The Killer Profiled In 'Worst Roommate Ever?’” By Jax Miller, oxygen.com
“Southern California man convicted of killing ex-roommate Army veteran Maribel Ramos” by Sasha Goldstein, New York Daily News
“The Murder of Maribel Ramos” by Kiley, It’s Crime O’Clock Somewhere
“'Worst Roommate Ever': KC Joy killed Maribel Ramos for demanding overdue rent” by Akhila Suresh, meaww.com

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