Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
On a quiet spring morning in April of nineteen
(00:02):
eighty nine, the sleepyvineyards of Sonoma County,
California were interrupted bysomething so horrifying, so out
of place that even seasoned lawenforcement officers would say
later they had never seenanything like it.
Seven people were dead.
Among them, a young mother, hertwo daughters, and her own
mother and sisters.
The killer?
A man they all knew RamonSalcito.
(00:24):
Husband.
Father.
Employee at a local winery.
A man whose rage turned deadlyin the span of a single morning.
Seven victims.
Angela Salcito, 24, wife ofRamon Salcito.
Sofia Salcito, four, daughter ofAngela Salcito.
Carmena Salcito, three, daughterof Angela Salcito, survived.
Teresa Salcito, one, daughter ofAngela Salcito.
(00:47):
Marion Luise Richards, 47,mother of Angela Salcito.
Ruth Richards, 12, daughter ofMarion Richards.
Maria Richards, eight, daughterof Marian Richards.
Tracy Tuvey, thirty-five,winemaster at Grand Crew Winery.
But in the wreckage he leftbehind, someone was still
breathing, a three year oldgirl.
Her name was Carmina.
(01:08):
She had been left for dead in aremote ravine, her throat cut,
her tiny body surrounded by thelifeless forms of her sisters.
She had lain there for over aday alone, bleeding, silent, and
yet somehow alive.
This is human wreckage, and I'myour host, Thomas.
Carmina was too young toremember the full extent of the
massacre that nearly claimed herentire family.
(01:30):
But memory has its ways ofcoming back in pieces, in
nightmares, in fragments youdon't always understand until
you're older.
And as Carmena grew, so did herquestions.
Who was her father?
Why had he done it?
Because survival is not justescaping death, it's learning
how to live again in its shadow.
This is human wreckage, thesurvival of Carmen Salcito.
(01:51):
Stay with us.
(02:51):
Ramon bullied and controlledAngela, and she was just about
gaining the strength andindependence to leave him.
Moreover, Angela had justrecently found out that Ramon
had a second wife with whom hehad a baby with.
While Ramon and his first wifehad separated, they never
actually got a divorce, and nowshe had tracked him down and
obtained a court order forcinghim to pay her$511 a month in
(03:13):
addition to$5,807 to the SocialService Department of Fresno
County to repay sums turned overby that agency to her.
Ramon was also angry by the factthat Angela had recently been
approached by two modelingagencies who felt as though she
could have a lucrative career intelevision commercials.
Ramon was furious at the thoughtof his wife straying from home
(03:33):
and having her own successfulcareer.
He became so jealous that Angelawas forbidden from even going
grocery shopping alone, and hecame home from work several
times throughout the day tocheck on her.
Unable to come to terms with theseeds that he'd sown, Ramon did
the unthinkable.
On the 14th of April, 1989,after spending the night
snorting cocaine and drinking,Ramon drove his three daughters
(03:56):
to a dump on Stage Gulch Road.
Once here, he placed hisdaughters over his knee and slit
their throats one by one.
He then tossed them into thebrush.
Afterwards he drove to hisin-law's home in Kotati where he
sat outside and waited for hisfather-in-law, Bob Richards, to
leave home for work as a UnitedParcels service driver.
Ramon then knocked on the frontdoor and told his mother-in-law,
(04:19):
Marion Richards, that he neededto borrow a tool.
When Marion turned back into thehouse to retrieve the tool,
Ramon knocked her to the groundwith a blow to the head.
He forced his way inside andclosed the door behind him
before stabbing Marion to deathand then turning on her
daughters.
Both twelve year old Ruth andeight-year-old Maria were
stabbed to death.
Before leaving, Ramon placed acall to his wife Angela.
(04:42):
When Angela confirmed that shewas at home, Ramon stole a
pistol from the Richardshousehold and climbed back into
his car.
From here, Ramon drove to thefamily's home at Boys Hot
Springs and shot Angela fourtimes, killing her.
There was evidence in the homethat Angela had fought
desperately for her life and astruggle ensued throughout
several rooms.
Afterwards, Ramon drove to GrandCrew Winery and lay in wait for
(05:06):
Tracy Tuby, a married father oftwo children, including a
newborn baby boy.
When Tracy appeared, Ramonflashed his lights, signaling
for Tracy to stop.
When Stacy stopped, Ramonapproached the car and shot
Tracy in the head, killing himinstantly.
Ramon then drove to the Kenwoodhome of Ken Buddy, who was the
supervisor at Grand Crew.
(05:27):
He aimed his pistol and fired.
Thankfully, he missed any ofKen's vital organs and shot him
once in the shoulder.
Ramon then aimed at Ken's wife,Terry, and pulled the trigger.
However, the gun jammed andRamon left.
When police arrived at thescene, Ken identified Ramon as
the shooter and said he had noidea why he had tried to kill
him and his wife.
(05:47):
At one point, Ramon had been avalued employee, and he had no
issues with him.
With a name, police set outtrying to track Ramon down.
Soon enough, the majority of thebodies were soon discovered.
However, Ramon's three daughterswere still missing.
The entire town clung on to hopethat they were okay and Ramon
had simply run away with them.
The following day, however, theywould soon come to discover that
(06:10):
this wasn't true.
A young man was walking alongthe edge of a quarry bordering
the dump and came across agruesome scene.
Three young girls lyingmotionless and surrounded in
blood.
He rushed to the quarrysupervisor's office and called
the police.
When police arrived at thescene, both Sophia and Teresa
were dead, but miraculously,Carmina was still clinging to
(06:31):
life despite the fact that herthroat had been slit from ear to
ear.
She was rushed to the hospitalwhere she told staff, Daddy cut
me.
Dr.
Dennis McCullod said thatCarmina had managed to survive
because she had been sitting upfor almost thirty hours, and
that had prevented her fromchoking to death on her own
blood.
Her larynx had almost beensevered and the base of her
(06:51):
tongue was torn in the slashing.
One of her fingers had beensliced almost to the tendon,
presumably from Carminaattempting to protect herself
from her father.
An autopsy concluded that thegirls had all been molested
before having their throatsslit.
Following the murders, Ramonfled to Mexico via Coleccio.
He made his way to his hometownwhere his relatives turned him
(07:12):
into police.
As officers flew out to bringhim back, officials at the
Sonoma County Jail were worriedthat he would be killed due to
his brutal crime.
The inmates were so touched bythe crime in fact that they
mustered eight hundred dollarsto donate towards a trust fund
for Carmina.
There were inmates who had maybeone to five dollars for buying
cigarettes or toiletries, andthey pledged every bit of it,
(07:35):
said Reverend Robert Guttelbin,a former jail chaplain.
After his arrest, he thanked theman who discovered his daughters
and displayed concern over thecustody of Carmina.
Young Carmena underwent atracheostomy and a tube had to
be inserted into her windpipe toease her breathing until the
wound healed.
She was adopted by a couple whowere friends with her
grandfather, Robert Richards.
(07:56):
As an adult, she wrote a bookabout her survival titled Not
Lost Forever.
Ramon Salcito was found guiltyof six counts of first degree
murder, one count of seconddegree murder, and two counts of
attempted murder.
He was sentenced to death and iscurrently on death row in San
Quentin State Prison.
Carmina Salcito was just threeyears old when the world she
(08:18):
knew was destroyed.
She was left in a ravine withher throat slashed, surrounded
by death, discarded by the veryperson who was supposed to
protect her, her father.
But she didn't die.
Somehow, against all odds, shelived, and her survival was only
the beginning.
For most of us, the wordsurvivor suggests strength,
triumph, a kind of victory.
(08:39):
But as we've seen today,surviving a tragedy like this is
not the end of a story.
It's the start of a long,difficult, often lonely journey.
One where the real wounds aren'talways physical, where the
battle is ongoing and sometimesinvisible.
Carmina grew up in the shadow ofthe violence that took her
family.
She was raised by strangers,lived with the questions, the
(09:00):
whispers, the weight of beingthe girl who survived one of the
worst family massacres inCalifornia history.
For years she didn't know thefull truth, but as she began to
piece together the fragments ofher past, she also began to
reclaim her future.
She changed her name.
Then she changed it back.
She confronted the legacy of herfather.
She visited him in prison.
(09:21):
She demanded answers, and whenhe gave none, she found her own
voice instead.
Her story is not one of easyredemption or perfect healing.
It's a story of scars bothvisible and hidden and the
strength it takes to carry themevery day.
It's about growing up inside anarrative you didn't choose and
still choosing to write your ownending.
We often talk about resilienceas something almost magical, as
(09:43):
if some people are just bornstronger.
But what Carmena's life shows usis that resilience isn't magic.
It's messy, it's painful.
It's forged in moments ofsilence, in nights spent crying
alone, in the decision to keepgoing when you have every reason
not to.
Today, Carmina Salcito is notjust a survivor.
She is a mother, a writer, aspeaker, a woman who has spent
(10:06):
her life searching for meaningin the wreckage and who, against
all odds, continues to rise fromit.
We want to thank you for joiningus for this episode of Human
Wreckage.
Stories like Carmena's remind usof the fragility of life and
also its fierce, stubborn willto endure.
They force us to look at thedarkest parts of human nature,
but also the light thatsometimes refuses to be
(10:27):
extinguished.
If you or someone you know isliving with the effects of
trauma, you're not alone.
Resources and support areavailable, and we've included
links in the show notes.
I'm Thomas, and this has beenHuman Wreckage.
Until next time, stay safe, stayhuman, and remember in even the
most broken places, survival isstill possible.
On a quiet spring morning in April of nineteen
(00:02):
eighty nine, the sleepyvineyards of Sonoma County,
California were interrupted bysomething so horrifying, so out
of place that even seasoned lawenforcement officers would say
later they had never seenanything like it.
Seven people were dead.
Among them, a young mother, hertwo daughters, and her own
mother and sisters.
The killer?
A man they all knew RamonSalcito.
(00:24):
Husband.
Father.
Employee at a local winery.
A man whose rage turned deadlyin the span of a single morning.
Seven victims.
Angela Salcito, 24, wife ofRamon Salcito.
Sofia Salcito, four, daughter ofAngela Salcito.
Carmena Salcito, three, daughterof Angela Salcito, survived.
Teresa Salcito, one, daughter ofAngela Salcito.
(00:47):
Marion Luise Richards, 47,mother of Angela Salcito.
Ruth Richards, 12, daughter ofMarion Richards.
Maria Richards, eight, daughterof Marian Richards.
Tracy Tuvey, thirty-five,winemaster at Grand Crew Winery.
But in the wreckage he leftbehind, someone was still
breathing, a three year oldgirl.
Her name was Carmina.
(01:08):
She had been left for dead in aremote ravine, her throat cut,
her tiny body surrounded by thelifeless forms of her sisters.
She had lain there for over aday alone, bleeding, silent, and
yet somehow alive.
This is human wreckage, and I'myour host, Thomas.
Carmina was too young toremember the full extent of the
massacre that nearly claimed herentire family.
(01:30):
But memory has its ways ofcoming back in pieces, in
nightmares, in fragments youdon't always understand until
you're older.
And as Carmena grew, so did herquestions.
Who was her father?
Why had he done it?
Because survival is not justescaping death, it's learning
how to live again in its shadow.
This is human wreckage, thesurvival of Carmen Salcito.
(01:51):
Stay with us.
(02:51):
Ramon bullied and controlledAngela, and she was just about
gaining the strength andindependence to leave him.
Moreover, Angela had justrecently found out that Ramon
had a second wife with whom hehad a baby with.
While Ramon and his first wifehad separated, they never
actually got a divorce, and nowshe had tracked him down and
obtained a court order forcinghim to pay her$511 a month in
(03:13):
addition to$5,807 to the SocialService Department of Fresno
County to repay sums turned overby that agency to her.
Ramon was also angry by the factthat Angela had recently been
approached by two modelingagencies who felt as though she
could have a lucrative career intelevision commercials.
Ramon was furious at the thoughtof his wife straying from home
(03:33):
and having her own successfulcareer.
He became so jealous that Angelawas forbidden from even going
grocery shopping alone, and hecame home from work several
times throughout the day tocheck on her.
Unable to come to terms with theseeds that he'd sown, Ramon did
the unthinkable.
On the 14th of April, 1989,after spending the night
snorting cocaine and drinking,Ramon drove his three daughters
(03:56):
to a dump on Stage Gulch Road.
Once here, he placed hisdaughters over his knee and slit
their throats one by one.
He then tossed them into thebrush.
Afterwards he drove to hisin-law's home in Kotati where he
sat outside and waited for hisfather-in-law, Bob Richards, to
leave home for work as a UnitedParcels service driver.
Ramon then knocked on the frontdoor and told his mother-in-law,
(04:19):
Marion Richards, that he neededto borrow a tool.
When Marion turned back into thehouse to retrieve the tool,
Ramon knocked her to the groundwith a blow to the head.
He forced his way inside andclosed the door behind him
before stabbing Marion to deathand then turning on her
daughters.
Both twelve year old Ruth andeight-year-old Maria were
stabbed to death.
Before leaving, Ramon placed acall to his wife Angela.
(04:42):
When Angela confirmed that shewas at home, Ramon stole a
pistol from the Richardshousehold and climbed back into
his car.
From here, Ramon drove to thefamily's home at Boys Hot
Springs and shot Angela fourtimes, killing her.
There was evidence in the homethat Angela had fought
desperately for her life and astruggle ensued throughout
several rooms.
Afterwards, Ramon drove to GrandCrew Winery and lay in wait for
(05:06):
Tracy Tuby, a married father oftwo children, including a
newborn baby boy.
When Tracy appeared, Ramonflashed his lights, signaling
for Tracy to stop.
When Stacy stopped, Ramonapproached the car and shot
Tracy in the head, killing himinstantly.
Ramon then drove to the Kenwoodhome of Ken Buddy, who was the
supervisor at Grand Crew.
(05:27):
He aimed his pistol and fired.
Thankfully, he missed any ofKen's vital organs and shot him
once in the shoulder.
Ramon then aimed at Ken's wife,Terry, and pulled the trigger.
However, the gun jammed andRamon left.
When police arrived at thescene, Ken identified Ramon as
the shooter and said he had noidea why he had tried to kill
him and his wife.
(05:47):
At one point, Ramon had been avalued employee, and he had no
issues with him.
With a name, police set outtrying to track Ramon down.
Soon enough, the majority of thebodies were soon discovered.
However, Ramon's three daughterswere still missing.
The entire town clung on to hopethat they were okay and Ramon
had simply run away with them.
The following day, however, theywould soon come to discover that
(06:10):
this wasn't true.
A young man was walking alongthe edge of a quarry bordering
the dump and came across agruesome scene.
Three young girls lyingmotionless and surrounded in
blood.
He rushed to the quarrysupervisor's office and called
the police.
When police arrived at thescene, both Sophia and Teresa
were dead, but miraculously,Carmina was still clinging to
(06:31):
life despite the fact that herthroat had been slit from ear to
ear.
She was rushed to the hospitalwhere she told staff, Daddy cut
me.
Dr.
Dennis McCullod said thatCarmina had managed to survive
because she had been sitting upfor almost thirty hours, and
that had prevented her fromchoking to death on her own
blood.
Her larynx had almost beensevered and the base of her
(06:51):
tongue was torn in the slashing.
One of her fingers had beensliced almost to the tendon,
presumably from Carminaattempting to protect herself
from her father.
An autopsy concluded that thegirls had all been molested
before having their throatsslit.
Following the murders, Ramonfled to Mexico via Coleccio.
He made his way to his hometownwhere his relatives turned him
(07:12):
into police.
As officers flew out to bringhim back, officials at the
Sonoma County Jail were worriedthat he would be killed due to
his brutal crime.
The inmates were so touched bythe crime in fact that they
mustered eight hundred dollarsto donate towards a trust fund
for Carmina.
There were inmates who had maybeone to five dollars for buying
cigarettes or toiletries, andthey pledged every bit of it,
(07:35):
said Reverend Robert Guttelbin,a former jail chaplain.
After his arrest, he thanked theman who discovered his daughters
and displayed concern over thecustody of Carmina.
Young Carmena underwent atracheostomy and a tube had to
be inserted into her windpipe toease her breathing until the
wound healed.
She was adopted by a couple whowere friends with her
grandfather, Robert Richards.
(07:56):
As an adult, she wrote a bookabout her survival titled Not
Lost Forever.
Ramon Salcito was found guiltyof six counts of first degree
murder, one count of seconddegree murder, and two counts of
attempted murder.
He was sentenced to death and iscurrently on death row in San
Quentin State Prison.
Carmina Salcito was just threeyears old when the world she
(08:18):
knew was destroyed.
She was left in a ravine withher throat slashed, surrounded
by death, discarded by the veryperson who was supposed to
protect her, her father.
But she didn't die.
Somehow, against all odds, shelived, and her survival was only
the beginning.
For most of us, the wordsurvivor suggests strength,
triumph, a kind of victory.
(08:39):
But as we've seen today,surviving a tragedy like this is
not the end of a story.
It's the start of a long,difficult, often lonely journey.
One where the real wounds aren'talways physical, where the
battle is ongoing and sometimesinvisible.
Carmina grew up in the shadow ofthe violence that took her
family.
She was raised by strangers,lived with the questions, the
(09:00):
whispers, the weight of beingthe girl who survived one of the
worst family massacres inCalifornia history.
For years she didn't know thefull truth, but as she began to
piece together the fragments ofher past, she also began to
reclaim her future.
She changed her name.
Then she changed it back.
She confronted the legacy of herfather.
She visited him in prison.
(09:21):
She demanded answers, and whenhe gave none, she found her own
voice instead.
Her story is not one of easyredemption or perfect healing.
It's a story of scars bothvisible and hidden and the
strength it takes to carry themevery day.
It's about growing up inside anarrative you didn't choose and
still choosing to write your ownending.
We often talk about resilienceas something almost magical, as
(09:43):
if some people are just bornstronger.
But what Carmena's life shows usis that resilience isn't magic.
It's messy, it's painful.
It's forged in moments ofsilence, in nights spent crying
alone, in the decision to keepgoing when you have every reason
not to.
Today, Carmina Salcito is notjust a survivor.
She is a mother, a writer, aspeaker, a woman who has spent
(10:06):
her life searching for meaningin the wreckage and who, against
all odds, continues to rise fromit.
We want to thank you for joiningus for this episode of Human
Wreckage.
Stories like Carmena's remind usof the fragility of life and
also its fierce, stubborn willto endure.
They force us to look at thedarkest parts of human nature,
but also the light thatsometimes refuses to be
(10:27):
extinguished.
If you or someone you know isliving with the effects of
trauma, you're not alone.
Resources and support areavailable, and we've included
links in the show notes.
I'm Thomas, and this has beenHuman Wreckage.
Until next time, stay safe, stayhuman, and remember in even the
most broken places, survival isstill possible.
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