James P. Riva, “The schizophrenic vampire”

James Riva is a troubled young man.  He shot his grandmother while the poor old woman was in her wheelchair with his hand painted golden bullet.  He drank the blood flowing out of the gunshot wounds and set her house on fire together with the dead body to hide the crime that he committed.  James Riva confessed that he was hearing a voice of the vampire prior to the crime.  Furthermore, he also stated that drinking the blood of his grandmother would grant him the eternal life.  Allegedly, this method of killing was whispered by a vampire.  He claimed that he was sleeping when the crime has been committed and that he believes that every people are vampires and he must do everything to be like them.

James Riva has been engulfed in the study of the vampire since he was 13 years of age.  He consistently drew objects that contain violence and have been fascinated in drinking and eating things similar to blood.  He also confessed on killing a horse and drinking its blood.  He further stated that he punched one of his friends in the nose and tried to strike another in order to receive blood, but he said he did not attempt to kill anyone. 

A psychiatrist testified that James Riva kept an axe inside his room and was planning to kill his father. In addition, he said that Riva was hearing some voices that warn him against vampires and believed that his grandmother is utilizing an ice pick to draw a puncture wound on him and suck his blood.  Riva also thought that his grandmother is also poisoning his foods even though she’s on a wheelchair. The voice also said that it is imperative for him to drink blood.

James Riva was sentenced to a life time imprisonment.  He was not documented to commit blood drinking while he was in the prison.  In 2009, at a parole hearing, he told the board and in front of his whole family that he’s sorry.  He said that he realized that he made a mistake on killing his grandmother.  He also said that he’s been on medication ever since he went into prison and he no longer believed that he’s a vampire.  Furthermore he converted to Islam and said that he successfully removed his urge to kill animals.

But the board and his family was not convinced on his repentance.  Some records states that James Riva attacked one of the cell guards while he was on patrol thinking that it will invade his space.  He also said that he was abused by his mom when he was a child and constantly wrote his mother to confess on drowning him while he was inside the jail.  The therapist also said that there are accounts that can prove that Riva also skipped his medication.