The Stalking Case that led to Mass Murder
Stalking is now a more serious crime than it used to be but it’s always been deadly and traumatising to the victims.
Stalking is defined as “the act or crime of willfully and repeatedly following or harassing another person in circumstances that would cause a reasonable person to fear injury or death especially because of express or implied threats” by the dictionary.
This particular stalking case led to the mass murder of seven people and caused four others to be injured including the victim of the initial stalking, Laura Black.
Stalking begins
In April of 1984, Laura Black was a young 22 year old with less than a year of experience as an Electrical Engineer but her skills landed her a job at Electromagnetic Systems Laboratory (ESL), a high-tech defence contractor located in Sunnyvale, California. Laura was excited to have landed the job of her dreams when she was introduced to her coworker Richard Wade Farley, a 40 year old computer technician and nine year employee at ESL Inc. Immediately, Farley “fell in love” with Black at first sight and was quick to ask her out. Black had no interest in the man twice her age and wanted to maintain a professional relationship but he wouldn’t take no for an answer.
Farley, being insanely obsessed already, started to leave gifts on her desk — cards and hand made bread were just some of the gifts. On top of the unwanted gifts, he began calling her desk multiple times a day to check what she was doing (working obviously….duh). As if that wasn’t annoying and harassing enough, Richard started attending the aerobics class he knew Laura took, meaning he was following her after work now.
At this point, Black is highly stressed and aware of his increasingly disturbing behaviour, but it’s about to get much worse. Farley managed to gain access to Black’s personal information through ESL Inc. HR Department, armed with the knowledge of her address and home phone number; Farley began driving by her house. He took his obsessive stalking to another level when he used what social skills he possessed to befriend the custodial department to copy Black’s desk keys. With access to her personal belongings in an effort to know more about her; he felt like he knew her now, as if they had a relationship beyond that of colleagues and they did; in his mind.
Obsession
If you think all of that was bad enough, hold on to your shorts. Richard Farley started writing letters obsessively to the object of his adoration, he wrote 200 letters to Black on and off in four years; the last one was sent from prison after his arrest. So even behind bars; he could not forget her or his ‘love’ for her. In that period; Black moved four times to try and deter his stalking but he found where she lived every single time.
In 1985, Laura Black was afraid of Richard Farley’s obsessive behaviour towards her; she reached out to ESL Inc. HR Department for help. Their response was to order Farley to attend psychological counselling, which he did but throughout that time his stalking of Black continued, never slowing down. In 1986, due to Farley threatening his colleagues and his work performance taking a downfall, ESL Inc. finally fired him in May.
Farley, now with a lot of time on his hands, started stalking Black more aggressively and found employment at a rival company.
Mind Games
As if his obsessive nature towards Laura Black was not enough, Richard Farley often engaged in mind games to cause even more distress on Black. For example, he found all negative communication as the green light from Black. On one instance, he called and left a message asking her for a date and when he received no response from her and since she didn’t say no; he actually showed up at her door for the date and when she told him to leave, he took this as her playing around with him.
Since Farley knew where Black lived at all times; he on one occasion tried multiple code combinations for her garage opener and he did this for hours. He took it a step further and tried to rent the unit next door to her place as means of getting close to her; when Black found out she moved immediately.
Throughout the stalking of Laura Black there is one constant and that is the letters Farley wrote to her since they met. In one disturbing letter he wrote “….The sh*t has hit the fan… all because you thought I’m a joke and refuse to listen or understand that I am gravely serious.”
Losing everything
At this point in his life, Richard Farley had lost his house to foreclosure and was being investigated for unpaid taxes by the IRS but even when his life was falling apart; he never stopped his stalking and harassment of Laura Black.
In January 1988, Black received a strange and ominous package placed on her car windshield from Farley which contained a copy of her house keys and a note. This was terrifying for Black as it was a clear threat and indication of how far Farley was willing to go to get to her.
On February 2nd of 1988, Black had enough of Farley and his threats and stalking; she filed for a temporary restraining order which was granted by a family court judge. To make the restraining order permanent a court date was set for February 17th. Farley wasn’t going to wait around and do nothing in response to the restraining order; on February 9th, he purchased a shotgun and ammunition.
Shockingly, the restraining order did not prevent him from buying weapons and he had prior history of owning weapons including two revolvers, another shotgun and rifle. The next day, Richard delivered a package to Laura’s lawyer with allegations that they had a long romantic relationship and proved it with literal receipts for dinners, recordings of phone chats and more. Laura Black’s lawyer was not buying it and dismissed the package as absolute lies.
Massacre at ESL Inc.
The day before his court date, Farley drove his motorhome and entered the parking lot of ESL Inc. in Sunnyvale, California. He spent sometime in the parking lot, he later claimed that he was waiting for Laura to come out to convince her to retract the restraining order and if she refused; he would kill himself — however, he did not. At 3pm, Richard Farley; loaded with a .38 automatic, a .357 Magnum, a .22 rifle and two shotguns geared up to enter the building. He wore a protection vest (so he wasn’t suicidal like he claimed), leather gloves and earplugs, he entered ESL Inc. with intent to kill.
Farley shot at a side door to bust in to the building as he had no access to get in, he started shooting anyone in his way as he walked to Laura Black’s office on the second floor, leaving dead employees and destruction in his wake. Once at her door, he tried to get in but she slammed the door in his face which caused him to shoot at the door, barely missing Black. He shot at her again, this time shooting her shoulder and sending her unconscious on the floor. He left her to bleed out.
For five hours, Farley held out against the SWAT team as he moved from room to room to avoid them shooting at him. During that time, Black woke up and stopped the bleeding of her shoulder and joined other survivors in hiding from Farley. Eventually, the survivors and Black escaped and Farley surrendered to police with the demand that they give him a sandwich and a soda.
Seven people died and four were injured including Laura Black, his one true love. In total, he shot 98 rounds of were fired in ESL Inc. and it’s a wonder that more people did not fall prey to his destruction.
Aftermath
As promised, the next day; court commissioner Lois Kittle granted Laura Black the restraining order against Richard Farley. In an emotional response to the massacre, Lois Kittle said “Pieces of paper do not stop bullets.”
During the trial, Farley admitted to the killings but claimed it was not pre-mediated murder as he only wanted to get Black’s attention and commit suicide in front of her for her constant rejections of his love. Brazenly, his attorney claimed Farley was not a violent man and that his obsession with Black momentarily clouded his judgement. He actually claimed that Farley would likely never kill again.
The prosecution, in their part had an unshakeable case against Farley, they presented the court with years of stalking including the numerous letters he sent Black, his shotgun and ammunition purchases made a week before the massacre and his history with collecting weapons. They painted a clear image of who Richard Farley really was, a callous murderer. All this proved the point that Farley took careful steps to plan the massacre and there was pre-mediation involved.
On October 21, 1991, Farley was convicted of all seven counts of first degree murder and he was sentenced to death by Superior Court Judge Joseph Biafore Jr. As of 2021, Richard Farley is still serving for his crimes in San Quentin Prison. It was noted that prior to the massacre, he had no criminal record and was often described as being a hard worker, polite and a generally nice guy.
On July 2nd, 2009, Farley’s death sentence was upheld by the California Supreme Court (People v Farley: 46 Cal.4th 1053). He is now on death row, awaiting execuation.
As for Laura Black, she spent nineteen days in the hospital recovering from her injuries and once behind bars, Farley wrote to her claiming that she had finally won — she did win, she continued her life and worked for ESL Inc. for many years afterwards.
Due to this stalking case and the following murder of actress Rebecca Shaeffer, California passed the first ever anti-stalking laws in America. This case was a landmark in created laws against stalking and furthermore protected victims of stalking.
