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Richard Wade Farley is an American convicted mass murderer. A former employee of ESL Incorporated in Sunnyvale, California, he stalked his co-worker Laura Black for four years beginning in 1984.
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Richard Farley – Episode Credits
Hosted By Mark Tauriello, Jen Wilson, & Marc Bluestein.
Original episode / story concept by Jen Wilson.
Show Notes by Jen Wilson.
Episode Art by Mark Tauriello.
Audio / Visual production by Marc Bluestein.
Richard Farley – Show Notes
Question: How well do you deal with rejection?
I’m taking us to the year 1984. The album “Purple Rain” is a hit, HIV was first identified, and our BFF horny Ronald Regan was living in the White House.
We find ourselves in Sunnyvale California at a company called ESL Incorporated (which stands for Electromagnetic Systems Laboratory). ESL was a technology firm that was engaged in software design, systems analysis, and hardware development.
Richard Farley, a 35 year old software engineer at ESL met Laura Black a 22 year old coworker at a company event in April of 1984 where Richard was ABSOLUTELY SMITTEN and later stated he “immediately fell in love with her”.
Richard began leaving her letters and gifts on her desk. I don’t know the specifics of the gift giving, but I will say the one thing that was mentioned multiple times throughout my research was that he would bake her homemade bread.
Laura had some pretty strong boundaries, and said, “NO” to his advancements. But Richard was not taking this rejection lightly. This bitch persisted. Richard took her “no’s” as encouragement.
Richard began calling her desk every few hours to “check in”. He also showed up at her aerobics classes !
Richard’s stalking got crazy. He provided false information to the HR department through pre-texting and was able to obtain Laura’s home address and personal phone number. He even went as far as to befriend the custodial staff in order to copy Laura’s desk keys so he could go
through her belongings and get insight to her personal life. He even got his hands on confidential documents regarding Laura .
One time, Richard called Laura and left a message asking her out on a date. Laura ignored it, and Richard still showed up at her house !! She told him to go away, and he said that this was proof that she was playing games with him. Super delusional.
It also was reported at one time that he went to her apartment and played with combinations to try and open up her garage. He also tried to move into the apartment unit next to her.
There is not much out there about Laura or her personal life because I was curious as to know, “what was it that had Richard so intrigued?” But from pictures, she was a very pretty young woman and very put together.
Laura actually moved 4 times over the course of 4 years, because each time she moved, he somehow got a hold of her address.
By fall of 1985, Laura finally had it with this bullshit so she reached out to the HR department at ESL and Richard was ordered to attend psychological counseling sessions. Although he attended these sessions, the stalking continued.
By spring of 1986, Richard Farley was threatening fellow ESL employees, which, combined with his poor work performance, led ESL to terminate his employment in May 1986. He had been working at ESL for ten years. He spent several months stalking Black full time, then found work at a rival company
Laura finally filed a restraining order against Richard in 1988.
The restraining order did not prevent him from buying weapons during that time. He also owned a variety of other weapons including two revolvers, another shotgun, and a rifle. The next day, he left a package with Black’s attorney, claiming to have evidence that he and Black had a
longstanding relationship, such as dinner receipts, phone call recordings, and so on. Richard Farley even claimed that Black kept a secret stash of cocaine that they shared once. Black’s attorney dismissed the package as utter fabrications.
One day before the court date, on February 16, 1988, Richard Farley drove his motorhome to the ESL parking lot in Sunnyvale, California. He later claimed he waited for Black to leave work so he could convince her to rescind the restraining order. If she refused, he would kill himself. At about 3 p.m., Richard Farley loaded up his various guns, including a .38 automatic, a .357 Magnum, a .22 rifle, and two shotguns. He put on an ammunition vest, inserted earplugs, and put on leather gloves.
Richard Farley then walked in through a side door by shooting the glass, and began shooting while heading toward Black’s office on the second floor. Several employees were killed by his shots as he made his way through his former employer’s building. Arriving at Black’s office, he opened her door which she slammed in his face. He fired one shot through the door, which missed Black. The second shot hit her left shoulder and sent her unconscious to the floor. Richard Farley moved on.
Farley then held police SWAT team at bay for five hours by moving from room to room so the SWAT snipers could not target him. Meanwhile, Laura Black woke up and managed to stop her wound from further bleeding while she and other survivors hid from Farley. Eventually Black and other survivors escaped, and Richard Farley surrendered to police on the promise of a sandwich and a soda. A total of seven people were killed by Farley, and four more wounded, including Black. A total of 98 rounds were fired in ESL by Farley.
The next day, court commissioner Lois Kittle made the restraining order against Richard Farley permanent. Commissioner Kittle, through tears, offered this comment: “Pieces of paper do not stop bullets.”
Laura Black survived, but was hospitalized for nineteen days. She continued to work for the same company. Farley wrote her yet again from his prison cell, claiming that she had finally won.
During trial, Richard Farley admitted to the killings, but pleaded “not
guilty”, claiming that he never planned to kill but only wished to get Black’s attention or commit suicide in front of her for rejecting him. His attorney claimed that Farley never was a violent man and only had his judgment temporarily clouded by his obsession with Laura Black, and that Richard Farley will likely never kill again.
The prosecution documented every step of the stalking, produced all the letters he sent, and documented his shotgun and ammunition purchase a week before his rampage at ESL, as well as his other weapons. All this amounted to extensive planning, which was evidence of premeditation.
On October 21, 1991, Richard Farley was convicted of all seven counts of first degree murder. Superior Court Judge Joseph Biafore Jr. sentenced Farley to death. Due to California law, there are several automatic appeals. As of 2009, Farley is still serving his time in San Quentin Prison. Prior to the shooting, Richard Farley had no criminal record.
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