Ricardo López's Suicide: Difference between revisions

{{ContentWarning|stalking, attempted murder, and suicide}}

The diary was titled "Last Day – Ricardo López" The tape features 21-year-old Ricardo López (utterly naked with his head shaved and face painted red and green) returned his apartment in Hollywood, Florida. He then explained his actions by stating that he was "a little nervous" and "definitely not drunk and depressed" while [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykaj8oZkIeM I Remember You] - Björk plays in the background. As soon as the song finishes playing, he turns the revolver on his head and shouts: "This is for you!" triggering it after the last words. Ricardo's corpse collapses, bleeding profusely on the floor until the camera stops filming. A hand-painted sign bearing the handwritten words "The best of me. Sept. 12" and blood can be seen on the wall behind him.

'''Ricardo López''', popularly known as the '''Björk stalker''' was an American pest exterminator who attempted to murder Icelandic singer Björk. López was born in Uruguay in 1975 and later moved to [[wikipedia:Lawrenceville, Georgia|Lawrenceville, Georgia]], where he worked as an exterminator. He became obsessed with Björk in 1993, developing an infatuation with her that turned into a dangerous fixation after she entered a brief relationship with the musician [[Wikipedia:Goldie|Goldie]]. For nearly nine months in 1996, López recorded video diaries in his Hollywood, Florida apartment, discussing his obsession with the singer and his plan to kill her. He eventually mailed a [[Wikipedia:letter bomb|letter bomb]] rigged with sulfuric acid to Björk's residence in London, then filmed a final video diary explaining his motivations before committing suicide by gunshot. López's body and video tapes were found by the police four days later, who intercepted the package and saved Björk from harm. López had a difficult early life, dropping out of high school and becoming reclusive, and was diagnosed with [[Wikipedia:Klinefelter syndrome|Klinefelter syndrome]]. Despite aspirations to become an artist, López worked for his brother's pest control business, which he viewed as a dead-end job. He wrote an 803-page diary documenting his feelings of inadequacy, disgust about his gynecomastia, and fixation on Björk. His diary contained 168 references to feelings of failure, 34 references to suicide, and 14 references to murder. López's obsession with Björk grew more intense when he learned of her relationship with Goldie, and he eventually decided to kill her. He initially planned to send a package containing hypodermic needles filled with [[Wikipedia:Criminal transmission of HIV|HIV-tainted blood]] but later decided to construct a letter bomb using [[Wikipedia:Sulfuric acid|sulfuric acid]] instead. López's video diaries, which documented his obsession with Björk, his plan to kill her, and his suicide, were seized by the police and became an object of fascination in popular culture.

Immediately after the suicide, Björk said in a statement that she was distressed by the incident. She described it as "terrible" and "very sad", and said that people should not "take me too literally and get involved in my personal life". She sent a card and flowers to López's family. She left for Spain, where she recorded the remainder of her third album, ''[[Wikipedia:Homogenic|Homogenic]]'', away from media attention. She also hired security for her son, Sindri, who was escorted to school with a minder. A year after López's death, Björk discussed the incident in an interview: "I was very upset that somebody had died. I couldn't sleep for a week. And I'd be lying if I said it didn't scare the fuck out of me. That I could get hurt and, most of all, that my son could get hurt."

In Adult Swim's animated series ''[[Wikipedia:Smiling Friends|Smiling Friends]]'', López's letter bomb plot was referenced in the episode "[https://smilingfriends.fandom.com/wiki/Enchanted_Forest Enchanted Forest]", Pim and Charlie planned to help Mip deliver a handmade gift (with the time bomb inside it) to the Princess of the Enchanted Forest, she opened it to reveal it, which nearly killed her, Pim, and Charlie before she threw it out of the window.