Featured Image Credit: The Video Diary of Ricardo Lopez/Sami Saif/Getty/Vinnie Zuffante
Topics: Mental Health, Crime
Joe Yates
Topics: Mental Health, Crime
Warning: This article contains discussion of suicide which some readers may find distressing.
A crazed fan of Icelandic singer Björk plotted to kill her before taking his own life.
Ricardo López became obsessed with the Icelandic singer in the years leading up to his death, so much so that he tried to orchestrate a deranged Romeo and Juliet style ending for them both where he believed he would meet her in the afterlife.
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In 1996, the Uruguayan began making video tapes of himself in his apartment in Hollywood, Florida, they showed how he became consumed by his love for Björk - whom he had never met.
Upon hearing that she had started dating English DJ Goldie, who pioneered drum and bass in the UK, he became enraged at the fact she was romantically seeing a man.
Taking to his diary, which was 803 pages long by the time he died, he wrote: "I wasted eight months and she has a f**king lover."
In his journal he explained how his fantasies weren't sexual, writing 'I couldn't have sex with Björk because I love her', but that he wanted to 'punish' the pop star for her relationship with Goldie.
He began plotting his 'revenge' and captured it all on camera.
The 21-year-old can be heard in the footage saying: "I'm just going to have to kill her. I'm going to send a package. I'm going to be sending her to hell."
And that's what he tried to do, he spent weeks building a letter bomb which when opened would explode sulfuric acid onto her face and body.
On September 12, 1996, López posted the package to her home in London, England, and recorded what would be his final video before ending his own life.
He titled his final tape 'Last Day - Ricardo López' and it showed him getting ready to send the package to the post office, he candidly tells the camera that he is 'very, very nervous'.
After posting the package, the camera began rolling again and he shaved his head and eyebrows and painted his face green and red, having previously told the camera he would rather die by suicide than be arrested.
That was because he was worried the package could arise suspicion.
With Björk's song 'I Remember You' playing in the background, he waited until it had finished before tragically killing himself, with the words 'The best of me. Sep 12' hung up on the wall behind him.
Four days later his neighbours complained of a smell as blood dripped through the floor of his apartment onto their ceiling.
After alerting cops they forced entry into his apartment where they discovered eleven tapes each with two hours in them.
Fortunately, they played the last tape first and discovered that he had sent a letter bomb to Björk's residence.
In turn they were able to intercept it and safely detonate the bomb before it caused any harm.
If you or someone you know is struggling or in a mental health crisis, help is available through Mental Health America. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org. You can also reach Crisis Text Line by texting MHA to 741741.