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It started with a loaf of blueberry bread. In 1984, Richard Farley was a 35-year-old software technician at ESL Inc., a defense contractor in Sunnyvale, California. Laura Black was 22, a recent college grad from Virginia, and a new hire. She was polite. He was obsessed.
Most people talk about this case as a "workplace shooting," but that's a sanitized way of describing a four-year descent into a living nightmare. Honestly, the story of Richard Farley and Laura Black is the reason we have modern stalking laws in the United States. Before this, "stalking" wasn't even a legal term in the way we understand it now. You could follow someone, send them hundreds of letters, and harass their family, and as long as you didn't physically strike them, the police often had their hands tied.
Farley didn't just ask her out once. He asked her out hundreds of times. She said no. Every single time.
The Slow Burn of a Four-Year Obsession
You've probably heard of "love at first sight," but Farley's version was pathological. He claimed he fell in love with Laura the moment he saw her in the hallway. When she declined his invitations, he didn't move on. He started leaving gifts on her desk. Then came the letters—eventually totaling around 200.
He followed her to her aerobics class. He'd show up at her house. He even managed to get her home address by lying to the HR department, claiming he needed it for a company carpool. It’s kinda terrifying how easy it was for him to infiltrate her life back then.
ESL eventually fired Farley in 1986 because his behavior was scaring everyone. But losing his job didn't stop him. In fact, it gave him more time. He spent months stalking her full-time. He moved when she moved. He sent her doctored photos of the two of them together, trying to manifest a reality that didn't exist.
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The Failure of the "Paper Shield"
By early 1988, Laura Black had finally had enough. She filed for a temporary restraining order (TRO). A judge granted it on February 2. A hearing to make it permanent was scheduled for February 17.
The day before that hearing—February 16, 1988—Farley drove his motorhome to the ESL parking lot. He wasn't there to talk. He had a literal arsenal: shotguns, rifles, handguns, and over 1,000 rounds of ammunition.
He shot his way through the front door.
He killed seven people: Wayne "Buddy" Williams Jr., Joseph Silva, Glenda Moritz, Ronald Reed, Helen Lamparter, Ronald Doney, and Lawrence Kane. He wasn't looking for them; they were just in his way. He was looking for Laura.
When he finally found her in her office, she tried to slam the door. He fired through it. The shotgun blast tore through her shoulder and collapsed her lung. She survived by playing dead while the building descended into a five-hour hostage standoff.
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Why the Richard Farley Case Still Matters in 2026
Even now, decades later, this case resurfaces in legal circles and news headlines. Why? Because it exposed the fatal flaw in the legal system of the 80s. The judge who eventually made the restraining order permanent—while Farley was already in custody for mass murder—famously said, "Pieces of paper do not stop bullets."
That failure led California to pass the nation’s first anti-stalking law in 1990. Basically, it paved the way for every other state to follow suit.
Recent Legal Battles: Death Row vs. Life Without Parole
Fast forward to late 2024 and early 2025. You might think a guy who killed seven people would be a closed case. Not exactly. Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen recently tried to have Farley's death sentence commuted to life without parole.
It caused an absolute firestorm.
The victims' families, like Libby Allen (widow of Buddy Williams), were blindsided. They felt like the justice they’d waited decades for was being traded away for political posturing. On March 21, 2025, a judge actually denied the DA's request. As of right now, Richard Farley remains on death row at the California Health Care Facility in Stockton. He's 76 years old.
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How This Changed Workplace Safety Forever
If you work in a corporate office today, you likely have badge-access doors, security guards, and "active shooter" training. You can thank the ESL shooting for a lot of that. Before 1988, Silicon Valley tech campuses were notoriously "open." You could basically walk into most lobbies.
ESL changed that. Companies realized that "domestic" or "personal" problems don't stay at home. They walk through the front door with a shotgun.
- Human Resources Revolution: HR departments now treat stalking and harassment as high-level security threats, not just "interpersonal conflicts."
- The "Yellow Flags": Security experts now look for the "Farley Profile"—the isolated, obsessive individual who blames a specific person for all their life failures.
- Legal Protections: Most states now have laws that allow employers to seek restraining orders on behalf of their employees.
What to Do If You're Being Stalked
If there is any lesson to take from the tragedy of Richard Farley and Laura Black, it's that escalation is real. If you or someone you know is dealing with an obsessive individual, waiting for them to "get bored" is rarely a winning strategy.
- Document everything. Every text, every "accidental" run-in, and every gift. Don't throw the letters away; put them in a plastic bag for the police.
- Involve security early. If it's happening at work, don't just tell your boss. Tell the security team. They need to know whose face to look for on the monitors.
- Trust your gut. Laura Black knew something was wrong years before the shooting. If you feel unsafe, you are unsafe.
- Vary your routine. Stalkers rely on your predictability. Change your gym, your grocery store, and your commute times.
The ESL shooting remains a haunting reminder of what happens when obsession meets a lack of legal intervention. While the laws have changed, the psychology of the "rejected suitor" remains a potent threat in the modern world. Staying informed and taking early action is the only real way to change the ending of the story.