Ricardo López (stalker)

In 2022, López's letter bomb plot was referenced by the Adult Swim animated television series Smiling Friends in the episode "Enchanted Forest". Main characters Pim and Charlie agreed to help a hobbit-esque forest dweller named Mip deliver a handmade gift to the Princess of the Enchanted Forest, who they've been tasked to make smile again for a portrait. After reaching the castle following the accidental death of Mip, it is discovered that the Princess had been unable to smile as Mip had been stalking her, and the gift was in fact a bomb meant to kill the Princess. Previously in 2015, the Björk stalker was a topic of discussion on SleepyCast, a podcast involving Smiling Friends co-creator and voice actor Zach Hadel.

In 2019, independent Italian director Domiziano Cristopharo released an 87-minute erotic horror film titled The Obsessed, with the working title of Last Day: The Best of Me. López's video diary was adapted as the subject material of The Obsessed in what Cristopharo described as "Albania's first horror film" and "a body horror freely inspired to the real story of Ricardo López, Bjork’s stalker." The film included the appearance of a mouthed penis with a tongue and teeth.

In 2000, Sami Saif released a 70-minute documentary, The Video Diary of Ricardo López, comprising a condensed version of López's 22-hour video diary. Saif decided to limit its availability as "I want to be there when people see the film, because there are all sorts of things about Ricardo López on the internet. I like to be able to talk to people about what it is they've actually seen."

On September 12, 1996, López mailed a letter bomb rigged with sulfuric acid to Björk's residence in London, then returned home, recorded a final video diary explaining his motivations, and ended it filming his suicide by gunshot. Hollywood police found his body and the videos four days after his death; they contacted the London Metropolitan Police about the package, who intercepted its delivery, and Björk was unharmed.

In 1996, López was living alone in an apartment in Hollywood, Florida. Around this time he read in Entertainment Weekly that Björk was in a romantic relationship with the English musician Goldie. López was angered by this perceived betrayal and the fact that she was involved with a black man, writing in his diary: "I wasted eight months and she has a fucking lover." He began fantasizing about how he could "punish" Björk.

On the morning of September 12, 1996, López began filming his final video diary entry. The final tape, titled "Last Day – Ricardo López", begins with López preparing to go to the post office to mail the letter bomb. He said that he was "very, very nervous", but that he would kill himself rather than be arrested if he aroused suspicion. After returning from the post office, he resumed filming. As Björk's music plays in the background, a naked López shaves his head and eyebrows and paints his face red and green. He examines himself in a mirror and tells the camera that he is "a little nervous now". He then states, "I'm definitely not drunk. I am not depressed. I know exactly what I am doing. [The gun] is cocked back. It's ready to roll." As Björk's song "I Remember You" finishes playing, López shouts "This is for you" and shoots himself in the mouth with a revolver. He groans and his body falls out of view; shortly after he begins to bleed out on the floor, which is audible. At this point, the camera then stopped filming. A hand-painted sign bearing the handwritten words "The best of me. Sept. 12" hung on the wall behind him. Police theorized that López intended to cover the sign with his blood and brain matter with the gunshot.

López was born in Uruguay and moved to Lawrenceville, Georgia with his family, and began working as a pest exterminator. He had poor self-esteem, was socially reclusive, and he eventually developed an obsession with Björk in 1993, hoping to be engaged with her; he was particularly angry over her brief relationship with the English musician Goldie. Over the course of nearly nine months in 1996, he made video diaries about her and other topics at his apartment in Hollywood, Florida.

In 1993, López became fixated on the Icelandic singer Björk. He began gathering information about her life, followed her career, and wrote her numerous fan letters. Initially, López cited her as his muse and said that his infatuation gave him a "euphoric feeling". As time passed, his fixation became all-consuming and he grew more disconnected from reality. In his diary, López wrote of longing to be accepted by Björk and to be a person who had "an effect on her life". He fantasized about inventing a time machine to travel to the 1970s and befriending her as a child. His fantasies about Björk were not sexual; in his diary, he wrote, "I couldn't have sex with Björk because I love her."

Ricardo López (January 14, 1975 – September 12, 1996), also known as the "Björk stalker", was an American man who attempted to murder the Icelandic singer Björk.

Ricardo López was born in Uruguay on January 14, 1975, into a middle-class family who moved to the United States and settled in Lawrenceville, Georgia. He had a good relationship with his family, and was described as easygoing but introverted. He had a few male friends, but never made female friends, nor had a girlfriend, because he had feelings of inadequacy and had social awkwardness around women. López had Klinefelter syndrome.