SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – Luis Ramo is a loving father who gushed about his 22-year-old daughter Denise Lissette Ramos.
"She's sweet. She was the type of person to give you the shirt off of her back if you needed it, her last dollar,” Ramos, who lives in Texas, said
But, his world was shattered when local police knocked on his front door on March 29th, 2024 at four in the morning.
"They asked to come in. So I invited them in and that's when they informed me my daughter was murdered,” Ramos said.
On Monday May 20th, police in Fairfield Texas – a small city about an hour outside of Waco – announced they charged 20-year-old Julian Jefferson of Fairfield, TX with capital murder in the death of Denise Ramos who is also from Fairfield. Her body was discovered on March 28th during a welfare check in Fairfield.
"We were very happy that he was found and that he's going to be held accountable for what he did to my daughter,” Ramos.
ABC 10News uncovered the story doesn’t end in Texas. Jefferson has ties to San Diego County.
According to Navy records, Julian Jefferson was stationed at Naval Air Station North Island in November of 2022.
A navy spokesperson said, Jefferson, who held the Aviation Structural Mechanic Airman Apprentice (AMAA), was charged by the Navy for sexually assaulting a female Sailor in January 2023. In November 2023, the spokesperson said those charges were referred to general court-martial. Seven months later, prior to the capital murder charges being announced, on May 8, 2024, Jefferson pled guilty to burglary and rape charges at a court-martial.
A Navy spokesperson said he was sentenced to 20 years, a dishonorable discharge and is currently being held in the brig at Miramar.
Fairfield Police said in a release that it along with the Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Rangers and NCIS worked together to find evidence linking Jefferson to the alleged crime in Texas. The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Texas Rangers, and the Naval Criminal Investigative Services (NCIS) worked collectively to uncover evidence linking Jefferson to the crime of Capital Murder.
A spokesperson for the Navy told ABC 10News, “Per UCMJ pre-trial confinement procedures, AMAA Jefferson was placed into pre-trial confinement in January of 2023, but was subsequently released as a result of an independent confinement hearing determination.
AMAA Jefferson was on leave at the time he was apprehended in Texas. Upon being returned to Navy custody, AMAA Jefferson was returned to pre-trial confinement pending his court martial and sentencing on May 8, 2024. In accordance with statute and Department of Defense policy, Sailors are entitled to accrue leave, and may use their leave at the discretion of their chain of command.
All Sailors are presumed innocent until their guilt is proved beyond a reasonable doubt at trial. As with any Sailor, commanding officers granting leave for Sailors accused of misconduct are expected to consider any impact the Sailor’s absence will have on the mission, the accountability process, the facts and circumstances surrounding the request, as well as the facts of the underlying alleged misconduct.”
"I know they weren't thinking of my daughter at the time because it had not happened. But had they taken into the safety of their own personal as well as the safety of the people of San Diego, I think had they locked him up or did something, I think my daughter would still be alive today,” Ramos said.
As the Ramos family waits for what's next in their daughter's case, the latest charge is giving them a chance to move forward a little bit.
"This whole thing has left an empty hole in our stomach. It's left a scar on our family. And, just to hear that, you know, he is going be held accountable for his actions; it helps us to kind of start to heal,” Ramos said.
The Freestone County District Attorney in Texas told ABC 10News paperwork to extradite Jefferson back to Texas haven’t been filed at this point as they wait for a formal indictment.
