Execution Report: Ramiro Gonzales

Ramiro Felix Gonzales, 41, was executed by lethal injection on 26 June 2024 in Huntsville, Texas for the abduction, rape, and murder of an 18-year-old woman.

On Tuesday, 16 January 2001, Joe Leal reported to police that his girlfriend, Bridget Townsend, had disappeared from his home in Bandera County, northwest of San Antonio. Leal stated that he spoke with Townsend on the phone the previous evening at about 6:00 or 7:00 p.m. She told him she had to get up early for work the next morning. He said Townsend told him that Gonzales, then 18, had come by the house earlier that day. Leal came home from work a little after midnight and noticed that the house was cold and the heater had not been turned on. He did not find Townsend sleeping either on the couch, where he expected her to be, or in the bedroom. He noticed that the door to the bedroom closet was open and that a box where he kept about $200 to $300 in cash had been taken out and emptied. He stated that Townsend never took cash out of that box without his permission. Townsend's purse and keys were in the house, and her truck was parked outside. Becoming concerned, he called friends and family to see if anyone knew where Townsend was, and to help him search for her. One of the people he phoned was Gonzales. He denied that he had come by the house that day even after Leal said Townsend told him that he had come by.

Townsend's disappearance went unsolved until October 2002. Gonzales was in jail in Bandera County, waiting to be taken to prison on an unrelated conviction, and asked to speak to the sheriff. He then told Sheriff James MacMillian that he could show him where Townsend's body was. With Gonzales riding in the passenger's seat, MacMillian followed Gonzales' directions to a ranch in neighboring Medina County, where he and his family lived. They drove to a remote area on the ranch, parked, and walked another hundred yards. They saw a human skull about ten feet from the place where Gonzales said he had left the victim. They found other bones that had been scattered by wildlife and some jewelry that matched the description Gonzales had previously given to MacMillian.

Gonzales gave several accounts of Townsend's disappearance to MacMillian and Texas Ranger Skylor Hearn. Initially, he stated that he simply allowed some members of the Mexican Mafia to dispose of a body at that location. He subsequently revised the story to say that he was present when others killed her. He retold the story numerous times, placing the responsibility for her killing on the Mexican Mafia and/or Joe Leal. In one version, Gonzales stated that he killed Townsend on his own, and neither the mafia nor Leal were involved. That was the version that Hearn typed, gave Gonzales to sign, and was used at his trial.

In this confession, Gonzales stated that Leal was his drug supplier. On or about 14 January 2001, he phoned Leal's house because he wanted some more drugs. Townsend answered and told him that Leal was at work. Gonzales then drove to Leal's home in order to steal cocaine. When Townsend answered the door, he walked past her to the bedroom closet, where he knew Leal kept drugs, and began searching. He found a few hundred dollars in cash and took it. Townsend said she was calling Leal and began dialing the phone. Gonzales pushed her down and tied her hands and feet with some nylon rope he found in the closet. He asked her if Leal had any drugs, and she said no. He then carried her to the front door, turned lights off so no one would see them, and carried her out to his truck.

Gonzales then drove Townsend to his grandparents' ranch. He stopped to retrieve a deer rifle from his grandfather's ranch truck. He stated that his reason for getting the rifle was to kill Townsend because she was a witness to his theft of Leal's money and his kidnapping of her. He got back into his truck and drove Townsend to the place where her remains were found. He untied her and walked her toward the brush. While he was loading the rifle, she began crying and asking for her mother. She told him he would give him money, drugs, or sex if he would spare her life. He then unloaded the rifle, took her back to his truck, and had sex with her. After she got dressed, he reloaded the rifle, walked her back into the brush, and shot her. He listened as her body hit the ground, then he drove away. When he got to his grandparents' house, he removed the empty shell casing from the rifle, flung it far away from the house, and replaced the rifle in his grandfather's truck. He then went inside and interacted with his family as though nothing had happened.

Investigators found Townsend's skull, most of her long bones, some small bones, and her clothing, shoes, and jewelry. Her vertebrae and ribs were not found. Gunshot residue and lead were found on her shirt. Hearn showed Gonzales three rifles found in his grandparents' house and asked if any of them were the murder weapon. He identified a scoped .243-caliber rifle as the one he took from his grandfather's truck and used to kill Townsend.

At Gonzales' punishment hearing, a woman testified that Gonzales abducted her at knifepoint, raped her, and locked her in a closet on the ranch where he lived. Gonzales was convicted of kidnapping and rape in this case and given two life sentences. It was this crime for which Gonzales was in custody when he decided to confess to Townsend's murder.

Texas law requires that in order to impose a death sentence, jurors must find that a defendant poses a future danger to society. Dr. Edward Gripon, a psychiatrist called by the state, testified that he was.

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