A plea agreement reached with 26 year old Ricardo Ramirez includes a 55 year prison sentence for killing Ashli Stewart in her apartment.
According to a D-A’s news release, Ramirez became a suspect after investigators learned he had a relationship with one of the victim’s roommates.
That led to finding Ramirez, a stolen gun belonging to the victim’s roommate, and a folding pocket knife containing the victim’s blood.
He was arrested eight days after the murder.
The plea agreement dismissed 100 counts of possessing child pornography and various drug and weapons charges.
News release from the Brazos County district attorney’s office:
On Monday, November 7, 2022, Ricardo Ramirez pled guilty to the murder of Ashli Stewart on New Year’s Eve 2019. He was sentenced to 55 years in prison.
On December 31, 2019, Ashli and her roommates had been hanging out and watching movies. Her roommates left that afternoon for a dance practice. Ashli stayed home alone because she was sick.
When they returned less than 2 hours later, they found Ashli in the doorway to her room with multiple stab wounds.
College Station police officers began working diligently and tirelessly to find Ashli’s attacker. A witness at the apartment complex provided a description of a man that was seen leaving the apartment carrying something pink around the time of the murder. A forensic sketch was created.
All of CSPD’s divisions were working together to find the killer. During a briefing, it was mentioned that one of Ashli’s roommates was missing a firearm from the apartment. Corporal Jeff Pearce recognized the name of the roommate and the address where the murder occurred. He had helped arrest Ricardo Ramirez at that same complex just months before for drug charges. At that time, Ramirez had claimed to be associated with that roommate.
Detectives learned that Ramirez had a previous relationship with the roommate and closely matched the sketch. Traffic camera footage showed Ramirez’s truck going through a nearby intersection during the time of the murder.
Ramirez was known to live in his vehicles and was seen loitering at apartment complexes, using the gyms and parking lots. CSPD officers went searching for Ramirez and found him on January 7, 2020 in his truck at a different nearby complex. In the truck, officers found a gun that was stolen from the apartment during the murder, a folding pocket knife which later was confirmed to have Ashli’s blood on it, and a pink towel from Ashli’s bedroom.
During the investigation, officers located search history on Ramirez’s iPad which included local news articles about Ashli’s murder and funeral plans.
Assistant district attorneys Brian Price and Amy Eades issued the following statement: “Ashli was a bright light in the lives of all of those who knew her. Although taken from us in the prime of her life, her spirit and memories endure. Nothing can replace Ashli, but this sentence will ensure that no other person in their own home or their family need to fear the evil this defendant represents. We would like to thank the incredible efforts of the College Station Police Department in bringing Ashli’s killer to justice.”