From: davidc@wa-wd.com   
      
   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 Ramirez. 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 her. 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 Ramirez to sign, and was used at   
   Gonzales' 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 Ramirez's 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.   
      
   A jury found Ramirez guilty of capital murder in August 2006 and   
   sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed   
   the conviction and sentence in June 2009.   
      
   Ramirez had previously been scheduled for execution on 13 July 2022. A   
   few weeks beforehand, his lawyers requested a stay of execution so   
   that he could donate a kidney. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals   
   issued a stay of execution, but for a reason unrelated to that   
   request. Instead, the stay was granted so that the trial court could   
   review evidence that Dr. Gripon had changed his mind about Ramirez's   
   future dangerousness and that he presented false or misleading data on   
   recidivism rates at Gonzales' punishment hearing. The trial court   
   reaffirmed the death sentence. All of his subsequent appeals in state   
   and federal court were denied.   
      
   No information about Gonzales actually making a kidney donation could   
   be found for this report.   
      
   Gonzales' attorneys filed an appeal for clemency to the Texas Board of   
      
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