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Woman Who Watched Boyfriend Slaughter Six Members Of His Own Family Sentenced To 25 Years After Testifying Against Him
Jafeth Ramos testified against her boyfriend Diego Uribe earlier this year, describing how he had killed six members of his extended family one-by-one, including two children, as part of a 2016 robbery attempt.
A Chicago woman who watched her boyfriend slaughter six members of his extended family—including two children—as part of a violent robbery has been sentenced to 25 years behind bars.
Jafeth Ramos, 25, received the sentence Tuesday for one count of armed robbery with a knife with great bodily harm inflicted upon the victim as part of a plea deal reached last year in exchange for her testimony against boyfriend Diego Uribe, Chicago-based news outlet WGN reports.
“Jafeth Ramos did play a major part in the prosecution in that she was able to walk the jurors step-by step through the events that happened,” said Risa Lanier, a first assistant with the Cook County State Attorney’s Office.
Ramos testified earlier this year that she and Uribe had been driving home from a medical appointment on Feb. 2, 2016 when Uribe told her that he had a “job” he needed to do at his aunt’s Gage Park home, according to The Chicago Sun-Times.
When they arrived at the home, Ramos said the family was about to eat and offered them food. Uribe asked to speak to his aunt, 32-year-old Maria Martinez, in an attic bedroom and asked her for money at gunpoint. When she didn’t comply, he shot her.
Maria’s brother Noe Martinez Jr., 38, went up to the room after hearing the scuffle to try to “come to the aid of his sister” and was beaten unconscious with the weapon before Uribe suffocated him by kneeling on his neck, The Chicago Tribune reports.
The next to die was Maria and Noe’s mother, Rosaura Martinez, 58, who was kicked down the stairs of the home after she threatened to call police. Uribe then stabbed her to death with a kitchen knife.
Ramos testified that Uribe then forced Maria’s two young children, 13-year-old Leonardo Cruz and 10-year-old Alexis Cruz, to help search the home for valuables before he stabbed both children to death.
The final victim was 62-year-old Noe Martinez Sr.
He had been out getting food for the family at the time of the killings. Ramos and Uribe lay in wait until he returned, then Uribe stabbed him to death too, Ramos testified.
According to prosecutors, the couple made off with $250 in cash, some jewelry, an Xbox and the contents of a piggy bank, leaving the slain family members inside the residence.
Uribe never took the stand in his defense, but his attorneys suggested in court that the killings had been carried out by a group of masked men as part of a robbery.
“How could one person have overpowered six people fighting for their lives and killed them in such a brutal fashion,” Assistant Public Defender Margaret Domin argued, according to The Sun-Times. “It doesn’t make sense.”
After more than 10 hours of deliberations, a jury found Uribe guilty on six counts of first-degree murder in October.
Ramos declined to give a statement before her sentence was handed down Tuesday but did wave to family members as she was led out of the courtroom, the paper reports.
She told jurors during Uribe’s trial that she had agreed to the plea deal because she hoped to one day be reunited with her young son, who was a toddler at the time of her arrest.
She will be required to serve at least 85% of her sentence before she’s eligible for parole.
