Opening statements began Monday morning in the capital murder trial of Gabriel Antonio Ramirez, the El Paso man accused of fatally stabbing his 79-year-old aunt and 24-year-old girlfriend on Christmas Day 2022. Ramirez, who was 33 at the time of the killings, faces life in prison without parole if convicted of the single count of capital murder of multiple persons.
According to the El Paso Times, Ramirez's aunt, Irma Ramirez, called 911 around 5 p.m. on Dec. 25, 2022, reporting that she had been stabbed at a home in the 3700 block of Truman Avenue in Central El Paso. Court documents obtained by KVIA show that during that call, Irma Ramirez pleaded with dispatchers, “Hurry. Hurry. Gabriel, stop it. Stop it,” as she and another victim were being attacked. Investigators later cited 911 audio in affidavits to secure the original murder arrest warrant, per KVIA's reporting.
Irma Ramirez was taken to a hospital by ambulance but ultimately died from her stab wounds, El Paso police officials said. Court records show Gabriel Ramirez had been living with his aunt at the Truman Avenue residence before the attack, according to the same KVIA report, and the house served as the scene of the initial Christmas Day assault.
A Bloody Discovery in Kern Place
The case broke open the next day. Police received a second 911 call about 4 p.m. on Dec. 26, 2022, concerning the 500 block of Gregory Avenue in the Kern Place neighborhood of West El Paso, reporting a death and an injured person, per the El Paso Times. A homeowner there had spotted Gabriel Ramirez covered in blood and washing himself with a garden hose in the front yard, KVIA reported, and officers who responded found him bleeding profusely with self-inflicted slashes to his neck and wrists.
Investigators found the body of 24-year-old Kathia Rosales, Ramirez's girlfriend, inside a car nearby. Police determined that the vehicle had allegedly been stolen from Irma Ramirez's Central El Paso home following the Christmas Day attack, connecting the two crime scenes across separate El Paso neighborhoods, according to KVIA. Rosales was allegedly stabbed to death by an unspecified assailant, and a motive in the killings has not been disclosed.
Paramedics took Gabriel Ramirez to a hospital in critical condition, where he remained for treatment before his release. He was booked into the El Paso County jail on Dec. 31, 2022, on a capital murder charge, with bond set at $1.5 million, KVIA reported at the time.
The Legal Stakes: Life Without Parole
Under Texas Penal Code § 19.03(a)(7), intentionally or knowingly killing more than one person during the same criminal transaction elevates a homicide charge to capital murder, the state's highest felony classification, according to Varghese Summersett. Because prosecutors in this case are not seeking the death penalty, Texas Penal Code § 12.31 mandates an automatic sentence of life imprisonment without parole if Ramirez is convicted, as explained by the L&L Law Group. That removes any possibility of parole eligibility that would normally apply under a standard first-degree murder conviction.
A jury was selected Friday, and opening statements were scheduled for Monday morning at the Enrique Moreno County Courthouse in downtown El Paso. Judge Patricia C. Baca of the 346th District Court is presiding over the trial, with prosecutors Josh Avila and Hassan Hassan handling the case for the El Paso District Attorney's Office. Francisco F. Macias is representing Ramirez, who remains jailed awaiting the verdict. Motive is expected to be a key piece of evidence at trial, per the El Paso Times.
A Rare Case in a Relatively Safe City
Double homicides remain uncommon in El Paso, which recorded 29 total homicides citywide in 2021 and consistently ranks among the safest large border cities in the country, according to a 2023 report from ScholarWorks@UTEP. Ramirez's trial follows a similar case earlier this year, when an El Paso County jury convicted 70-year-old Mario Lechuga Velazquez of capital murder for the double killing of two neighbors, resulting in the same mandatory life sentence Ramirez now faces under Hoodline's coverage of that Parral Street conviction. That earlier trial similarly leaned on 911 calls and physical evidence presented to local jurors.
The El Paso County District Attorney's Office has previously said it weighs family wishes and statutory requirements when deciding whether to pursue life without parole instead of the death penalty in capital cases, a policy reflected in a 2025 case involving a Walmart shooting. As Ramirez's trial proceeds, jurors will weigh the same 911 recordings, forensic timeline, and stolen-vehicle evidence that investigators first assembled in the days after Christmas 2022.
