Death row killer’s chilling last words before execution
A death row killer who brutally raped and murdered a teenage girl has been executed. These were his chilling last words.
A death row killer who brutally kidnapped, raped and murdered a teenage girl has been executed 23 years after the horrific crime – on what would have been his victim’s 41st birthday.
Ramiro Gonzales was executed via lethal injection at the Texas State Penitentiary in Huntsville for the sexual assault and murder of 18-year-old Bridget Townsend back in January 2001.
He pleaded for mercy, claiming he was a changed man and no longer a danger to society. Still, his multiple appeals were denied.
Strapped to the gurney in the execution chamber, 41-year-old Gonzales used his last moments of life to apologise to Townsend’s family for his unthinkable crimes.
“I can’t put into words the pain I have caused y’all, the hurt, what I took away that I cannot give back,” he told her family, who were watching the execution.
“I hope this apology is enough. I never stopped praying that you would forgive me and that one day I would have this opportunity to apologise.
“I owe all of you my life and I hope one day you will forgive me.”
After a moment of silence his last three words before dying were simply: “Warden, I’m ready”.
Condemned inmates in Texas are no longer allowed to make last meal requests and instead, are given whatever is on the prison menu that day.
After the lethal dose of the sedative pentobarbital began flowing, Gonzales took seven breaths, that began to sound like snores. All movement had stopped within a minute.
He was the eight inmate to be executed in the USA in 2024 and the second in Texas.
The day was bittersweet for Townsend’s family who had never truly gotten over the heartache of losing their little girl in such a horrific way.
“She was a beautiful person who loved life and loved people,” her mother, Patricia Townsend, told USA Today.
“Every time she was with somebody she hadn’t seen in a while, she had to hug ‘em … She didn’t deserve what she got.”
She added that her daughter’s killer being executed would be a “joyous” day for them.
“He doesn’t deserve mercy,” she said.
“His childhood should not have anything to do with it. I know a lot of people that had a hard childhood.
“You shouldn’t feel sorry for him because of that. He made his choice.”
Eerily, the date of the execution – June 26th – would have been Bridget’s 41st birthday.
Patricia, who lives in San Antonio, Texas, drove four hours to witness the execution.
She said she found some comfort when she learned Gonzales was set to leave the world the same day Bridget came into it.
“When they told me June 26, I started crying, crying and crying,” she said.
“That’s her birthday.”
Horrific crime
On the last night of her life, Bridget Townsend had been staying at her boyfriend Joe Leal’s house in the small Texas town of Bandera, where she grew up.
The teen’s boyfriend was a drug dealer, and Gonzales had gone to his home in the hopes of finding it empty and stealing some of his cocaine.
But instead, he found Townsend there alone.
As Gonzales began stealing money from the house, Townsend called her boyfriend.
In a rage, Gonzales overpowered Townsend, before tying her up and driving her to his grandfather’s ranch. It was there that he raped the teen before shooting and dumping her body in a field, according to court records.
Later that night, Leal arrived home to find his girlfriend’s truck, purse and keys in their usual spots, but she was nowhere to be found.
He called the police but there was no sign of Townsend.
For nearly two years, her loved ones were tortured with the agony of having no idea what happened to her.
They had no clue it would actually be the man who murdered her who would bring them closure.
Gonzales would go on to rape and kidnap another woman in 2002 for which he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
During his time in jail, he decided to confess to killing Townsend and lead authorities to her remains.
Gonzales was convicted of Townsend’s murder in September 2006.
‘Deep descent into addiction’
Gonzales has claimed he endured bouts of physical and sexual abuse throughout his childhood, often at the hands of his relatives.
He said he was an “unwanted child” with his mother giving him up at birth. He was raised by his grandparents and claimed to often be left alone and unsupervised.
His aunt Loretta became one of his only sources of happiness, Gonzales said in a video appeal.
“My Aunt Loretta … she’s the reason why I started doing better in school,” he said in the clip.
“She’s the reason why I did homework. She’s the reason why I played sport.”
After she was killed by a drunk driver in May 1998, things began to unravel for Gonzales.
What began as self-medication in his teens rapidly became a full-blown addiction to drugs and alcohol, leading Gonzales to “steal and forge checks” to finance the addiction.
He began running errands for Joe Leal, his drug dealer, to get more drugs and pay off his debts.
In the years before his execution, he told those around him that he had undergone a “spiritual transformation”.
Gonzales said this started on the night a preacher handed him a bible while he was behind bars awaiting trial for the murder.
“I stayed awake reading through this bible … A couple days after that, everything in me wanted God,” Gonzales said.
“The conviction was so overwhelming that I knelt down and prayed that God forgive me for everything.”
He said he quickly realised that he “had to follow God.”
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