Left: Julian Jefferson appears in a booking photo (Fairfield Police Department); Denise Lissette Ramos (Facebook)
A U.S. Navy sailor charged with capital murder in Texas last month was recently sentenced after being court-martialed for sexually assaulting a fellow member of the armed forces at a barracks in January 2023.
Julian Jefferson, 20, stands accused of killing Denise Lissette Ramos, 22, at her home in the East Texas town of Fairfield, a tiny county seat which is located roughly an hour due east of Waco.
On March 28, the victim’s body was recovered after she did not show up for work. On May 20, Jefferson was charged with her murder.
Weeks before being charged with Ramos’ death in Texas, the defendant pleaded guilty in his ongoing military proceedings.
The unrelated sexual assault took place on Jan. 14, 2023, according to documents obtained by Waco-based CBS/Telemundo affiliate KWTX.
At a naval base in California, after midnight on the night in question, the victim texted Jefferson to complain his conversations were too loud and she was trying to sleep. The defendant replied apologetically – using a crying emoji and saying he would “get it lowered down,” according to the documents obtained by the TV station.
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Later that night, the victim awoke after hearing three loud knocks on her door. Peering out the peephole, however, she did not see anyone. Similar incidents continued throughout the night.
Finally, the victim caught the person in the hall by swinging her door open mid-knock. She “saw the accused in the hallway wearing his Navy PT sweatshirt with his hood pulled over his head and face,” the document obtained by KWTX reads.
The victory was illusory.
Content warning: sexual assault
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Jefferson quickly sprang up and rushed into her room.
“She tried to close the door on him but he put his hand on the door to prevent it from closing further and entered the room,” the document reads.
After Jefferson was inside her room, a fight ensued with the victim punching her assailant’s head and digging her nails into him. She also screamed at the top of her lungs – fearful of her life.
Eventually, the woman went limp and feigned losing consciousness in an effort to try and get her attacker to leave.
What followed was a nearly two-hour-long sexual assault.
Jefferson first sexually assaulted the woman on the floor, then again on her bed, then in her shower – where the defendant apparently tried to use water to remove traces of DNA evidence.
The victim described the ordeal as torture-like.
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After Jefferson dragged her out of the shower and dumped her on her bedroom floor, he left.
The victim then got up and ran to a friend’s room for help.
Jefferson pleaded guilty to one count of burglary with intent to commit certain offenses and two counts of rape by using unlawful force in May. This week, he was sentenced to five years in prison for the burglary count and 20 years each on the rape counts. His sentences will run concurrently, or, at the same time.
There is an extradition warrant out for Jefferson to be subject to a grand jury and, possibly, eventually tried in the Lone Star State.
At the time of the murder charge, the defendant was in the brig at Miramar, Navy officials told San Diego-based ABC affiliate KGTV.
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Details on the murder of Ramos are still relatively scarce.
A GoFundMe was started by her family to celebrate her life.
The online fundraiser remembers her fondly:
Lissette lit up every room she walked into, she was always smiling and making those around her smile too, she worked very hard to get where she was in life, she never let anyone tear her down, and was excited for the things to come in the future. She was truly a beautiful soul.
Luis Ramos, the deceased woman’s father, said Jefferson came to Fairfield while on leave – after being granted release in the rape case. The woman’s father said Jefferson had some ties to Fairfield and there had been some sort of prior incident or incidents involving the defendant.
“It’s left a huge scar on our family life, not only for myself and my wife, but for my younger children,” Ramos told KWTX. “But we do feel a sense of some justice, some relief knowing that he won’t be able to hurt anybody else out there, that he’s going to be exactly where he belongs and that’s locked up for the rest of his life.”
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