Dear Governor DeWine: My 98-Year-Old Great Aunt Was Murdered for Thrill
Dear Governor DeWine:
I am the great-niece of Margaret Douglas who was murdered by 17-year-old Gavon Ramsay in 2018. Senate Bill 256 from the 133rd General Assembly may result in Ramsay’s release. I am writing to you to beg for the law to be amended.
Gavon Ramsay broke into my 98-year-old Aunt’s home in Wadsworth and killed her by manually strangling her. This method of murder was chosen because he wanted to kill someone with his own hands. He took pictures of my Aunt’s dead body, disrobed and sexually assaulted her, used her dead hand to pleasure himself, and shoved her in a 1.5ft by 2.5ft closet.
These acts were all planned out ahead of time and documented in Ramsay’s journal. It was not a sudden impulse or desire or a hormonal decision. These acts were carried out with precision — if not for his cell phone being obtained in relation to a separate case, or his accidental dropping of a glove in Aunt Margaret’s backyard, he may never have been caught. Ramsay was not pressured or led into his acts by a peer or older adult — he himself planned and committed these acts on his own accord. His crimes are not things a 17-year-old can be unsure of the morality of. He fully comprehended the consequences of these crimes. And these were not his first crimes. He had a criminal history already. Despite efforts to reform him, his crimes continued escalating. His arrest for my Aunt’s murder was the only thing that stopped him from escalating further.
After viewing all the testimony, hearing witnesses and arguments from both sides, and observing Ramsay in court, the judge sentenced him to life without parole. We were given a promise by the criminal justice system that this man would live out the rest of his life safely behind bars. The 133rd GA broke that promise.
I and several family members chose to give victim impact statements. We knew that if we put our true thoughts in our statements, Ramsay would be able to read and hear them. We discussed the risk of giving him fuel for the rage he carries inside him, knowing that at some point he may be released from prison while my siblings and I are still alive and he is relatively young, and knowing he may come after us. We all decided to move forward with our statements and trusted that the criminal justice system would ensure justice and that our safety and the community’s safety would be prioritized when sentencing. This did indeed happen. The amount of relief we felt after the sentencing is immeasurable. That relief is now gone because of SB 256. We now spend every day worrying about Ramsay’s release. His release may happen not only when my siblings and I are still alive, but when my parents are still alive.
I still have nights where I need to check closets and under the bed out of paranoia. I still have nights where I wake suddenly and have to put my gun next to me on the bed in order to feel safe. I still check the door and window locks three times every single night before I fall asleep. If Gavon Ramsay is ever released, this fear will only increase. I cannot imagine going out into the world knowing that he is somewhere out there on the streets, especially when he is of an age where he is capable of causing incredible harm.
Due to these fears, I will be speaking at every parole hearing. I will do everything in my power to keep this man behind bars, despite the personal ramifications I will face of having to relive the details of my Aunt’s murder every five years. Gavon Ramsay took my Aunt Margaret’s life from her in the most disturbing and evil way, and his new sentence may allow him to live the majority of his natural life free. This sentence is in no way justice for what he did to her.
There are criminals who cannot be reformed. Gavon Ramsay is one of them. The law needs to be amended to consider individuals like Gavon Ramsay who have demonstrated the evil that lies within them, a kind of evil that cannot be reformed or rehabilitated.
