Suspect in murder of Fairfield, Texas woman sentenced in “tortuous” sexual assault of fellow Navy sailor in California

FAIRFIELD, Texas (KWTX) - Julian Jefferson, 20, charged with capital murder in the March 2024 killing of Denise Lissette Ramos, 22, of Fairfield, was sentenced to 20 years in prison after he was court-martialed in the brutal sexual assault of a U.S. Navy sailor aboard Naval Base Colorado, documents obtained by KWTX state.

Jefferson, the documents reveal, pleaded guilty in early May 2024 to burglary with intent to commit certain offenses and two counts of rape by using unlawful force. He was sentenced to five years in prison on the burglary charge and 20 years in prison for each of the rape counts. Jefferson, however, will serve the three military prison sentences concurrently, the documents state.

THE MURDER OF DENISE LISSETTE RAMOS:

On March 28, 2024, Fairfield police responded to a residence in the 800 block of Clark Street to perform a welfare check after Ramos missed work. Officers located Ramos’ body, which prompted a suspicious death investigation.

On May 20, 2024, Fairfield police announced Jefferson, also of Fairfield, had been charged in the killing of Ramos. The announcement was made a few weeks after Jefferson pleaded guilty in the Navy sexual assault case.

“The Fairfield Police Department, The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Texas Rangers, and the Naval Criminal Investigative Services (NCIS) worked collectively to uncover evidence linking Jefferson to the crime of Capital Murder,” police said at the time Jefferson was charged in the murder. Jefferson, who was in federal custody at the time, was awaiting extradition to Texas on the capital murder charge.

Denise’s father, Luis Ramos, spoke with KWTX soon after the suspect’s arrest. “It’s left a huge scar on our family life, not only for myself and my wife, but for my younger children,” said Ramos, “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.”

SEXUAL ASSAULT ABOARD NAVAL BASE COLORADO:

According to court-martial documents obtained by KWTX, on Jan. 14, 2023, the victim was in her barracks room aboard Naval Base Colorado, and at some point after midnight, she sent Jefferson a text message asking him to be quiet because she could hear his conversations in her room when she was trying to sleep. Jefferson responded, “I’m so sorry. [crying emoji] I’ll get it lowered down.”

Later that night, the victim woke up to three loud knocks on her barracks room door, got out of bed to open the door, and found no one there. The victim continued to hear knocking on her door throughout the night and could not go back to sleep. She would get up to look through the peephole in her door, but could not see anyone outside.

During one of the knocks, the victim immediately swung the door open and “saw the accused in the hallway wearing his Navy PT sweatshirt with his hood pulled over his head and face,” the document states, “The accused [Jefferson] was crotched down and tucked away to the side of the door.”

Jefferson, the documents state, sprung up and rushed into the victim’s room by force. “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 states.

The court-martial documents further state that Jefferson wrapped his arm around the victim and threw her on the floor. She tried to fight him off by punching his head and digging her nails into him. She also screamed loudly because she believed Jefferson was trying to kill her.

Jefferson got on top of the victim and choked her, the documents state, adding the victim pretended to pass out and let her body go limp. Jefferson sexually assaulted the victim on the floor, then picked up her body and carried her to the bed, where he sexually assaulted her again.

The documents state Jefferson then dragged the victim to the shower and once again sexually assaulted her. While in the shower, Jefferson splashed water into the victim’s vaginal area in an apparent effort to remove potential DNA evidence, the documents state.

Once she was dragged out of the shower, the victim collapsed on the bedroom floor, and once Jefferson left her room, she immediately got up and ran to a friend’s barracks room to seek help.

Witnesses who heard the struggle and the screaming called 911. One witness would later tell investigators she heard a girl “screaming bloody murder at the top of her lungs.”

During her interview with naval investigators, the victim described the sexual assault as “tortuous” and said it lasted nearly two hours.

Copyright 2024 KWTX. All rights reserved.