Bio

Luis L. Ramirez was born on June 19, 1963. He grew up in a Hispanic household in Texas. Luis married Dawn Holquin in 1987, and the couple had children together. Their marriage lasted until 1995 when they divorced. The divorce is said to have been contentious, and there were reports of abuse during their relationship.

After the divorce, Luis struggled with jealousy and anger regarding his ex-wife's new relationships. This was particularly true when Dawn began dating Nemecio Nandin, a fireman and appliance repairman. Reports indicate that Luis became obsessed with his ex-wife, following her every move and expressing anger over her choice of partners.

In 1998, a few years after the divorce, Luis's life took a drastic turn. He was increasingly involved with a circle of friends who were engaged in illegal activities. He met Edward Bell, who would later become an accomplice in a murder-for-hire scheme. The relationship between Luis, his ex-wife, and Nandin became more complicated as tensions rose, leading to serious criminal outcomes.

Luis's education level was reported to be that of a high school graduate. He worked in various jobs over the years, including in the mortgage industry. By the time of his arrest, he was around 34 years old and living in San Angelo, Texas. Ramírez's complicated personal life ultimately played a significant role in the events that would follow.

Murder Story

On April 8, 1998, Luis L. Ramirez, along with accomplice Edward Bell, executed a plan to murder Nemecio Nandin, who was dating Ramirez's ex-wife. They lured Nandin to a house in Tom Green County, Texas, under the false pretense of needing appliance repairs. When Nandin arrived, he was handcuffed and transported to a chicken coop on the property. There, he was shot twice in the head with a shotgun.

After killing Nandin, Bell buried his body in a shallow grave on the property. Nandin was reported missing when he failed to show up for work, and his body was discovered a week later, on April 17, 1998.

Following the murder, investigators found evidence linking Ramirez to the crime. Testimony revealed that an informant had overheard Bell claiming he was hired to kill a firefighter for $1,000, which was linked to Ramirez. Police later found Bell’s wallet containing Ramirez's business cards and a hand-drawn map to the home of Ramirez's ex-wife. Additionally, a pair of jeans with Nandin's blood was discovered in Bell's car.

Ramirez was arrested on June 2, 1998, and charged with capital murder. At his trial, various witnesses testified about Ramirez's jealousy towards Nandin and his other ex-wife's boyfriends. The prosecution argued that Ramirez orchestrated the murder due to his ongoing obsession with his ex-wife.

On May 7, 1999, Ramirez was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death. Despite maintaining his innocence and asserting that he was 70 miles away at the time of the murder, all of his appeals were denied. Ramirez claimed that the case against him was based entirely on circumstantial evidence and the testimony of an informant with a questionable credibility.

Ramirez was executed by lethal injection on October 20, 2005. In his final statement, he repeated his innocence and expressed sympathy for Nandin's family, hoping they would find out who was responsible for his death.