Bio

Ray Jasper was born on August 25, 1980, in the Netherlands. His father served in the United States Air Force, and Jasper later lived in the United States. By the late 1990s, he was living in San Antonio, Texas. Jasper became involved in rap music as a teenager. He created his own record label and had a rap group that recorded music at a San Antonio recording studio owned by David Alejandro. Alejandro was a music engineer, studio owner, composer, and singer who worked with local artists.

Before the murder, Jasper had a record of juvenile and young adult misconduct. During the punishment phase of his trial, prosecutors presented evidence that he had been found with marijuana on school property, expelled from school, involved in a high-speed police chase, and accused of assaulting an off-duty police officer shortly before Alejandro’s murder.

Murder Story

On November 29, 1998, Ray Jasper and two accomplices went to David Alejandro’s recording studio in San Antonio, Texas. Jasper had recorded music there before and knew Alejandro personally. Prosecutors later said Jasper planned to steal expensive recording equipment from the studio and decided Alejandro had to be killed because he could identify him.

A week before the murder, Jasper bought large bags from a sporting goods store. On the day of the crime, he and his accomplices arrived at the studio in two vans. They had made an appointment and spent about two hours recording music before carrying out the attack. Jasper walked up behind Alejandro, grabbed him by the hair, and cut his throat with a knife. Alejandro survived the first wound, and Jasper and one accomplice continued attacking him. Alejandro died from multiple stab wounds to his chest and abdomen.

After the killing, Jasper covered Alejandro’s body with a black sheet because, according to the case summary, he did not want to look at him. Jasper and his accomplices then began loading studio equipment into the vans. The equipment was valued between $10,000 and $30,000. The group made several trips removing property from the studio. Jasper fled when an off-duty police officer arrived to investigate suspicious activity, but he was later arrested. On December 2, 1998, he confessed to police that he had planned the robbery and recruited two accomplices.

Ray Jasper was indicted for capital murder on June 1, 1999. On January 18, 2000, a Bexar County jury found him guilty. On January 20, 2000, he was sentenced to death. His appeals were denied over the following years. On March 19, 2014, Ray Jasper was executed by lethal injection in Huntsville, Texas. He was 33 years old.