A woman testified against her former boyfriend Wednesday as his trial for killing six members of the same family began, describing in brutal detail a 2016 crime she said was committed to get money.
Diego Uribe Cruz is accused of killing the group — including 10-year-old Alexis Cruz and 13-year-old Leonardo Cruz — during an armed robbery in a Gage Park home.
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Jafeth Ramos took to the witness stand Wednesday at the Leighton Criminal Court Building to testify against Uribe Cruz, who was her boyfriend of two years at the time. She was the fifth person to do so after opening statements in the trial.
On Feb. 2, 2016, Uribe Cruz drove Ramos to a doctor’s appointment that they didn’t realize was scheduled for another day, Ramos said. She said that instead of heading back home, though, Uribe Cruz started driving to the house where the Martinez family lived. He told her they were going to “come back with some money,” she said.
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“At some point, he said he was going to kill them. I didn’t take him seriously,” Ramos testified.
Ramos testified as part of a plea deal by which she plead guilty to armed robbery in order to get reduced charges and likely a 25-year sentence as opposed to life in prison.
She told prosecutors she couldn’t remember whether Uribe Cruz had shown her a weapon while in the car, despite having previously told detectives he’d shown her a “cowboy gun.”
It was a rainy, gloomy afternoon, Ramos said, when they got to the house where the Martinez family lived. Prosecutors showed the jury a photograph of a quaint brick home with white windows.
Ramos said 13-year-old Leonardo let them in, and inside, she and Uribe Cruz joined the family in the dining room, where they were eating dinner. There was Maria Herminia Martinez, 32, Noe Martinez Jr., 38, and their mother, Rossaura Martinez, 58.
Their father, Noe Martinez Sr., 62, was out. Prosecutors had previously said he was buying hot chocolate and tamales.
The two children at the house were Maria Herminia’s sons with Armando Cruz, who was at the time living in Mexico. He was present at the trial Wednesday, however; he cried and left the courtroom when Ramos began to recount the killings of the two boys.
Ramos said that after a while at the dining table, Uribe Cruz asked Maria Herminia to talk. The three went upstairs, and Uribe Cruz and his aunt started talking about putting some counterfeit money away, Ramos said. She went to use the bathroom, and as she was coming out, she said she saw her boyfriend pull out a gun and a book bag, demanding money.
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After a brief struggle for the gun, she said, Uribe Cruz pointed it at his aunt once again, threatening to kill the family if she didn’t give him money.
When she refused, Ramos said, Uribe Cruz shot her in the forehead. Ramos said she didn’t do anything because she was in shock.
Shortly after, Noe Martinez Jr. came up the stairs and, after seeing his sister slumped on the ground, got into a struggle with Uribe Cruz, Ramos said.
“Noe wasn’t letting up. Noe was still trying to fight for his life,” she said.
But Uribe Cruz was able to overpower Noe and choked him, Ramos added. She retrieved the phones at Uribe Cruz’s insistence and put them in his book bag. The matriarch of the family then came up the stairs.
Ramos recalled Rossaura saying “You killed both of my children. I’m going to call the police,” after which Ramos allegedly pushed her down the stairs. The 58-year-old woman then lay unconscious at the bottom of the stairwell.
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Uribe Cruz and Ramos then went back downstairs, she said, where he instructed the two boys to find things of value. They collected spare change, a few dollar bills, a piggy bank, an Xbox 1 video game console and jewelry from around the house. As Ramos made her way back to the kitchen area, she couldn’t see a thing, she said.
But “what I heard made me stop in my tracks,” she said — it was Rossaura pleading for her life.
“I didn’t think that he was gonna harm Leo and Alexis,” Ramos said. So she asked the youngest to go get his stuff: pajamas, toothbrush, a change of clothes. Uribe Cruz then followed the boy to the basement, she said, and when he came back up, he was alone. When she asked about 10-year-old Alexis, she said, he responded with “He’ll be OK.”
Once back upstairs, Uribe Cruz allegedly cornered 13-year-old Leonardo and stabbed him as the boy pleaded “I just want to live!”
Ramos said she left the house from the rear and came back inside only to see the patriarch of the family, Noe Martinez Sr., on the ground as Uribe Cruz stabbed him. Prosecutors said the defendant stabbed the children’s grandfather over 40 times.
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After mopping floors and wiping doorknobs, the couple left the house, later hocking the jewelry at a pawnshop, Ramos said.
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During opening statements, Uribe Cruz’s attorneys hinted at their argument: That it was impossible for a single person to kill six others and that it was instead four masked men who killed the family during a violent robbery, letting Uribe Cruz and his girlfriend go with a warning.
The defense said, despite having access to the family’s cellphones, Ramos never attempted to call 911. They also said she never tried to flee the house.
The family was discovered two days later, on Feb. 4, 2016, when police conducted a well-being check after Noe Martinez Jr. failed to show up to work for a second consecutive day.
Uribe Cruz was arrested May 18, 2016, and charged with six counts of first-degree murder. Ramos was arrested the next morning and faced similar charges.
