A Texas man executed Wednesday for the murder of an 18-year-old woman he found raped, shot and abandoned in a field apologized to the young woman’s family as he died.
Ramiro Gonzalez, 41, was executed by lethal injection at 6:50 pm CST, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, becoming the second death row inmate executed in the state this year and the eighth in the nation.
Gonzalez was convicted of raping and murdering 18-year-old Bridget Townsend, who was just starting out in life, working full time at the resort and waiting for a response to her nursing school application.
“Words cannot express the pain, the hurt and what I have caused you all and what I can never take back,” Gonzalez said before his last breath, according to a transcript provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Patricia Townsend, Bridget’s mother, told USA Today that she was one of the witnesses to the execution and that it would be a “celebratory event” for the family. “He does not deserve mercy.”
Here’s what you need to know about the execution, the incident, and the victims.
Ramiro Gonzalez apologizes to family, tells guards he’s “ready”
According to records provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Ramiro Gonzalez’s final words were directed at the Townsend family, apologizing for the pain he had caused them.
Gonzalez told the Townsends that he used his time on earth to “give it all back,” to take responsibility for his actions, and that he loved them.
“I kept praying for you all. I kept praying that you would forgive me and that one day I would be given the opportunity to apologize. You all saved my life and I hope one day you will forgive me,” Gonzalez said. “I’m sorry to your whole family.”
He also thanked his family and friends for their support over the years.
He ended with these final words: “God bless you all. Director, we’re ready.”
The man sentenced to death was “someone else.”
The state of Texas executed Gonzalez for a crime he committed when he was 18, his lawyer told USA Today after his death.
“The man executed for these acts was a different man,” they said. Gonzalez “struggled” as an abused and neglected childhood and teenage boy, but never knew the “tools, support, or guidance” that many take for granted. He made “poor choices” as a result of those circumstances and “tried to turn to drugs,” they said.
“And he has caused irreparable harm – he has taken the life of Bridget Townsend and then attacked another woman,” they said. “Our condolences go to these women and their families, as do his.”
Ramiro, who has passed away, was “a deeply spiritual, generous, patient, thoughtful, remorseful person, and driven by love.”
“Ramiro knew he took something from this world that he could never give back. He lived with that shame every day and it shaped the man he worked so hard to become,” the statement said. “If our nation’s legal system is intended to foster rehabilitation, he will be an example. Ramiro has grown. Ramiro has changed. Let us all strive to do the same.”
Bridget Townsend murdered and abandoned
Bridget Townsend was spending the night at her boyfriend Joe Leal’s house when Ramiro Gonzalez came to visit. Leal was selling drugs and Gonzalez went to his house to steal some cocaine, but Bridget was there alone.
After Gonzalez broke in and stole the cash, Bridget began calling Leal, and according to court documents, Gonzalez forcibly subdued Bridget, tied her up and took her to his grandfather’s ranch, where he raped her, shot her, and dumped her body in a field.
Later that night, when Leal returned home, she found Bridget’s truck, purse and keys in their usual places, but they were nowhere to be found, so she called police.
For almost two years, no one except Gonzalez knew what had happened to Bridget. One day, Gonzalez, who was serving a life sentence for the rape and kidnapping of another woman, decided to confess to Bridget’s murder and discovered her body left in a field in Bandera, a small town 40 miles northwest of San Antonio.
Bridget’s mother refuses to apologize or offer excuses
Patricia Townsend told USA Today that Gonzalez’s childhood “should have nothing to do with this case.”
“I know a lot of people who had difficult childhoods,” she said Saturday, four days before the execution. “He made that choice.”
Gonzalez has contacted Bridget’s family over the years to express his “deep remorse” but they have refused.
“She was a beautiful person who loved life and loved people,” Townsend said. “She didn’t deserve to be treated the way she was treated.”
She said she took some solace in knowing that Gonzalez was scheduled to leave this world on the same day that Bridget came into the world.
“When I heard it was June 26th, I cried the whole time,” she said. “That’s her birthday.”
