MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The prosecution could rest its case Thursday in the Monongalia County murder trial of a Texas man.
Jonathan Ramirez, 24, of Watauga, Texas, allegedly stabbed to death Jacob Lough, 26, in his Suncrest area residence in January 2024.
Half a dozen expert witnesses took the the stand for the prosecution Wednesday detailing physical and video evidence. Prosecutors said the evidence shows Ramirez is the only person that have killed Lough.
Morgantown Police Department Detective Ryan Stallings detailed the movements of Ramirez when he arrived in Morgantown on Jan. 14, 2024. Using a combination of surveillance footage of the Hampton Inn on Van Voorhis Road where Ramirez stayed, forensic digital evidence of his interactions with a West Virginia teenage girl (who rebuffed his advances the day he arrived in town), along with several pieces of forensic evidence in the third-floor room where he stayed that reflected an alleged disturbing mindset the night of the murder.
Stallings also detailed how Ramirez allegedly was shown to have attempted to break into multiple hotel rooms before traveling into the Suncrest neighborhood where Lough lived.
Using surveillance footage around multiple Milford Street area homes, Stallings also showed the pathway that Ramirez allegedly took before breaking into Lough’s home as well as the moments where he returned to the Hampton Inn, driving in Lough’s white Hyundai Santa Fe at around 5 a.m. on the day of the murder.
After he parked the vehicle away from video cameras outside of the hotel, he returned to his room wearing clothes that investigators discovered were ones that Lough had in his house. Forensic evidence from Ramirez’s phone showed he allegedly looked up whether debit cards could be traced and if keys to a Honda could be traced, as well as multiple searches for news coming from the Mountain State, before eventually deciding to walk onto the West Virginia University Downtown Campus on Jan. 16, 2024.
Three state police forensic experts told the 12-member jury that Ramirez’s DNA was found at the scene.
State Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Ken Sebastian detailed the more than 220 stab wounds that Lough allegedly received from Ramirez. This included over 160 impact stab wounds around his chest and back (the majority of those were found to have taken place on his back), over 40 stab wounds on his arms (many of which were found to be self-defense wounds), as well as over twenty stab wounds to his neck, one of which sliced his carotid artery, along with two stab wounds to his head. Sebastian also confirmed that Lough experienced a traumatic injury on just about every one of his major vital organs during the attack.
West Virginia University Police Detective Jefferey Wright concluded the testimonies that took place on Wednesday, where he offered his perspective on January 16, 2024, the day Ramirez was arrested after Lough was murdered. After a BOLO (be on the lookout) call was issued by Morgantown PD in response to the discovery of Lough’s body by one of his coworkers, video surveillance showed that Ramirez parked Lough’s vehicle in a parking lot within the WVU downtown campus before walking his way into the Mountainlair. Not long after he lost his phone in a storage area, Ramirez proceeded to travel on the PRT onto the grounds of the Statler College of Engineering, where he got arrested by WVU PD officers. Bodycam footage showed that despite a slight resistance, Ramirez allegedly had a fully loaded handgun in his pocket the whole time he was on campus as well as at least one knife.
The defense will present its case after the state rests which could come Thursday.
Ramirez remains in the North Central Regional Jail without bail.