Convicted serial killer Ramon Escobar suspected of murdering child sexual abuser inside California prison
KERN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA: It is believed that a Los Angeles serial killer, who used baseball bats to batter his victims, killed his new cellmate on Friday, Feb 24, at North Kern State Prison in Kern County. According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Ramon Escobar, 51, was sharing his cell with Juan Villanueva, 53, who was convicted for the aggravated sexual assault of a child under 14 and serving a life sentence.
Villanueva, 53, was discovered unresponsive just before 9 am and, despite efforts to save him, was declared dead at the prison treatment center shortly after, according to the agency. According to the agency, Escobar has been put in restricted housing while an investigation is ongoing because he is suspected of killing Villanueva. According to the authorities, the official cause of death will be determined by the Kern County coroner. Other information wasn't immediately given, as reported by CBS.
READ MORE
Billy Chemirmir: Trial begins for serial killer who murdered 87-year-old woman in Dallas
Ramon Escobar was serving life sentence
After confessing to the murders of his 65-year-old uncle Rogelio Escobar and 61-year-old aunt, Dina Escobar, in August 2018, Ramon Escobar was given a life sentence without the possibility of parole in California. Ramon Escobar appeared via Zoom at the courtroom in Los Angeles County to accept the charges. Ramon Escobar responded, "I'm very guilty," when asked to enter a plea in the case involving his aunt.
'This man was a monster'
In September 2018, Ramon Escobar was tracked by investigators to southern California, where he had already been detained for a number of murders and other violent crimes in the Los Angeles area. Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg concerning Escobar's murder case, said, "This man was a monster who killed strangers and members of his own family without a second thought." He further added, "He choked unsuspecting people to death and bludgeoned others with heavy objects, sometimes while they slept. His callous actions showed that he never cared about anyone else," as reported by ABC13.
Who is Ramon Escobar?
Escobar was born on June 5th, 1971, in El Salvador, where the Football War caused him to grow up in poverty. Escobar entered the country illegally in the middle of the 1980s, but he was discovered in early 1988 and was later deported by ICE agents in February of that year, as per reports. He came back to the United States in the early 1990s and settled in Houston, Texas, staying with some relatives. Escobar was repeatedly detained between 1992 and the time of his arrest in 2018 for offenses like burglary, assault, and criminal trespassing, as reported by Laist.