Ramiro Rubi Ibarra: Texas pedophile who raped, choked teen with cord to death will be executed on March 4
WACO, TEXAS: A pedophile who raped and killed a teenager using an electric cord will be executed after his latest appeal was rejected by the US Supreme Court. The execution date of Ramiro Rubi Ibarra has also been set and most probably he will be executed on March 4, 2021.
The 66-year-old convicted rapist has spent 23 years of his life on death row for the rape and gruesome murder of Maria De La Paz Zuniga in Waco in 1987. According to reports, Maria was sixteen when Ibarra killed her. The teenager was babysitting her nephews at her family’s home in Waco when the rapist, a family acquaintance, attacked her. He not just beat and raped her, but also strangled her with an electrical cord, trial testimony stated.
Maria’s bruised, bloody, and partially undressed body was later found by her brother Francisco Zuniga who came home to pick her up for shopping. The victim’s face seemed to be beaten while her throat and shoulders were wrapped in a yellow wire at the time of discovery. Maria’s dress was also pulled over her waist and her underwear was ripped off by the criminal.
Ibarra was soon arrested and identified as the suspect into the case as DNA samples taken from him matched the blood found under the mangled victim’s fingernails and semen left in her body and on her underwear. The same yellow wire that was used to strangle Maria was also found in his car by police. But Ibarra escaped trial and was released from jail due to an improper search warrant until 1996 when he was arrested once again.
Over the years, the convicted rapist tried several excuses to avoid a death sentence. First, he claimed, he was mentally unfit to stand a trial. He then used his Mexican citizenship to avoid execution as he claimed that being from another country, he should have been given legal assistance from the Mexican Consulate after his arrest — an alleged violation of international agreements. But both of his bids failed.
In 2012, Ibarra came with another avenue to get a life sentence instead of death and claimed that his lawyers failed to demonstrate his extreme childhood poverty and physical and emotional abuse from his father. He believed that the evidence of his disturbed childhood could have convinced jurors to choose a life sentence for him, but the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Ibarra’s claim at the time.
And this time again, in late June, the Supreme Court without comment rejected Ibarra’s bid, and on July 27, prosecutors filed the proposed execution date. His federal appellate attorney, Russ Hunt Jr, said he will continue to fight against the death sentence. Hunt said: “Of course we are very disappointed that as of this point we have not been able to get him relief through the appellate process. But we will continue pursuing whatever avenues we are able to.”
It has been also reported that after his capital murder trial in Waco, Ibarra was convicted for sexually assaulting his nephew in Bell County and get a life sentence. However, it’s not clear when the assault happened.