Who is Ramon Escobar? California serial killer claims he murdered his pedophile cellmate over bad hygiene
KERN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA: A California serial killer, who has claimed the lives of two family members and five other strangers, told authorities that he murdered his pedophile cellmate because he was a layabout.
According to Fox News, Ramon Escobar, 52, was charged with killing his cellmate Juan Villanueva, 53, in September, just months after prison guards discovered the convicted criminal dead in his cell.
As per the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the slain child abuser was sentenced to life in prison last year for sexually assaulting a child under 14 and arrived in February, just days before his slaying.
The authorities said that a guard at North Kern State Prison found Villanueva unresponsive at 8.49 am on February 24. Escobar was reportedly in the cell at the time.
When were Damon Escobar and Juan Villanueva sentenced to prison?
In May last year, Escobar had been sentenced to multiple life prison sentences, plus 124 years and arrived in Kern in December.
Villanueva received a sentence of life with the possibility of parole in October 2022 and arrived in the Kern prison on February 2, according to the authorities.
The criminal duo was being held together in the medium security facility temporarily as California corrections officials prepared to move them into permanent placements.
It is the same facility which hosted Tory Lanez, the rapper who shot Megan Thee Stallion in the foot at a pool party and Phil Spector, the music producer-turned-killer who shot actress Lana Clarkson in the face in his mansion.
Why did Damon Escobar commit the murders?
According to latest unveiled court documents, Escobar gave a confession and a motive for the slaying. He strangled Villanueva because of his bad hygiene, the Bakersfield-based KGET-TV reported.
He was already serving two life sentences without parole plus another 124 years for seven murders in California and Texas.
Before escaping to Southern California, Escobar killed his aunt and uncle in Texas. He then robbed and killed five men in a 14-day span in 2018, Fox 11 Los Angeles reported.
The remains of Dina and Rogelio Escobar have never been found. A plea deal spared him from the Texas death penalty and he is serving his life sentences in California.
Who were the other victims?
According to the outlet, the other victims have been identified as 51-year-old Juan Antonio Ramirez who died from complications of the 2018 attack in 2021, 24-year-old Branden Ridout, 59-year-old Kelvin Williams, 39-year-old youth sports coach Steven Cruze and 63-year-old Jorge Martinez.