Woman Pleads Guilty To Domestic Violence Resulting In Maryland Murder

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                         Contact ELIZABETH MORSE

www.justice.gov/usao/md                                                   at (410) 209-4885

Baltimore, Maryland – Dolores Delgado, age 32, of San Antonio, Texas, pled guilty in federal court for interstate travel to commit domestic violence resulting in death, in connection with the death of Karlyn Ramirez.

The guilty plea was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Stephen M. Schenning; Special Agent in Charge Gordon B. Johnson of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office; Commanding General Mark S. Inch of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command; and Anne Arundel County Police Chief Tim Altomare.

According to the statement of facts supporting the plea agreement, Karlyn Ramirez was an active duty soldier of the United States Army assigned to Fort Meade, Maryland. She was found shot to death in her off-post residence on the morning of August 25, 2015. Her four-month old daughter had been placed in her arms. Forensic evidence estimates the likely time of death was during the late evening hours of August 24, 2015.

At the time of her death, Ramirez was married to another active duty soldier and they had a four-month old daughter. They had recently separated and Ramirez had obtained a protective order through the Army prohibiting all contact between Ramirez and her husband.

Ramirez’s husband was stationed at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. On August 24, 2015, he finished work in the early afternoon and traveled from South Carolina to Severn, Maryland. He entered Ramirez’s townhouse using his key and brandishing a Taurus .357 caliber revolver. Ramirez attempted to calm her husband but she reiterated that she did not want to see him again. The husband shot Ramirez three times, killing her. He then took off her pants and pulled down her underwear in an attempt to make it look like a sexual assault. He also placed their 4-month old daughter in Ramirez’s arm.

Delgado provided the firearm that killed Ramirez and allowed her co-conspirator to drive her car from South Carolina to Maryland to commit the murder. Delgado also purchased large gas cans to take with him, so that he would not have to stop for gas and risk being seen. During the murder, (who lived in Florida at the time) stayed at Ramirez’s husband’s apartment in South Carolina with his phone and vehicle so that it would appear that he was in South Carolina at the time of the murder. After the murder, and a third party went to a waterway in Florida and disposed of the firearm, shell casings, the co-conspirators clothing worn during the murder, and the key he used to enter the townhouse. also dismantled the revolver and took steps to obliterate the serial number. The firearm was subsequently recovered by law enforcement divers and forensic testing determined that it was indeed the gun used by the co-conspirator to shoot Karlyn Ramirez to death.

Delgado faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. remains detained pending her sentencing, which is scheduled for November 20, 2017 at 11am. The case against ’s codefendant is still pending.

Acting United States Attorney Stephen M. Schenning commended the FBI Baltimore, Army CID, and Anne Arundel County Police Department for their work in the investigation, and thanked the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas and FBI San Antonio for their assistance. Mr. Schenning also thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys James G. Warwick, Kenneth S. Clark, who are prosecuting the case.