Left inset: Rene Mendez. Right inset: Sylvia Ramos, left and Brianna Ramos. Background: Laredo police investigate after Mendez murdered his girlfriend and her daughter (KGNS).
A Texas man has been sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for the shocking murder of his girlfriend and her daughter, after which he continued his day as if nothing had transpired.
Rene Mendez received a life sentence following his conviction for the murders of his 40-year-old girlfriend, Sylvia Ramos, and her 19-year-old daughter, Brianna Ramos. The verdict was delivered by a jury, and the sentencing was confirmed by the Webb County District Attorney’s Office. On March 6, 2023, the brother of Sylvia Ramos urgently flagged down a Laredo police officer, exclaiming, “Come here! Hurry! Run! My sister was killed!”
Upon entering the residence at 2601 Lomas Del Sur Blvd., officers discovered the bodies of the victims. The brother informed them that Mendez had been in a relationship with his sister. Later that day, police located Mendez at a nearby Motel 6, responding to a call about a drug overdose. He survived the overdose and was subsequently arrested.
Investigations revealed that Mendez had brutally stabbed Sylvia Ramos 55 times, primarily targeting her neck, while her daughter was strangled to death. According to a courtroom account by the Laredo Morning Times, prosecutors recounted that Mendez first strangled Brianna Ramos in her bedroom.
After committing the initial murder, Mendez left the scene to meet a friend, who later testified that Mendez behaved as if nothing unusual had occurred. He returned to the apartment a few hours later, waiting for Sylvia to come home. Upon her arrival, Mendez attacked her with a pocket knife.
Assistant District Attorney Kassandra de Hoyos highlighted during her closing arguments that Mendez claimed it was unintentional, yet he did not cease his attack. She described how three minutes later, he abandoned the apartment, leaving Sylvia in a pool of her own blood while Brianna lay dead in her room.
Mendez stole his girlfriend’s bank card, withdrew $500 from her account and bought $100 worth of cocaine. Prosecutors said he proceeded to ingest 130 pills, cocaine and alcohol in a suicide attempt.
“Then he thought he was over. He didn’t expect to wake up, he didn’t expect someone to rescue him and be sitting in front of this jury,” de Hoyos reportedly said. “Don’t get it twisted, addiction was his motive, but addiction didn’t cause him to suffocate Brianna, addiction didn’t cause him to kill Sylvia with 55 stab wounds. It was that man over there.”
