Kevin Ramirez, a 37-year-old man from Rosamond, California, was found dead on the morning of November 11, 2022. Just after 6 a.m., deputies from the Kern County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call and discovered his body in the 3300 block of Sierra Highway. Ramirez had an apparent gunshot wound to his upper body and was pronounced dead at the scene, prompting an immediate homicide investigation.
Investigators learned the shooting had occurred two nights earlier, on November 9, outside
the Rosamond Palms Motel. Surveillance video from the motel showed Ramirez with his girlfriend, Gabriela Isabel Martinez, arguing around 11:11 p.m. According to court documents, the footage captured Martinez waving a black semi-automatic handgun and at one point pointing it at Ramirez. A motel employee also told investigators they had seen Martinez assault Ramirez and point a gun at him that night.
The video showed the couple, still arguing, walking away from the motel's main entrance. Around 11:30 p.m., as they walked back and forth on the property, a muzzle flash was seen on the recording. Afterward, only one person was seen walking away. Ramirez’s body was later found in the same area where the flash was observed.
On November 14, 2022, authorities arrested Martinez, then 28, in Acton, California, on a warrant for murder. She was booked into the Kern County Jail on a charge of first-degree murder and held on $1 million bail. During the investigation, Martinez gave conflicting accounts of what happened. She first claimed she shot Ramirez in self-defense, alleging he was abusive and she feared for her life. She later changed her story, stating the gun went off accidentally when Ramirez tried to take it from her, claiming he had intended to kill himself.
In December 2024, Martinez, then 30, accepted a plea agreement. She pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter in exchange for the dismissal of the first-degree murder charge. In February 2025, a judge sentenced Gabriela Martinez to 14 years in prison for the shooting death of Kevin Ramirez.
