‘I faked my murder after wife plotted to kill me...’
SHALLOW GRAVE SNAPS LAND MISSUS IN JAIL
A BOXING coach staged his own murder after his wife hired a hitman to shoot him.
Ramon Sosa, 50, posed as a corpse after joining up with police to gather evidence against her.
Maria Sosa, known as Lulu, had offered £1,500 to have him killed.
Former gym owner Ramon explained: “She had approached a guy called Gustavo to see if he could organise the hit, without realising we were friends.
“I knew him because I’d coached him. He’d been in trouble in the past but had turned his life around.
“At first, when he called and said he needed to see me because someone ‘wanted to kill me’, I thought he was joking.
“Then we devised a plan for him to wear a wire and tape her offering money to have me killed, before turning the evidence over to the cops.”
Ramon said Lulu, 43, wanted him dead for “financial reasons”.
He explained: “The business was not as successful as it had been.
“Gustavo told me she was clearly serious and had held her fingers to her head in a gun-firing gesture.”
Her plan was thwarted when Gustavo hid a microphone inside his clothing and recorded their next meeting.
He then took the recording to a police station in Houston, Texas.
Lulu met Ramon in 2007 and the divorced dad of three went on to marry her in April 2010.
By marrying Ramon, originally from Puerto Rico, Lulu was entitled to a “green card”, meaning she could stay permanently in the US where they opened a successful gym together.
Life ran smoothly until early 2015 when the gym began struggling, putting a strain on their relationship.
Ramon said: “I thought we’d work through it. Then – out of the blue – Lulu said, ‘I want a divorce’.
He then got the call from Gustavo and the two men hatched their scheme to gather evidence against her.
Ramon continued: “After recording his meeting with her, where Gustavo pretended to know two hitmen, we took the tape to the police.
“They asked me to pretend to be dead so we could show the pictures to Lulu.”
With the support of the FBI, Texas Rangers painted bloody make-up on Ramon, making it look as though he had been shot in the head.
They then drove him into the desert and photographed him lying in a shallow grave they dug for the photos.
Ramon said: “Lying in the dirt, pretending to be dead, was terrifying.”
After taking their snaps, detectives made sure Ramon stayed in a hotel for three days. They banned him from contacting anyone and showed the pictures to Lulu.
Ramon said: “A ‘hitman’ who was actually an undercover police officer, met Lulu in a parking lot and showed her the pictures. She apparently laughed.”
But the last laugh was on her after she was arrested and charged.
Lulu pleaded guilty to solicitation of murder and is now serving 20 years in jail.
Ramon, who is in a new relationship, added: “Lulu was silent in court, but justice has been served. Still, it would be wrong to say this hadn’t had a lasting impact on me.
“I’ll never be the same man again.”