Woman gets 20 to 40 years for conspiracy in 2016 killing

In the hours after Ryan Ramirez was shot and left along Steubenville Pike, the woman who lured him there, Lauren O’Connor, sent his mother text messages from his phone, pretending to be him and reassuring his mother that he was fine.

O’Connor then went on with her life while Mr. Ramirez’s family frantically hung flyers in a search for the missing 21-yearold.

For her role in the killing, O’Connor, 25, who pleaded guilty in January to conspiracy to commit homicide, was sentenced Thursday to 20 to 40 years in prison. The man who killed Mr. Ramirez, Kristopher Lott, will serve 27½ to 60 years after pleading guilty in November to thirddegree murder.

O’Connor and Mr. Ramirez, who had been in a relationship since January 2016, went to Settler’s Cabin Park on Aug. 22, 2016, and met with Lott. Police said Lott became aggressive and struck Mr. Ramirez with a gun and demanded money.

They drove to a bank, where Lott forced Mr. Ramirez to empty his accounts for a total of $78. The three then left and pulled over in a remote area in Hanover, and Lott shot Mr. Ramirez in the head. His body wasn’t found for three days.

Eleven relatives and friends of Mr. Ramirez’s gave victim-impact testimony Thursday before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Beth A. Lazzara, depicting him as a selfless man who loved children.

A student at Duquesne University, Mr. Ramirez wanted to be a teacher and was working at a day care when he was killed.

“We did everything together,” said Alex Ramirez, Ryan’s older brother. But as Ryan became closer with O’Connor, Ryan became more distant.

“I could tell he loved her,” Alex Ramirez said. “Pretty soon, he just wasn’t the same. All he wanted to do was help her.”

O’Connor, her attorney told the court, was an addict, using heroin, LSD and other drugs. Mr. Ramirez wanted to help her, no matter the consequences.

Paige Urbano, a friend of Mr. Ramirez’s since sixth grade, said directly to O’Connor: “He tried so hard to get you clean. He just wanted to make you better. He was convinced she loved him, and he would do anything for people he loved.”

His parents, John and Shari Ramirez, talked about teaching their son to care for others.

“His love for his family and friends was far greater than his concern for himself,” Mrs. Ramirez said.

Defense attorney Lee Rothman offered what he considered to be mitigation to Judge Lazzara.

He talked about his client’s drug problem, as well as a history of sexual assault and molestation. He also noted that her boyfriend was shot to death in 2012, sending O’Connor into a spiral of depression and self-medicating.

Mr. Rothman argued that it was Lott who was the mastermind behind what happened and that O’Connor’s participation was “tacit compliance.”

When it was time for O’Connor to speak, she apologized to the Ramirez family.

“It seems as though I’m looking back on someone else’s life,” she said, describing herself at the time as self-centered, careless and destructive.

O’Connor also described herself as lost, weak, scared and heartless.

“Heroin takes your soul. It became the center of my existence. It provides euphoria that replaces the awful broken pieces of you.”

Judge Lazzara was not swayed.

“This crime would not have happened were it not for you and the actions you took,” she said.

“At every turn, you chose to do the wrong thing.”