ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
Thursday’s portion of testimony in the case against Pablo Roman Ramirez was primarily focused on a man convicted in connection with the alleged murders of Timothy Martin and Erick Salas April 2, 2019.
After being much of the focus of previous testimony, Ralph Salas Jr. took the stand Thursday. He was arrested in 2022 for two counts each of first degree murder, aggravated kidnapping, conspiracy to commit murder, aggravated robbery and aggravated burglary, as well as other charges.
Officials with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation said Martin’s and Erick’s bodies were found in separate locations in April 2019, with Martin’s body discovered by a farmer on his property near U.S. Highway 54 and the Kansas/Oklahoma state line in Texas County, Okla.
Erick was discovered deceased in a trailer at the Seven Winds RV Park in Liberal. Erick and Ralph were not related, according to the KBI.
Thursday’s testimony did reveal one of the other suspects in the case, Junior Sanchez (who is now deceased), was Ralph’s cousin. Ralph did admit to owning firearms, including those he later would testify were used to kill Martin and Erick.
After dropping off several people, Ralph, under questioning from Ramon Ramirez’s attorney, Luci Douglass, said he went to collect money as he made calls to Erick, who he had left some marijuana with prior to April 2, 2019.
Contrary to previous testimony, Trung Phan was not with Ralph at the time the murders occurred, according to the witness, but Ralph did say when he arrived at the home of Martin and Erick, lights were on, and there was loud noise coming from the trailer.
Thursday, Ralph also confessed to using weed in the vehicle as he was driving to the trailer. He said he was angry about not getting calls answered, and he did not knock at the door of the trailer before entering.
Ralph also testified he did take the guns into the trailer, and he became aggressive with Erick and Martin, asking them what was going on and why no one was answering his calls.
Ralph said arguments later started, and Erick became angry about him bursting into the house. The conversation, the testimony said, later turned to money.
Ralph also said Martin jumped up during the argument, and he pulled the gun out and told Martin not move. Douglass asked Ralph what he did to try to get the money from Martin, and the witness said he started yelling and being aggressive, hitting Martin with the butt of the gun on the back of his head.
Meanwhile, Ralph said Erick surrendered and turned around, and that is when Ralph hit him with the gun. Ralph said Erick thought he had been shot after the gun off, and later, Erick had led him to a room to find a laundry basket supposedly with the marijuana and the money Ralph wanted.
Ralph said it was around that time he shot Erick in the back of the head. Martin, Ralph said, did not want to irritate Ralph, and Ralph said he tied Martin’s hands together and forced him into the vehicle with the gun.
Later, according to Ralph’s testimony, Martin jumped out of the vehicle, and running to catch him, Martin became untied. Ralph said he grabbed Martin, stood him up, got close to him and shot him twice.
Ralph did seem to show remorse for his actions, though.
“I’m not a calculated killer,” he said on the stand Thursday.
Ralph is currently serving his sentence.
As with the other suspects in the murders, Ralph was an admitted member of a gang, and under prosecutor Russell Hasenbank’s cross examination, he said no one had sanctioned him to do the homicides, a common practice amongst gangs.
Hasenbank then reviewed Douglass’s questions with Ralph and an interview the witness had with KBI Special Agent Jason LaRue, and the attorney found many inconsistencies between the two, including Phan’s involvement.
Douglass was expected to continue the defense’s case Friday.
