HOUSTON – The Harris County Constable's Office, Precinct 6, made contact with a man who had a warrant for his arrest, hours before he allegedly murdered his ex-girlfriend.
Paul Gregory Ramirez, 62, is accused of beating his ex-girlfriend to death with a baseball bat. Charlene Cadwell, 60, the victim, was scared of Ramirez, according to the woman's family members.
Friday, Cadwell's family members wanted to know why the deputy constable did not arrest Ramirez when he had the chance.
"They made a mistake, a big mistake. Now they're going to have to answer to the family and the powers that be," said Caldwell's sister Patrice Erikson.
Information provided by the Constable's Office reveals that the Southeast Houston police agency handled two 911 calls originating from the Lucky Tavern on Navigation Boulevard, after someone witnessed the Ramirez and Caldwell arguing, hours before her death.
After the second call, a deputy constable made contact with Ramirez, but did not arrest him, officials said. Later, Ramirez is accused of fatally beating Cadwell with a baseball bat outside her home on Sidney Street, according to police.
Precinct 6 Chief Deputy Lillian Lozano released the following statement about the event:
"First of all, we want to give our condolences to the family of Charlene Cadwell. Preliminary Information shows that Precinct 6 did not receive any calls for service to the residence on Sidney Street on Saturday, nor early Sunday, Oct. 6 and 7.
"Calls for service shows that our dispatchers first received a call from who appeared to be a worker at the bar Lucky’s Tavern at 4201 Navigation at 10:22 p.m. The caller stated that two patrons a gentleman is arguing with an older lady and a handicapped lady over money. Our Deputy voluntarily took the call at 10:27 p.m. and arrived at 10:30 p.m., and cleared the call GOA (gone on arrival) at 10:32 p.m. Minutes later, a second call came in from Lucky’s Tavern, 4201 Navigation at 10:44 p.m. and the deputy arrived at 10:47 p.m. and met with both Ms. Cadwell and suspect Paul Ramirez outside the bar.
"The Deputy searched the suspect for weapons and found none. The Deputy asked the Dispatcher to run the suspect and was advised by the Dispatcher that the suspect was clear. Ms. Cadwell stated she did not want the suspect to return to the house and the suspect stated that he had already made arrangements to have his cousin pick him up.
"The suspect was released and Ms. Cadwell left the bar on foot with another female. The Deputy cleared the call ADV (advised) at 11:01 p.m. No other calls regarding Ms. Cadwell or suspect Ramirez were received by our dispatchers. We will continue to investigate this tragic incident."
Channel 2 Investigates wanted to know why the warrant was not detected by the Pct. 6 dispatchers. A representative for the Houston Police Department, the agency that confirmed this week, that the Houston Police Department was able to "see" the suspect had a month-old warrant for his arrest, so it is not yet clear why the constable's dispatcher could not.
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice confirmed that the warrant was issued after the robbery parolee cut-off his ankle monitor.
Following further inquiry about the process behind warrant checking, Precinct 6 Chief Deputy Lillian Lozano emailed the following statement:
"Our Dispatcher ran the suspect Paul Gregory Ramirez by name and Texas ID and he came back clear.
"We are working diligently with the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) to obtain official copies of the inquiries from Saturday, Oct. 6, 2018. According to DPS, this process may take up to 15 days to receive this information.
"We have no further comments at this time."
"I think they should have taken him, they should have found them warrants," Erikson said.
In total, it appears that three, possibly four 911 calls were placed by various people, from various locations, handled by various agencies before the suspect was murdered.