HONOLULU (TCN) — A 28-year-old man has been convicted of murder in connection with the fatal 2020 stabbings of his girlfriend and their baby.
According to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Kendall Rashad Ramsey collided with a car in March 2020 and then drove off at speeds of up to 119 miles per hour. Lynette Rojas, the driver of the car he collided with, was injured. Ramsey was taken to a hospital, where he confessed to a hospital worker that he got drunk, pushed and hit his girlfriend, and blacked out. He said he found his girlfriend and son dead when he woke up.
The scene in Ramsey’s house was described by prosectors during opening statements at his trial, which began on July 27, according to the Star-Advertiser. “Even with years of experience of police work under their belts, the responding officers were unprepared for the horror that awaited them in that second-floor studio,” said Deputy Prosecutor Scott Bell.
He described blood-soaked and spattered walls and carpet and said 23-year-old Kayla Holder had been stabbed 38 times, while the couple’s 6-month-old son, Kainoa Ramsey, was stabbed 17 times.
Ramsey had written on the walls in blood, “I’m sorry. I stabbed her. She choked me.”
“The infant lay on his back near the trash can, arms to his side, dressed only in a diaper. His body was smeared in dried blood. Brain matter bulged from the devastating wound to the top of his head,” the Star-Advertiser reports Bell said. “His mother lay nearby on her back. … Her eyes were wide open, their vacant stare skyward, her thick hair in a pool of blood that had congealed around her head.”
Ramsey was charged with first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder, and one count of second-degree attempted murder, according to the Star-Advertiser. Prosecutors say Ramsey was attempting to kill himself when he crashed his car into Rojas’ vehicle after fleeing his home; the second-degree attempted murder charge was brought in connection with the car crash.
Ramsey’s public defender, Hayley Cheng, said Ramsey suffered a childhood of abuse before joining the Army. He was unemployed at the time of the killings. Cheng said he had reached a “breaking point,” per the Star-Advertiser. He was taken to the hospital for suicidal ideation weeks before Holder and Kainoa Ramsey were killed.
On Aug. 1, a jury found Ramsey guilty of first-degree murder and attempted first-degree assault, according to Hawaii News Now.
Prosecutor Steve Alm said, “Kayla Holder and her infant son should still be alive. This was an extraordinarily brutal act of domestic violence that took two innocent lives and forever devastated those who loved them. … We hope these verdicts provide some measure of justice for Kayla, her son, and their family.”
A GoFundMe page set up on Holder’s behalf describes her as “beautiful inside & out. Kayla had a heart of gold. She loved hard, she played hard & she lived her short 23 years on this earth to the fullest. Kayla had big dreams & plans which will now, never come to fruition. She was a loving daughter, mother & a U.S. Army Soldier. Her son was her pride & joy. She died trying to protect what she loved most in this world, her beautiful son. Their lights were dimmed way too soon, but their afterglow shines bright.”
KHON reports that Ramsey faces life without the possibility of parole when he is sentenced Nov. 18.
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