Ramon Rogers

Ramon Jay Rogers (né Franks; born March 13, 1960) is an American serial killer and former actor who murdered a male friend and two ex-girlfriends in San Diego, California between 1993 and 1996, dismembering their bodies post-mortem. Convicted on two counts of first-degree murder and one count of second-degree murder, he was later sentenced to death.

Early life Ramon Jay Franks was born on March 13, 1960, in Emmett, Idaho, the son of a white American father and a black mother who immigrated from Trinidad and Tobago. As his birth parents were unable to take care of him due to financial constraints, the young Ramon was adopted by the Rogers family. According to friends and relatives, the two families got along well and often visited one another, and Ramon grew up in a well-adjusted and respectable environment. Aside from this, Rogers also ran a car window tinting business, a cellular phone service, was the apartment manager of a building at 7007 Saranac. In the mid-1990s, he attempted to join a heavy metal band named Mister Butterfly as their drummer.

Murders Ron Stadt In July 1992, Rogers' best friend Ron Stadt divorced from his wife Debra, and the pair soon after got into a custody dispute over who would get parental rights over their child.

On June 24, 1993, Stadt was at work when he received a phone call from Rogers, with whom he got into an argument. A colleague of Stadt's, Michael Proo, later claimed at trial that Stadt wanted to retrieve some jewelry from the apartment which they shared, but was afraid that Rogers might try something if he went alone, so he asked Proo and his wife to accompany him. Rogers informed that the police had found her remains that same day, but the police department itself did not inform her parents until January. The most important piece of evidence found was a pair of yellow Playtex gloves and portions of a calendar with dates corresponding to the disappearances of Stadt and Albano cut off. At the time, Watson was known to be in some sort of dispute with the Rogers family, who were considered suspects in the case, but were never charged as no body was ever found.

Trial and sentence In September 1996, Rogers was ordered to stand trial over the objections of his defense attorney, who claimed that the prosecution had failed to provide enough evidence that the victims were deceased and demanded that all murder charges be dropped. During the trial, the prosecution displayed numerous pieces of evidence obtained from searching Rogers' property, including the bloodied utility tools and colored photographs of the victims' dismembered remains. Throughout the remainder of the trial, Rogers remained stoic and took notes as the proceedings went on. He was subsequently sentenced to death, and despite filing multiple appeals challenging this sentence, it was upheld by the Supreme Court of California in 2009.

Aftermath As of July 2024, Rogers remains on death row.

In 2022, Judge Frederick Link, who presided over Rogers' trial, retired from his duties. In an interview with KFMB-TV about his career, Link mentioned cases that left an impact on his career, one of them being the Rogers case, as it was one of only three death penalty cases he presided over in his 40-year career.