Third Sarasota murder suspect claimed he thought they were only going to rob victim, cops say
A third suspect has been charged with murder in the fatal shooting last March of a 26-year-old Sarasota man.
Charron Xavier Demarquis Martin, 24, was arrested on Friday and charged with second-degree murder with a firearm. As of Monday afternoon, Martin remained in the Sarasota County jail, where he is being held without bond.
Christopher Rashad Ramos, 26, was found dead inside a home in the 2100 block of Banneker Way in Sarasota on the morning of March 8 when his girlfriend called 911 and reported the shooting. Ramos was dead at the scene after haven been shot four times.
Sean Thomas, 22, Davion Lee, 17 and Martin were all identified early on in the investigation by numerous Crimestoppers tipsters as having participated in the killing, according a probable cause affidavit.
Thomas and Lee were arrested on other charges about a week after Ramos was killed but they denied any involvement. But the evidence gathered as the result of more than 20 search warrants for their cell phone and social media data showed that Thomas and Lee were passengers in a car parked across from the home just before the shooting. All three of them had also been in a group chat together on social media in the hours leading up to the murder, at the same time that Lee was searching Ramos’ name on social media.
In September, detectives finally had enough evidence, they said, to charge Thomas and Lee with the murder.
But hours after the killing, Martin fled to Philadelphia, according to detectives.
A jail-house informant later told detectives about a video call he was invited to join between Martin and another inmate in which Martin admitted that he had gone to Philadelphia because he had been involved in the murder and was scared, according to the affidavit.
Detectives say Martin also told the inmate that he thought they were just going to commit a robbery, and had no idea that Thomas and Lee intended to shoot Ramos or that Ramos was the intended target.
The informant encouraged Martin to speak with detectives and cooperate with the investigation. About a week after the informant was interviewed by detectives, Martin did call one of the detectives working the case. Detectives say Martin didn’t deny it when told they knew he had been involved, instead telling them he would come back to Sarasota and saying, “I won’t let you down.”
On Oct. 30, when the other jail inmate involved in the video call drove Martin to the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office, however, he denied his involvement in an interview with detectives. But later, Martin contacted Ramos’ girlfriend through that same inmate, also telling her that he didn’t know Ramos had been the intended target and that he thought it was just going to be a “lick,” street slang for robbery, and not a murder.
Martin went on to provide details of the shooting that could only have been known by someone involved, detectives said. On the morning of the shooting, Martin told her that Thomas and Lee had fallen asleep as they watched the home, and how he watched her leave with their daughter walking out behind her, leaving the door open.
After she had gone, Martin claimed that he woke the other two and they walked into the home through the open door and found Ramos asleep in a bunk bed in one of the bedrooms. Thomas woke Ramos saying, “You know what time it is.”
But when Martin realized that the victim was Rissy, as Ramos was known, he told the Thomas and Lee he was leaving. The two got angry with him but then Thomas told Martin to get out, according to the affidavit, as he walked Ramos towards the master bedroom at gunpoint.
Martin claimed to hear four gunshots as he was walking out the door, detectives said.
This story was originally published December 30, 2019 at 2:26 PM.
