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Series 4: 3. Murder on the Ranch
In the small rural town of Bandera, Texas, 18-year-old Bridget Townsend goes missing from the home she shared with her boyfriend. Earlier that day, a former classmate of Bridget’s had turned up at the house looking to steal drugs. As he rifled through their belongings, Bridget rang her boyfriend to tell him what was going on.\n\nRealising he was about to be caught in the act, the intruder kidnapped Bridget and took her to a remote ranch on the outskirts of town. There, he raped her, before using a shotgun to kill her. Bandera County Sheriff’s Office began a search for Bridget, but their case quickly went cold.\n\nEight months later, in September 2001, a businesswoman from the same town was kidnapped at knifepoint, driven to a remote ranch and raped, before being locked in a cupboard. Somehow, she managed to kick her way out and, naked and bound with duct tape, hiked for five miles to a road where she was picked up by a ranger.\n\nThat night, police chased down the man now driving her car. It was Bridget’s former classmate, Ramiro Gonzales. In October 2002, he pled guilty to kidnap and rape. Gonzales was subsequently interviewed by a local TV crime reporter, who, with Bridget now missing for 18 months, asked him whether he knew anything about the case. Later that night, Ramiro revealed to officers that he had taken Bridget and that he knew the whereabouts of her body. He then led them to her remains. In 2006, he received the death penalty for kidnapping, raping and murdering her.\n\nNow, with his appeals almost exhausted, his supporters and legal team are quoting the latest scientific thinking to argue that the human brain only matures by a person’s mid-twenties, and that Gonzales has matured out of his criminal mindset. He has now, they say, become a man of deep religious faith.\n\nThis film begins the moment Gonzales’s execution date is set. It's a date that Bridget’s mother, Patricia, sees as a good omen – when Bridget would have turned 42. With unique access to Bridget and Ramiro’s closest family, friends and legal advisors, this film follows the final few weeks of appeals as the Townsends seek justice and Gonzales’s supporters argue that he is an entirely changed person from the damaged, drug-addicted 18-year-old who killed Bridget.\n\nThe tensions, hopes and fears of all those caught up in the case are laid bare as the proposed execution date draws near.
Source: BBC 1
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