Olympia man sentenced to prison for killing Chehalis man in April
A 36-year-old Olympia man, accused of killing a Chehalis man in April, has been sentenced to over 11 years in prison.
Thurston County Superior Court Judge Indu Thomas sentenced Lorenzo Ramirez, a U.S. Army veteran, on Dec. 14 after he pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in the case. He is one of four people who prosecutors have connected to the death of Jose Luis Alejo-Tamayo, 37.
A jogger found Alejo-Tamayo in a ditch on the 2500 block of 12th Avenue Northeast on April 25, The Olympian previously reported. An autopsy confirmed he had died from a single gunshot wound to the head.
Police arrested Ramirez on May 3 after an investigation linked to individuals previously arrested in connection to Alejo-Tamayo’s death. In his plea statement, Ramirez admits to the killing.
“On April 25, 2021 in the state of Washington, I recklessly killed Jose Alejo Tamayo when I shot him, as he held me at gun point,” the statement says. “He began to fall asleep and I shot him because I feared he would shoot me or another person.”
In addition to a 136-month prison sentence, Indu sentenced Ramirez to 36 months of probation and ordered him to pay a $500 fine.
Cases against his alleged accomplices — Carly Rose Lorentzen Buckner, 32, Rochelle Lee Schneberger, 32, and Olivia Farrar Ingram-Legvold, 30 — are still making their way through the courts.
All three have been charged with first-degree rendering criminal assistance. Their cases may go to trial early next year barring further delays or guilty pleas, according to court records.
Court documents for the four individuals include probable cause statements describing law enforcement’s investigation into Alejo-Tamayo’s death.
Schneberger and Ingram-Legvold reportedly told investigators they met with Alejo-Tamayo to retrieve a dog they claim he took from them during a debt dispute, according to the documents.
Prosecutors allege Schneberger and Ramirez rode in a car with Alejo-Tamayo right before his death. Ingram-Legvold also has been accused of attempting to conceal and paint the vehicle at a residence, per the documents.
Investigators retrieved video evidence near Fourth Avenue in Olympia, less than a mile from where the jogger found Alejo-Tamayo. The documents say the video showed Ramirez exiting Schneberger’s car eight minutes before Alejo-Tamayo’s body was found.
Witnesses also placed a man matching Ramirez’s appearance in the car with Schneberger and Alejo-Tamayo about an hour before he exited the vehicle, according to the documents.
Deputies later located Ramirez at a mobile home park on Case Road Southwest in Thurston County. A detective claims they also saw Lorentzen Buckner at that location with Ramirez, according to the documents.
The documents indicate Lorentzen Buckner had been driving Ramirez around and did not notify law enforcement despite knowing Ramirez was involved in the death of Alejo-Tamayo.
