A healthy and vibrant 98-year-old Ohio woman was looking forward to her 100^th birthday when instead she was brutally murdered and her body desecrated in sick fashion by her teen killer!

According to authorities, Margaret Douglas’ murderer snuck into her home and took disturbing videos and photos of her sleeping before strangling her and later abusing the body. On the morning of April 9, 2018, officers with the Wadsworth Police Department received a call from t Douglas’ family that the 98-year-old woman who lived alone hadn’t been heard from in a number of days. Police traveled to her home to perform a wellness check — and when they failed to find her, they launched a preliminary search.

Douglas’ nephew Howard Leasure and his wife, Cindy, quickly joined, meeting police at her home to look for any clues that she may have left of her own volition. It was when Leasure went to check his aunt’s closet that he made a horrifying discovery.

What he at first thought was just her shoes under a pile of clothes in the closet turned out instead to Margaret’s dead body! “I pretty much lost it. Something I’ll never forget, to find her like that,” Leasure told local press at the time.

The way Douglas was found, with her clothing disheveled and torn in some places, suggested that she had been sexually assaulted, while trauma on her neck suggested she’d been strangled. There were also bruises that made it clear she was beaten and left in the closet for several days.

At first, police suspected robbery, as the elderly woman’s wallet was missing. However, as they searched the property, the only clue they found was a plastic glove that had been discarded near the back of the house.

Douglas was “feisty” and independent. She loved life even though she had been living alone for a number of years since her husband passed. She was beloved by all in the neighborhood, and no one could understand how anyone could wish her harm, let alone dispose of her in such a heinous way.

A Possible Suspect

After ruling out Douglas’ family members, police turned their site on a man named David, who was a kind of caretaker of the old woman, who checked on her from time to time, and did odd jobs around the house for her. Police had trouble finding David at first, which raised their suspicions. Those suspicions went even higher when he was found wandering a few days later around Douglas’ home. However, he explained he was there because he had seen all the activity around the woman’s and really was worried about her. He then admitted that he was in the home a few days before she was found and was worried he would be a suspect in her murder as the police would likely find his fingerprints there. He agreed to DNA testing, and it did not match samples from the glove found on the scene. He also had reasonable and verifiable accounting of his time during the period that the coroner believed Douglas had been killed. He was released.

A Disturbing Autopsy Report

As the investigation continued, the autopsy report came in, which showed that while her underwear had been removed and her clothing torn in several places, the were no signs that she had been sexually abused or assaulted. Determined to find answers, police began to take a closer look at smaller crimes in the area and started investigating reports that a trailer at a nearby construction site had been broken into. Whoever had broken into the trailer had stupidly left their phone behind, which police were able to trace back to a young man named Zachary.

When they brought him in for questioning, he quickly revealed that a friend of his named Gavon Ramsay was involved in not only the trailer break-in, but also a string of other small crimes the pair committed together. He insisted they had all been Ramsey’s idea.

Ramsay was brought in for questioning accompanied by his mother, as he was underage. Seated in front of police, Ramsay began to admit to a number of things, like breaking into cars and stealing small items. After that, he asked his mother to leave the room. Alone with the police, he admitted to a more recent and more serious crime, car-jacking a man whom he’d met on a gay dating website. Still, when asked about Douglas’ murder, Ramsay denied it, but the police had a gut feeling that he was hiding something.

A Stalker and Worse

Police searched Ramsay’s phone and were shocked at what they had found. The boy had been secretly stalking Douglas for some time, and he had disturbing pictures and videos of her taken while she slept in her own home! Ramsay had secretly gotten into the house and recorded her.

Fearing that he may try to flee, police quickly took Ramsay into custody. Back in the interview room, he began his confession. He said that he’d snuck into Douglas’ house for the adrenaline rush and, once inside, had begun recording her while she slept. Then, when she woke up, he forced her onto the ground and strangled her before he realized what he was doing.

But the worst part of the crime came after he had already murdered the kind elderly woman. Ramsay would not speak of it, but investigators had evidence of the disturbing abuse he did to Douglas’ body.

“He degraded her body … videotaping and taking pictures. He’d actually been in there with her for a while,” Matt Markley, a detective with the Wadsworth Police Department, told the press.

After taking his depraved pictures and videos of her dead and partially naked body, he then moved her into the closet and fled the scene back to his home — which was in the same neighborhood as Douglas’ house. It was then police realized Ramsay likely knew Douglas and had chosen her specifically as his potential victim.

Police arrested Gavon Ramsay for Douglas’ murder. When they searched his house, they found all the evidence they needed for a solid case and conviction – a glove matching the kind that was recovered from the scene, as well as Douglas’ missing wallet. They also found Ramsay’s journal; in it, he had written about serial killers and had described his fantasies involving rape and murder.

“After reading those, there was no doubt in my mind that Gavon would kill again if he had the opportunity,” Detective Markley said. “This is something he enjoys, that he finds pleasure in.”

At the age of 17, Gavon Ramsay was found guilty of all charges and received the harshest penalty possible – life in prison without parole.