The Texas man convicted of murdering Learfield/MSN employee Jacob Lough will serve the rest of his life in a West Virginia state prison.
Jonathan Ramirez, 25, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of release on Friday in Monongalia County Circuit Court for Jacob Lough’s stabbing death in January 2024.
Last August, a 12-member jury convicted Ramirez of murder, burglary, and larceny. The panel took less than 30 minutes to make its conclusion. It also took nearly a half-hour to decide that Ramirez should not be spared.
Lough’s mother, Terri Lough, credited the jury for its work when speaking with reporters after Friday afternoon’s sentencing hearing.
“It came down to August 28 and 29 where that was the sentencing and they got it right- he deserved life in prison,” Jacob Lough’s mother Terri said.
Lough said her family and many others would remember Jacob, 24, as a lovely family member and good friend.
“He would give his shirt off his back- everyone says that’s so cliché, but he truly was everybody’s friend. ” Terri Lough said. “Just the best son and brother as well.”
Ramirez came to West Virginia in January 2024 to meet with a girl he had met on the internet. The gathering in Wayne did not go as planned, so he traveled to Morgantown. He booked into the Hampton Inn in the Suncrest neighborhood. He started looking for open hotel rooms to burglarize before making his way into the Suncrest subdivision, where footage showed him casing homes for potential crimes. He was able to enter Lough’s home and attack him in his sleep, stabbing him more than 200 times.
Monongalia County Circuit Court Judge Perri Jo DeChristopher sentenced Ramirez to life in prison, as well as 1 to 15 years for burglary and an additional 1 to 10 years for grand larceny, all to be served concurrently.
Ramirez appeared virtually at Friday’s hearing. He is still in the North Central Regional Jail, awaiting his transfer to state prison.