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We are bringing you a special bonus episode today from Oxygen's hit series, Snapped Killer Couples.

You can also watch full episodes on demand on the free oxygen app or on Peacock by clicking the link in our description.

Enjoy!

They were a military couple building a family together.

He wanted to marry her.

He was ready to be there for her and the baby.

She loved the idea of having a whole family with him.

But a violent crime would destroy their chance at a happy ending.

There was what appeared to be a gunshot wound to her chest area.

A staged crime scene indicates that the subject had a plan to commit the crime and had a plan to make an effort to confuse the investigation.

The search for the killer will stretch across state lines and unearth a myriad of scandals and secret love affairs.

She was maybe harboring some type of hope that she could have him to herself.

They certainly are red flags that there is some sort of danger in this relationship.

If he could not have her, he was going to kill her.

It was the worst emotional and physical pain that I have ever felt in my life.

It's soul-crushing.

Severn, Maryland is a quiet suburban community nestled within the bustling metropolis of Baltimore and Washington, D.C.

Fort George Meade, Army base.

It's been there for a very long time.

The base is quite a large base these days.

Severn is sort of the community that surrounds the base.

A lot of people that work in the Army and the Armed Forces live in that community.

But just before 8 a.m.

on August 25th, 2015, the usual Tuesday morning calm is disturbed when the Annarundal County Police receive a call from a concerned maintenance man at the Lake Village townhomes.

A maintenance worker in a townhome community had discovered an open sliding rear door of a townhome.

It was just odd.

I don't think the maintenance worker had any indication of who was inside, but clearly recognized something wasn't right.

Thought that it best that the police check it out.

The Ann-Aral County Police arrived.

They find an open door with no one answering.

So initially, they don't know what they're dealing with.

You know, did someone just leave a door open?

Is this

some sort of robbery?

Is it something else?

Is anyone there?

Is anyone hurt?

Does anyone need assistance?

The residence itself was like a townhouse without a basement, two stories, you know, ground level, and then a second story where all the bedrooms were.

They decided to go ahead and enter the apartment to check to see if anything was going on.

The responding officer started to clear the downstairs area and then they went upstairs.

When we went at the upstairs of the townhouse,

they looked to the master bedroom and we saw a body lying on the floor.

It was apparent that the woman was deceased.

Upon closer inspection, the officer realizes there's a second victim.

There's not only was

an adult female lying prone on the floor, an infant child was cradled in her arms.

When the officer moved closer to the individuals, the baby made some movement and some sound, and the officer was relieved that the child was alive.

He picked up the child and

brought her outside to the paramedics for immediate assessment.

Detectives are immediately called to the scene.

The victim was on the ground.

There was what appeared to be gunshot wounds to her chest area.

Obviously, the consideration was that this was likely a homicide situation.

When I responded to the crime scene, there's numerous police cars and members of the military responded to the crime scene, specifically Sergeant McDaniels.

A detective came over to talk to me, but I'm like, I have two female soldiers that live in that apartment.

What's going on?

Sergeant McDaniels informs detectives that the residence belongs to 24-year-old Army specialist Carlin Ramirez.

Sergeant McDaniels also informed us that there was another

adult female roommate that lived in the apartment, that her name was Marissa.

He also stated that he knew the roommate Marissa was away on vacation.

He was concerned because Carlin hadn't arrived at work that morning.

Based on Sergeant McDaniel's statement, detectives believe the woman inside the townhome is Carlin.

I woke up to my phone just ringing over and over.

There was a police officer on the phone, and I knew

something bad happened.

And all I could ask was,

is she okay?

And she told me no.

During the investigation of Carlin's murder, we resorted to her victimology.

Growing up in Del Rio, Texas, Carlin Ramirez always understood the value of family and tradition from a young age.

Carlin's family family was very important to her.

She always had nothing but awesome stories to tell me.

She went to college for a few years, got her associate's degree, and then decided that the military would probably be a better fit for her.

I think mostly because

our mother was in the military when she was younger, right before she had my sister Carlyn.

And then of course her aunt was also a retired veteran from the military.

So she saw it as my family did it.

Maybe it's a good fit for me.

She wanted to see the world.

She wanted to help people.

She just had this hunger and this drive to want to do better and want to be better and want to make the world a better place for everybody.

When she deployed to South Korea in 2013, Carlin met the man who would change her life forever.

35-year-old chemical weapons specialist Malik Kearny.

In the military, he was highly regarded and highly decorated for the work that he did.

He'd earned several awards and was well thought of by his colleagues in the military.

And he took great pride in his military service.

Malik was a lot older and more mature.

Carlin.

She thought that physically he was very attractive.

She would tell me she liked the way that he held his confidence.

He was a very independent, very confident man.

He really knew what he wanted.

She felt completely head over heels for him.

Malik also fell in love with the beautiful 22-year-old Carlin.

After nearly six months of dating, it was clear to friends and family that the relationship had grown serious.

She got home for Thanksgiving for the first time, and then she was like, Hey, I have a surprise.

I'm pregnant.

Shortly after, Malik proposed, and Carlin readily accepted.

Before the couple had time to get married, however, Carlin was reassigned to Fort Meade, Maryland.

Malik was supposed to come over to Fort Meade with Carlin so they could be together and continue the relationship.

But his orders were denied.

He was sent to South Carolina while she was still pregnant, and she was living in Maryland.

On April 23, 2015, Malik joined Carlin and Marilyn for the birth of their daughter.

We walked in and you just saw the biggest smile on Carlin's face and how proud she was of her sweet little precious daughter and just was so ecstatic to show her off.

Three months later, Carlin and Malik tied the knot before new military rules were enforced that would prohibit their relationship.

They got married mid-July in South Carolina.

Someone got ordained and married them very quickly.

Their rush to get married was because she was a lawyer enlisted soldier, he was a senior, and they had a timeline where they had to, you know, put something on paper before it was not allowed anymore.

November of the year they got married is when that rule changed.

She was just so happy.

She was happy with her baby.

She was happy with her man.

And she was happy that he wanted to build a family, take care of both of them.

By August 2015, Carlin had returned to work.

She and Malik began making plans for him to join her in Maryland.

But just a few weeks later, all their dreams for the future come crashing down in an instant when police discover Carlin's lifeless body inside her home.

In that bedroom, the bedding had been pulled off on the ground near where the victim was laying.

It was clear that some sort of confrontation had occurred.

When we first looked at the victim, her underwear and shorts had been sort of pulled down.

The underwear was around her knees area.

There was slight bruising on her, as well as scratches.

We do have to consider the possibility that this was a sexual assault.

Coming up, the search for a killer leads police to confront someone close to the victim.

So, what can you tell us about her?

But a scandalous revelation will change the course of the investigation.

There was still some talking between them, seeing each other kind of in secret.

Detectives in Severn, Maryland are investigating the shooting death of 24-year-old Army specialist Carlin Ramirez.

Carlin was found on the floor of her bedroom, cradling her four-month-old daughter, who was left unharmed.

This murder shocked the community as well as just completely surprised and devastated her family.

It was the worst emotional and physical pain that I have ever felt in my life.

You get waves of how it felt that day, and it was

soul-crushing.

At the crime scene, Carlin's body is removed by the coroner for autopsy.

and detectives collect crucial evidence.

There was actually one bullet that was laying on the floor.

In relatively short order, firearms experts from Anaron County were able to determine that those bullets were fired from a.357 caliber revolver.

As we continued to search the crime scene, we located a condom wrapper in the living room on the main level.

And in the trash can not far from the condom wrapper, we located a condom

these things were all collected as evidence and this certainly added to the the possibility that that some sort of sexual assault had occurred we know that we have a forensic process to look into that which would be done during the autopsy

hoping to gather more information about carlin detectives question her supervisor sergeant leroy mcdaniels

sergeant mcdaniels told me that her husband malik Kearney, was actually stationed in South Carolina and Fort Jackson, and they were physically separated due to their different military assignments.

But Sergeant McDaniels reveals that life for the newlyweds was not as blissful as expected.

Detectives learned that a month earlier, Carlin had called with surprising information.

I received a phone call, you know, at night from Carlin and Malik

expressing that Carlin had developed a physical relationship with another soldier.

Malik, he was enraged upon learning about Carlin's affair.

He forced her to report it to

her line of command because

that's one thing that's not allowed.

Sergeant McDaniels tells detectives that he was required to report the extramarital affair, which carried a stiff penalty under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

That subsequently led to a reduction in rank and loss of pay for both Ms.

Ramirez and the other service member.

My sister was stripped of everything that she earned

because of what she did.

She was not proud of herself for it.

Like, it made her feel terrible because it's not who she was as a person.

According to Sergeant McDaniels, after the demotion, Carlin and Malik's relationship only continued to spiral.

Once he made her report herself, she did still try to stick it out, but he got more obsessive and more demeaning toward her.

Ultimately, Carlin asked Malik for a divorce.

He would call her constantly, trying to convince her to stay.

Don't leave, don't leave.

She's like, no, I don't want this.

I don't want this for me.

I don't want this for my baby.

Carlin Ramirez requested a

no-contact order be issued by the Army against Malik Kearney.

Malik Kearney was to have no further contact directly or indirectly with Carlin Ramirez.

She put in the no contact order so he wouldn't just show up at her house.

She didn't want to deal with it.

She's like, I'm done.

I'm done with the whole relationship.

Armed with this new information, detectives head to South Carolina to speak with Carlin's husband on August 27th.

Before we arrived there, his commanding officer and chaplain advised Malik that Carlin had passed away, but they did not say what had happened to Carlin.

When detectives sit down with Malik, he appears devastated.

I'm telling you how she passed away.

Answer all my questions.

Malik, she was murdered.

Why?

There's more open, you didn't help us with.

Malik

seemed upset and he cried.

And he said that he would cooperate with the investigation.

So

what can you...

what can you tell us about her?

She was a bottom of her life.

Okay, when was the last time we talked to her?

First, this one's up with him.

That's the last time I talked to someone,

and that was

when we had that issue.

Malik would ask family members and his friends to contact Carlin to try to convince her to work on their marriage.

It was having an opposite effect that she was becoming annoyed with his behavior.

She got upset.

She was like, no, I just, I just want to divorce.

And we kind of went back and forth about it.

Because she said that I couldn't like the situation.

I'm sorry if I keep bringing it up, but I want to be with you.

I want to lose you over before this.

But Malik swears he would never harm the mother of his child.

When detectives ask Malik about his whereabouts the day of Carlin's murder, he provides an alibi.

So yesterday, did you go to work out after you left work?

No.

After I left work, I came straight back home.

Stayed home for

watching.

Didn't go out Monday night, go anywhere, talk to anybody.

Nah, I mean, I stayed home, texting my phone, stuff like that.

Sergeant Kearney indicated that he was at home, alone,

and had not left his apartment from the time he returned from Fort Jackson Post on the 24th of August until he left to report for duty at Fort Jackson on the 25th.

It would have been a lengthy travel.

Does him being at work both days make it so that it was impossible for him to have done this?

Those are are the questions that we were confronted with.

Before releasing Malik, detectives request his cell phone and he quickly complies.

Malik also offered that we could search his car, we could search his apartment, and allowed us to take DNA samples of him.

A search of his car didn't reveal anything of value.

I checked his GPS and did not see any recent addresses in Maryland.

While detectives sent Malik's phone for forensic examination, they next set their sights on the man with whom Carlin had become romantically involved.

We learned that not only was she involved with her estranged husband, Malik Kearney, she was involved in an inner office romance with another soldier who was married.

He's married, she's married, and so the police had to look at him to find out if he had some motivation to possibly kill Carlin.

When detectives received the forensic results from the condom collected at the crime scene, their suspicions only continued to grow.

Ultimately, we discovered that his DNA was found on part of that condom

in Severn, Maryland, detectives have discovered that 24-year-old Carlin Ramirez was having an affair prior to her murder.

The day after her body was discovered, detectives attend her autopsy.

The post-mortem examination concluded that Carlin Ramirez was shot three times.

Any one of those shots would have been fatal, but two of the shots were in her chest area.

All three were contact wounds.

In this case, the post-mortem examination made clear that there was no sexual assault immediately prior to her death.

The victim's underwear pulled down around her ankles.

It indicates a staged crime scene.

The person who committed the crime was very methodical and was trying to throw investigators off of their scent

points away from a crime of opportunity or a robbery gone wrong to a very much premeditated crime

detectives immediately track down carlin's lover and bring him in for questioning

we went back and we spoke with carlin's co-working individual that she had a relationship with that individual was devastated to learn about Carlin's passing.

He was overcome with emotion.

The sergeant told the police that he wasn't angry at Carlyn, and actually, that the pair had been continued to see each other even after they were demoted.

There was still some talking between them and seeing each other kind of in secret.

When detectives confront the man with the DNA evidence, he tells detectives that the last time he saw Carlin was August 23rd, two days before she was found murdered.

We did learn that he visited Carlin on Sunday evening.

He actually lived nearby.

They had had an intimate encounter.

That encounter, according to him, was a consensual encounter.

We knew from Carlin's roommate that they were dating and Carlin had sought a babysitter that evening for her baby.

The man tells detectives that the condom found in Carlin's trash can was thrown out after they were together on on August 23rd.

He was extremely cooperative.

He was forthcoming in his relationship with her.

He provided his cell phone that he used to correspond with Carlin.

He allowed us to search his car.

He allowed us to search his living quarters.

He wanted to assure us that he had nothing to do with her death.

When detectives pressed the man about his whereabouts the day before Carlin was found, he claims he was at home all night.

He turned his cell phone over and he consented to a polygraph.

He did very well in the polygraph and did not show deception during the polygraph.

His cell phone showed his phone was not anywhere close to Carlin.

We couldn't develop any evidence that he left his house that night to go to Carlin's house.

His alibi checked out.

They determined him to be truthful in terms of what he said, so they were able to eliminate him him as a suspect.

Just when detectives think they've hit another dead end, a new lead surfaces.

While going through Carlin's cell phone, I also learned that she recently met another individual who was in the military, but in a different state.

However, Carlin recently started to date this individual.

On August 24th, the day before we discovered Carlin murdered, I saw that there was communication in Carlin's phone that she was texting asking him to spend some time with her.

Detectives immediately contact the individual and bring him in for questioning.

He explains that he had hooked up with Carlin a week earlier.

Carlin and I decided to go to Virginia Beach to visit my family.

There's a night that we decided to have a girls' night, a mom's night out.

Carlin was fearless.

She went on the dance floor and had a dance off with some guy.

He was actually an old high school friend.

They hit it off.

They ended up exchanging numbers and

they text back and forth.

He confirmed that two days before they had been together.

The two decided to have dinner and they were intimate at that time.

Carlin texted him the next day and wanted him to come back so they could be together again, but he declined.

Carlin was seeking companionship.

She was very far away from her family and her roommate was also out of town and she seemed to be a little lonely.

The second paramour was extensively interviewed.

He was found to be truthful.

It was determined both from his cell site information from his telephone as well as his account of the events of the 24th of August, he was not anywhere near Severn, Maryland at or about the time of her death.

With the investigation at a standstill, detectives revisit Malik Kearney as a possible person of interest.

They combed through his cell phone records to confirm his whereabouts the night of Carlin's murder.

As investigators accumulated data from the various service providers, they ascertained that Sergeant Kearney's telephone was indeed present in South Carolina on the evening of the 24th into the morning of the 25th of August, 2015.

They were able to identify the closest cell towers to his apartment, and it appeared to investigators that his phone was in or nearby his apartment at all times.

But when detectives received the forensic results on Malik's cell phone, they discover something alarming.

There was an application which was deleting data from the phone.

We determined by evaluating his cell phone that this wipe app was active during the time of the murder and more so the next day, which was the day that Carlin was discovered.

Having a wipe app installed on your phone the day that your wife is murdered is very suspicious.

Coming up, as detectives zero in on their primary suspect, another affair comes to light.

Their relationship was very intimate and powerful almost.

They were pointing the finger at her that she was the person who actually killed Carlin Ramirez.

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It's been two days since police in Severn, Maryland discovered Carlin Ramirez dead from an apparent homicide.

So far, her estranged husband, Malik Kearney, has had a solid alibi.

But when detectives begin breaking down his cell phone records, they discover he had installed an app that was deleting data from his cell phone.

Most of the data had been wiped clean from his phone, but forensic investigators were able to recover certain bits and pieces.

We learned

through phone records that there were a tremendous amount of communication, text message, and calls to a person labeled Dodo.

When we did the research on that number, we were able to realize that it belonged to a woman named Dolores Delgado.

Detectives learned that Dolores is a 30-year-old Army veteran living in Merritt Island, Florida.

Dolores Delgado was originally from New Mexico.

She'd been in the military and apparently served at least a tour in Iraq.

She had since moved to Florida after her departure from the military to pursue a career in the medical field.

Hoping to learn more about Dolores' connection to Malik,

detectives traveled to Florida to confront her.

I responded to Dolores' apartment and I introduced myself.

Her response was to the effect of, oh, do you want to talk to me about Malik?

And I told her, yes, I do want to talk to you about Malik, actually.

She agreed to accompany us to a local police station where we could learn more about her and interview her.

Detectives sit down with Dolores and ask her to elaborate on her relationship with Malik.

She starts by telling detectives that their relationship began in 2008, six years before Malik met Carlin.

Dolores told me that she had met Malik while they were deployed together overseas.

She and Malik had been involved in an on-again, off-again relationship over several years.

They would seek each other out during different trainings

and try to keep in touch through Facebook and text messages.

And they often would visit each other depending on where they were.

Dolores Delgado described her relationship with Kearney as being very complicated.

She was aware that he had other women in his life, and she also had other men in her life.

But Dolores claimed she never wanted to come between Malik and his wife, Carlin.

Dolores stated that Malik was trying very hard to get back with his wife, Carlin, and that she was actually providing relationship advice so that they could succeed in the marriage.

When detectives break the news that Carlin has been killed, Dolores appears shocked.

When she was confronted about what happened, and did she know anything about the murder?

And she said no, she didn't know about the murder and she didn't have anything to do with it.

She denied any responsibility or any knowledge.

Dolores tells detectives that she had been with Malik on August 24th.

She said that that night of the murder,

she was at his apartment and she said he was there.

I asked her if

Malik borrowed her car and she said that Malik had not, that Malik was asleep in the bedroom.

As detectives hear Dolores' statement, they must consider one glaring detail from Malik's.

Telling the police that she was with Malik, that contradicts what Malik had said.

He had told police that he had been alone that night.

Before releasing Dolores, detectives seize her phone.

As they scour the explicit messages, they come across one from Malik that raises major concerns.

While reviewing the text messages of Dolores' phone, there was a text message exchange prior to the murder where Malik texts her and says, this gun is so dang loud.

The revelation that Dolores and Malik had been discussing a gun prompts detectives to dig further into Dolores' digital history.

They start with her social media accounts.

And looking at the social media postings recovered from Dolores's Delgado's phone, they saw a reference to her

proposed sale of.357 caliber ammunition.

Investigators were aware that the murder weapon was a.357 caliber revolver.

The ammunition included a photograph of a price tag and the name of the business where the ammunition came from.

We contacted that store and learned that, in fact, Dolores had previously owned a 357 handgun.

We had linked Carlin Ramirez death to that gun.

We had linked that gun to Dolores Delgado because she purchased it.

And we had the text messages from Malik Kearney, Dodo, that gun is so damn loud.

It was a critical compilation of evidence.

As the investigation is going on, we found out that Malik Kearney had moved from Fort Jackson, had sought a transfer to Texas.

And we found shortly after that, Dolores Delgado moved to the same area of Texas.

And so we realized they were together, they were in close proximity, and

felt that we needed to take action quickly.

In October 2016,

authorities arrest Dolores Delgado and Malik Kearney in San Antonio, Texas.

The grand jury returned an indictment against Malik Kearney and Dolores Delgado for interstate travel to commit domestic violence resulting in the death of Carlin Ramirez

and the use of a firearm in her death.

The arrest of Malik Kearney and Dolores Delgado made national news.

The national news coverage benefited investigators significantly because it caused a witness to come forward in Florida who knew Dolores Delgado.

The witness claims that Dolores had asked him for help discarding a gun in late August 2015.

He said they disassembled a revolver, attempted to destroy the serial number on that revolver, and then threw the parts of the gun into the water off this fishing pier.

The witness leads detectives to the Banana River, where he claims Dolores disposed of the gun.

Fortunately, it was not too deep in that area, so the four pieces were recovered.

The FBI lab were able to establish that it was in fact the same serial number of the revolver that Dolores had purchased from that gunshop.

They were able to take the barrel from that gun.

They actually attached it to a new gun to conduct test fires.

Bullets that were fired down that barrel bore the same signature marks of the bullets that were recovered at the scene.

Detectives know this evidence seemingly solidifies their case against Dolores Delgado.

But without Malik's cooperation, authorities fear they'll face a he said, she said at trial.

I-100 believe that they needed each other to complete this.

I don't think that either one of them would be courageous enough to pull the trigger by themselves.

They did it because they had each other.

And when they came down to it, if they had to, they could blame each other, which is exactly what happened.

In October 2016, investigators have arrested Dolores Delgado and Malik Kearney for the brutal murder of 24-year-old Carlin Ramirez.

Hoping to solidify their case against Malik, authorities decide to give Dolores an opportunity to come clean.

When we spoke with Dolores Delgado, we gave her a snapshot of the evidence that we had accumulated against her because we believed that she was an accessory and a critical part of the crime, but we did not believe that she pulled the trigger and executed Carla Ramirez.

We believed Malik Kearney did that.

She agreed to tell the truth, truth, and she agreed to testify against Malik Kearney if necessary.

As detectives listen, Dolores offers a full confession.

She tells them that on the afternoon of August 24th, she arrived at Malik's apartment according to his direction.

Dolores provided the firearm, the ammunition, and her vehicle.

Malik asked Dolores to stream movies and use his cell phone while he was gone, so it appeared that he was home the whole time, providing an electronic alibi.

He then took Dolores' car and drove to Maryland.

According to Dolores, when Malik returned to the apartment early the next morning, he gave her a play-by-play of the murder.

Malik described to her, he let himself inside Carlin's house by using a key that he already had and was met by Carlin and he forced her to go upstairs.

Dolores said that Malik told her that while he was there, that Carlin tried to fight him and tried to fight the gun away.

And his first shot missed her and the rest of his shots end up hitting her.

He pulled down her underwear and took off her pants to make it look like there was some sort of sexual assault.

He placed the baby in her arm, and then he headed out the back door.

I think Dolores was maybe harboring some type of hope that if Malik killed his wife, that somehow he would come back to her.

that she could have him to herself.

The nature of the relationship is difficult to understand and was toxic in such a way that together they would plan the murder of Carlo Ramirez.

Dolores Delgado entered a plea of guilty to a conspiracy to commit interstate travel to commit a crime of violence against Carlo Ramirez.

That guilty plea was accepted by the court, and then we prepared for trial against Malik Kearney alone.

On July 16th, 2018, the trial against Malik Kearney begins in federal court in Baltimore.

The prosecution's star witness is Dolores Delgado.

Dolores' testimony was very powerful to the jury.

It showed essentially this control that he had over women.

In this case, that he wanted this control over Carlin.

He truly didn't want anybody else to have Carlin and that she wasn't giving in.

So he decided to kill her.

Despite Malik's defense team attempting to shift blame solely to Dolores, on August 9th, 2018, the jury sides with the prosecution.

Malik Kearney was found guilty by the jury of both counts.

The interstate traveled to commit domestic violence against his wife, Carlin Ramirez, and that violence resulted in her death,

as well as the use of a firearm in that domestic violence charge causing the death of Carlin Ramirez.

Malik Kearney was sentenced to life without parole plus 10 years.

Dolores Dogado was sentenced to 17 years by the court.

It really is a terrible, a terrible thing.

It's a pain you have to live with forever.

We never forget.

It's changed all of our lives.

It's dimmed all of our lives a little bit.

When people bring her up and they have memories about her,

of course, we love to hear it.

We talk about it too.

It's the way that we keep her alive.

She always brought out the best in people.

And

I know

every day

the way I choose to treat people

is because of how loving and thoughtful she was toward me.

She was an outstanding person, outstanding mother, friend, sister, best friend,

soldier.

Hi, I'm Denise Chan.

host of scam factory.

You might remember hearing about our investigative series that exposed what's really happening behind those suspicious texts you get.

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