Midwestern Mother Denies Involvement in 15-Year-Old Iowa Realtor Murder Case
A mother from the Midwest, charged with murdering a glamorous Iowa realtor nearly fifteen years ago, adamantly maintains her innocence, according to recent court documents. Kristin 'Krissy' Ramsey, aged fifty-three, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder last week for the fatal shooting of Ashley Okland in 2011.
Defense Argues for Bail Reduction and Highlights Moral Character
Ramsey has explicitly denied killing Okland and is described as a person of good moral character in a seventeen-page bond review motion filed by her attorneys last Thursday. Her alleged morality and mental state will be supported by forthcoming letters from loved ones, as stated in the filing. Ramsey is fully aware of the serious nature of the charge and is taking this case very seriously, her legal team emphasized.
Currently held in Dallas County Jail on a two-million-dollar cash bond, her defense is urging the judge to lower bail to one hundred thousand dollars. They argue it will be next to impossible for Ramsey to assist in her defense for this fifteen-year-old cold case if she remains incarcerated. Furthermore, they claim she does not pose a flight risk, citing her strong familial and community connections to Woodward, a small Des Moines suburb with a population of just thirteen hundred where Ramsey resides with her family.
Deep Community Roots and Financial Constraints
Ramsey has lived in Woodward since she was ten years old, according to court documents obtained by the Daily Mail. She is deeply rooted in the Dallas County community, with all her closest family and friend connections based in Iowa. She and her husband Toby, fifty-eight, live in a modest two-hundred-eighty-six-thousand-two-hundred-forty-dollar two-bedroom home they built themselves. Their twenty-year-old son Tanner attends college in Iowa, and Ramsey's mother and stepfather live nearby in Johnston, approximately twenty-five miles south.
Her support structure provides a convincing incentive to remain in the area, the defense argued. Ramsey's clean criminal record includes only a speeding ticket from 2001, to which she pled guilty. She has maintained seamless employment in Dallas County since college, currently working for Midland Title & Escrow, part of Iowa Realty Co, where Okland worked at the time of her death. At the time of the alleged murder, Ramsey was employed by the now-defunct Rottlund Homes, which owned the property where Okland was killed.
Financial Hardship and Legal Motions
Despite being a two-income family, Ramsey cannot afford the two-million-dollar cash bond, as she earns fifty thousand dollars annually as a title officer. Her attorneys stated that, like virtually every other person in Iowa, she is unable to post this bond. In her petition for lower bail, Ramsey agreed to GPS monitoring, a curfew, supervision by a pretrial release officer, and voluntarily turning over her passport.
In a separate motion, her defense has moved to quash an expected warrant to seize and search her cell phone and other electronic devices, arguing it is unnecessary to search devices that did not exist fifteen years ago. They request a protection order if the warrant is granted to safeguard privileged information. Ramsey is due back in court on March thirtieth, where a judge is expected to rule on both motions.
Background of the Cold Case Murder
A grand jury indicted Ramsey on first-degree murder on March seventeenth this year. Ashley Okland, twenty-seven, was shot twice inside a model home she was showcasing for Iowa Realty Co in broad daylight on April eighth, 2011. An employee found her in critical condition after hearing a commotion, called 911, and Okland later died at Iowa Methodist Medical Center.
Ramsey, then thirty-eight, allegedly killed Okland with malice aforethought, willfully, deliberately, and with premeditation, according to the indictment. The motive remains unknown, with the only apparent connection being through the real estate industry. As Ramsey was indicted, no probable cause affidavit has been filed outlining how investigators linked her to the case. The Daily Mail has approached Ramsey's attorney for comment, but prior attempts to reach the defendant's family were unsuccessful, and the Okland family has declined to speak to the press.
