Dateline: Secrets Uncovered is examining the murder of Pfc. Karlyn Ramirez, a serving soldier in the Army and the mother of a young baby, who was gunned down by her estranged husband, Maliek Kearney, at her home in Severn, Maryland.
In 2015, Karlyn was a serving soldier at Fort Meade, MD, and was going through a separation from her husband, another serving soldier, Staff Sergeant Kearney, who was based at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.
Karlyn had issued a protective order through the Army against Kearney forbidding him to contact her or their infant daughter.
Kearney and his lover, Dolores Delgado, began meticulously planning Karlyn’s murder. On the evening of August 24, 2015, Kearney drove seven hours from Fort Jackson to Severn, where he shot his wife three times with a Taurus .357 caliber revolver.
The killer removed his victim’s pants and underwear to make it look like a sexual assault. He also placed his 4-month-old daughter on her dead mother’s body and fled the scene.
Kearney drove using the backroads without stopping at gas stations or stores to avoid detection.
Dolores Delgado assisted Maliek Kearney to kill Karlyn Ramirez
Delgado played an intricate role in the murder, and it was her testimony that later helped solve the crime. She had provided Kearney with the firearm and the gas cans he needed to drive without stopping.
Watch the Latest on our YouTube ChannelShe had also provided Kearney with her car and stayed at his home in South Carolina with his vehicle and cellphone so the authorities would believe he’d spent the night at home.
After the murder, Delgado traveled to a waterway in Florida near where she lived and disposed of the gun and shell casings and the clothes Kearney had worn during the murder. Police divers would later recover the firearm and link it to Karlyn’s murder.
In the meantime, Kearney played the role of a grieving husband, even attending Karlyn’s funeral and chillingly telling her mom, “For all we know, the killer is among us.”
Maliek Kearney and Dolores Delgado sentenced for Karlyn Ramirez murder
In November 2018, Kearney was found guilty of murder and was sentenced to life in federal prison without the possibility of parole. At his sentencing, Kearney claimed he missed Karlyn and that he loved her; Judge George Russell responded to the killer by saying, “I don’t believe you.”
The Judge also told Kearney, “The killing was without mercy. You shot her at close range. Three times, the bullets went inside her. You could have stopped that.”
In September 2018, Dolores Delgado was sentenced to 17 years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release for her role in the heinous murder.
Dateline: Secrets Uncovered airs Tuesday at 9/8c on Oxygen.