She wanted to be his girlfriend, now a Fresno County woman is testifying in his murder trial

In 20-year-old Alexa Ramos’ world, life was about being young, getting fast money and not having to work a regular job.

“We felt indestructible,” Ramos said in court Tuesday.

That feeling wouldn’t last.

On Sept. 26, 2019 Ramos and three of her visiting friends from Sioux City, Iowa, were involved in a botched robbery that resulted in the shooting death of 20-year-old Tyrel Truss.

The friends were all charged with murder and second-degree robbery, but after arranging plea deals with the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office, only Ramos’ one-time boyfriend, 22-year-old Isaac Ty Helms, remains a defendant charged with murder and second-degree robbery. The co-defendants are only charged with second-degree robbery.

Helms’ trial began Monday.

On the witness stand, a visibly upset Ramos, who is now 23, had a hard time looking at Helms, seated next to his attorney Michael Aed.

Prosecutor Daniel Walters asked her if she wanted to be testifying against Helms.

“No one wants to do this,” she said. “Nobody wakes up and says, ‘I want to see my friends go down.’ I am here because I need to be here.”

As part of her agreement, Ramos pleaded guilty to second-degree robbery and promised to testify truthfully about what happened the day Truss was shot and killed.

Ramos told Walters that she was starting to change her life in 2019. She had given up using methamphetamine and cocaine, but still smoked marijuana. She was also planning to enroll at UEI College to become a medical assistant. She had even convinced her friend Hannah Haywood, 22, from Sioux City to move out to Firebaugh, where Ramos was staying with her mother. The two friends planned to enroll together at UEI.

Ramos spent several years in Sioux City when she lived there with her father. She said she and Haywood became instant friends and later got to know Precious Green, 22, and Helms.

The plan was for Green and Helms to drive Haywood to California and then return to Iowa a few days later. Along the way, Green took a .22 caliber handgun from an unlocked car and brought it with her to Firebaugh.

Ramos said a few days before Truss was killed, the friends got into a rollover crash in Haywood’s Dodge Neon. Ramos testified that one of her Firebaugh friends was behind the wheel and speeding when he crashed into another car. The other car rolled several times while the Dodge Neon spun several times in the road.

They panicked, ditched the car and later reported it stolen.

“We were in a state of shock,” she said. “And we felt like we had to leave.”

Hatching a robbery plan using dating app

While staying at her grandmother’s home in Mendota, Ramos said Green and Helms hatched a plan to make some quick money and head back to Iowa.

“They were talking about setting up people to rob them,” Ramos testified.

Green used a dating app, MeetMe, to lure someone out to the west side with the promise of hooking up. Truss, who was a complete stranger, took the bait, Ramos said.

Green asked to meet at Rojas Pierce Park in Mendota where she asked Truss if he could give her and her friends a ride to Firebaugh. Green said she needed to pick up a fanny pack she left at a drug house.

Truss agreed, offering to share his marijuana for the 12-minute drive.

As they drove into Firebaugh, Truss took a wrong turn, and it angered Helms, who was sitting directly behind him.

“He looked irritated and the energy shifted quickly,” Ramos testified. “I am pretty sure Isaac told him something and Truss told him something back, but I didn’t hear what was being said.”

They were about 20 feet from their destination when Truss began to slow down and Ramos was starting to open the door when Truss stepped on the gas pedal, causing the car to lunge forward.

“When I turned back around, I see Isaac holding him (Truss) by the hair and I was starting to get a weird feeling and I just wanted to get out of there,” Ramos testified. “That’s when Isaac hit him in the head with the gun and Truss gets upset and starts to reach for something and shouts, ‘I am going to kill you guys,’ and then I remember hearing a gun go off.”

Aed, Helms’ attorney, wants the jury to consider that his client acted in self-defense.

Ramos remembers Truss screaming and trying to get out of the car, but he still had his seat belt on and Helms was still grabbing his hair. Truss soon slumped over in pain, half his body leaning out of the open car door.

He would be found that way by Firebaugh police officers who arrived within minutes.

Impossible to hide in a small town

The friends tried to get away but they didn’t get very far before being arrested.

Ramos also realized that it would be nearly impossible to hide in a small town like Firebaugh where everyone knows everyone.

“I jumped out of the car and I look at the car behind us and the driver looks at me with a confused look,” Ramos testified. “I recognized her as the secretary at my high school. I just kept walking.”

The trial continued Wednesday in Department 50.