Fort Worth man sentenced to life in execution-style killing

A 35-year-old Fort Worth man was sentenced Friday to life without parole for torturing and fatally shooting a homeless woman who was sleeping at the residence he and his ex-wife had shared.

Joshua Lee Gonzalez forced the woman, Ryan Major Rice, 29, who had been bound and beaten, to walk to a secluded area near the baseball fields of Rockwood Park on Dec. 5, 2013.

Gonzalez then shot Rice three times in the chest, once in the groin and finally put one slug into the back of her head, prosecutor John Hudson told jurors in Gonzalez’s capital murder trial this week. He left the body in shrubbery.

Later that evening, record cold and a sleet storm moved into North Texas, covering the ground with up to 4 inches of ice that formed a rocky driving condition on roads that became known as “cobblestone ice.” A National Weather Service meterorolgist told the Star-Telegram he considered it the No. 1 weather event of 2013 and comparable to the “Super Bowl ice storm” of 2011.

“This defendant brutally beat, kidnapped and executed Ryan Rice,” said co-prosecutor Kim D’Avignon. “He then left her dead in a park during an ice storm. The very next day, before anyone knew she was dead, he bragged about killing her.”

Gonzalez’s sister testified against her brother on Tuesday, asking not to be named because she feared retaliation. She said her brother sent her text messages after Rice’s death, more than a week before her body was found, bragging about the killing.

“That’s why the b---- who set me up is under a tree with four in the chest and one in the head,” a text message shown to jurors said.

Gonzalez’s co-defendant is his former wife Jennifer Cooley, 35, who participated in beating Rice for hours, Hudson said. Rice’s body was bruised and missing several teeth when it was found. Hudson described Rice as a homeless woman who was allowed to sleep on the couch at the Gonzalez residence.

Gonzalez “gagged Ryan because she would not shut up,” Hudson told the jury. “He used a sock and tried to secure it with electrical tape.”

Rice’s body was found after the ice thawed by a man walking his dog on Dec. 15, 2013, partially hidden in shrubbery near the 700 block of Rock Crest Drive.

Gonzalez and Cooley attacked Rice after finding out that she stole prescription drugs and money from Cooley.

Another co-defendant is Shawna Cooper, 36. According to police, Cooper, who was friends with Cooley and Gonzalez, also participated in Rice’s beating and kidnapping. Cooley and Cooper will be tried separately.

“From the moment he killed her all the way up through his testimony at trial, he told people [Rice] didn’t matter,” D’Avignon said. “This jury told him she does. This type of inhumanity will not be tolerated in Tarrant County.”

Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty, so Gonzalez was sentenced automatically to life without the possibility of parole.

This story was originally published May 6, 2016 at 7:11 PM with the headline "Fort Worth man sentenced to life in execution-style killing."