By Sofia Leguria
WOODLAND, CA – Mia Alavarado testified in Yolo County Superior Court Wednesday against two of her friends—Max Ramon and Jacob Oehlcke—who are accused of homicide.
Alavarado, who admits she drove the friends to the location where the alleged murder took place, has been given immunity in exchange for her testimony.
The courtroom Wednesday watched videos of Alavarado lip syncing to music on Snapchat, shortly after the murder that she testified she was upset about.
She told the court that these videos were taken in her car when she got home after driving her friends home from the homicide that day.
Deputy District Attorney David Wilson laid out the timeline to establish the friendships between Alavarado and Roman and between Alavarado and Oehlcke, as well as forms of communication between the two pairs.
Alavarado testified that she occasionally bought and smoked marijuana with both Roman and Oehlcke. She had also seen Roman trying to sell marijuana on his Snapchat story and had seen him in person with firearms.
Alavarado stated, “Yes, I have seen him once, maybe twice.” But she said was not aware that Max had been committing robberies with a firearm.
Alavarado owns a 2012 white Nissan Altima that she drove to pick up both Roman and Oehlcke and take them places.
On January 4, 2019, Alavarado picked up Roman in her car and then took him to pick up Oehlcke.
Roman had a backpack, with he often had, when he got in the car, said Alavarado, who noted he never opened the bag or showed her what was inside of it.
Alavarado took Roman and Oehlcke to the location of the homicide where she was told they were going to “rip someone off,” she said in court.
The defense attorneys objected to the phrasing of the question.
Judge Dave Rosenberg said, “Look we are trying to decipher this language so he is entitled to some leading.”
In this context Alavarado stated that ripping someone off was standing them up for whatever drugs and money they had on them.
Alavarado said that she tried to convince the boys to not go through with the plan they had made, but they did not listen to her.
Roman and Oehlcke got out of the car and went down a path and were no longer visible to Alavarado.
She sat and waited for them and then heard gunshots. At this point in time she knew Roman owned a firearm, but did not know that he had it with him.
Shortly after the gunshots, Roman and Oehlcke came running back into view, got into the car and told her to drive off quickly.
When Roman was approaching the car she testified she saw his firearm in his hand.
This was not the first time that she had seen Roman holding his gun. There was a video from her phone that was played in court from Dec. 21, 2019 of Roman in his room holding this gun.
Oehlcke did not say anything to Alavarado about what had happened, just that he wanted to be taken to his house. She dropped him off at his house in West Sacramento and then took Roman to his friend’s house in Elk Grove.
Alavarado then went back to her house and sat in her car where she said she “reflected on her life leading up to this day.”
While sitting in the car she began searching the internet for articles about a shooting in West Sac to try and find out what had happened.
She said at this point that she did not know what happened but found out from the internet that someone had died in this shooting.
Alavarado stated, “I did internet searches because of the shock…I didn’t think it was real.” This was after she had taken the lip syncing videos that were played for the court.
When DDA Wilson asked why she took those videos right after there had been a shooting, she stated, “Everyone processes emotion differently, for me I was very insecure and just found out he (Roman) had been talking to other girls and I take videos to make myself feel better…”
The trial is ongoing.
