Jacob “Jake” Silva was convicted of murdering Renee Ramos, his on-and-off again
girlfriend. Renne was missing for a week before her body was found at a Home Depot
construction site on June 5, 2000. Before her death, Jake and Renee were 18 years old and living
on the streets in order to be together despite their parents’ protests. Jake last saw Renee while
they were both applying for jobs together at the Labor Ready in Manteca, California. After she
failed to meet up with him that night, he reported her missing on June 1, 2000. Jake became the
primary suspect after Renee’s family and friends told police that Renee had a black eye once
after a fight with Jake.
The residents of Manteca gave wildly different accounts of the last time they saw Renee, her
relationship with Jake, and possible motives for her death. The main prosecution witness was a
14-year-old boy named Josh Burroughs. Josh initially claimed he saw Jake and other men
(sometimes even including himself) murder and rape Renee at a party. Over the course of
several months and after several interviews with the police, Josh changed his story dozens of
times. At points, Josh even admitted he had lied or had been pressured into saying certain facts.
Despite all his inconsistencies, Josh testified Renee was killed during a party at the Home Depot
on Memorial Day with many other teenagers, including Renee’s friends, in attendance.
However, police never found any other witnesses or evidence of a party at the Home Depot
construction site, and all of Renee’s friends insisted they would have immediately called the
police if they had seen anything happen to Renee.
DNA testing revealed Jake’s DNA on Renee’s underwear, which the prosecution argued was part
of a plan to sexually assault and murder her. The defense argued it was no surprise Jake’s DNA
was found on Renee’s body or clothing because they were in a consensual sexual relationship
prior to her death.
In the end, Jake was found guilty despite Josh’s multiple inconsistent versions of the crime and
there being no physical evidence linking Jake to the crime.
Over the next two decades, Jake insisted he was innocent while trying to mourn the tragic loss of
Renee, whom he loved very much. Eventually, his case would become the topic of the podcast
“Proof” in their second season entitled “Murder at the Warehouse.” The podcasters interviewed
the trial witnesses and many other witnesses who did not testify at trial. Most importantly,
through their investigation for the podcast, they found critical evidence that was previously
thought to be lost including the three necklaces Renee was wearing that were used to strangle her
to death, and hairs found around her body.
The Innocence Center and the Northern California Innocence Project are currently litigating
Jake’s case together. We filed a post-conviction DNA motion on Jake’s behalf, which was
granted by the court. We are currently waiting on DNA results from the evidence from the lab.
