Police initially made no arrest in Jade Ramirez’s death before video, interviews and cellphone evidence changed the direction of the case.
NAMPA, Idaho — When police reached a Caldwell Boulevard parking lot before sunrise July 26, they were responding to a report of a pedestrian struck by a vehicle. Within two days, the death of 19-year-old Jade Aliyah Ramirez had become a first-degree murder case.
The shift is central to the prosecution of Alissa Mae Huerta, 18, of Caldwell. Police say detectives initially lacked enough evidence to accuse anyone of a crime, but subsequent interviews, video and information recovered from Huerta’s cellphone led them to conclude that Ramirez was struck intentionally. Huerta was arrested July 28 and charged with first-degree murder. She remains jailed without bond while the case proceeds, and a preliminary hearing has been rescheduled for Sept. 23.
The investigation began about 4:20 a.m. that Sunday after officers were sent to the 1500 block of Caldwell Boulevard. Ramirez had suffered life-threatening injuries and was transported to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The vehicle that struck her was gone by the time police arrived. With the driver no longer at the scene and the circumstances still unclear, authorities initially treated the case as an unresolved fatal collision and continued gathering information rather than immediately announcing a homicide arrest.
Detectives soon learned that the contact between the vehicle and Ramirez had followed a confrontation involving several people. Court records later provided a longer history. Investigators alleged that Ramirez and Huerta had been exchanging threatening communications for months amid a conflict over Huerta’s relationship with the father of Ramirez’s child. According to the probable cause allegations, the tension had persisted since February and eventually led to an agreement to meet at the Nampa parking lot, where Huerta’s sister was expected to fight Ramirez.
That background changed investigators’ understanding of why the women were in the same parking lot in the predawn hours, but it did not establish what happened at the moment of impact. Huerta told detectives that Ramirez came carrying a baseball bat and hit Huerta’s Honda, damaging the windshield and shattering the driver’s-side window. Huerta said she was trying to leave and denied intentionally directing the Honda at Ramirez. Police would later cite video as a key reason they rejected the collision as accidental.
According to the affidavit, investigators reviewed footage showing the Honda’s front bumper strike Ramirez’s legs. Police said she went onto the hood before the vehicle continued moving and turned around a light pole. The affidavit alleges that the Honda accelerated during that movement and that Ramirez was ultimately pulled beneath the vehicle. Because the description comes from evidence offered in support of a criminal charge, it represents the investigators’ account and has not been subjected to a full trial or a final judicial finding.
The investigation also reached beyond what happened in the parking lot. Detectives examined Huerta’s phone and reported recovering deleted Snapchat recordings. In one audio clip quoted in court documents, Huerta allegedly said, “I ran her over, though. I’m not going to lie.” Another recording allegedly included a similar acknowledgment while referring to what Huerta’s sister had said. Police treated the recovered material as evidence relevant to Huerta’s knowledge of the collision and to their broader assessment of whether the vehicle had been used intentionally.
By July 28, police said the evidence had passed a crucial threshold: Detectives believed the act of striking Ramirez was deliberate. Huerta was taken into custody, and what had begun as a pedestrian-struck call was formally connected to a first-degree murder allegation. Authorities also said the incident appeared to be isolated and that there was no threat to the broader public. That conclusion reflected the investigation’s developing view that the death arose from a specific dispute among people who knew one another rather than a random traffic event.
The criminal case has since shifted from police investigation to pretrial litigation. Huerta appeared in court in late August as lawyers discussed the discovery collected by investigators and turned over to the defense. The defense said it had recently received a large amount of material, prompting the preliminary hearing to be delayed. The purpose of that hearing is narrower than a trial: A judge will consider whether the prosecution has sufficient evidence to move forward with the first-degree murder charge.
The delay also means the state’s evidence has not yet been fully tested in an adversarial hearing. Prosecutors can point to the prior conflict, the planned confrontation, witness video and recovered cellphone statements. The defense, meanwhile, has Huerta’s account that Ramirez arrived with a bat, damaged the Honda and that Huerta was attempting to leave. A court has not yet decided how those pieces fit together or whether the state can establish the degree of intent required for the charge it filed.
Other procedural questions have already been addressed ahead of the September hearing. Huerta’s attorney objected to media recording of future proceedings, and the court ruled that recording would not be permitted at the next hearing. Zoom access also will not be available. Those restrictions do not change the evidentiary questions facing the judge, but they mean the next major public step in the prosecution will occur without the remote access or recorded courtroom footage that can accompany some criminal proceedings.
The case therefore stands considerably differently from where it began on July 26. Police arrived without enough information to make a criminal accusation and left the investigation open. Interviews, digital records and video led detectives to an intentional-homicide theory and Huerta’s arrest. The next decision belongs to the court, which is scheduled to consider the state’s evidence Sept. 23. Huerta is presumed innocent unless proven guilty, and the first-degree murder allegation has not been adjudicated.
Author note: Last updated September 8, 2026.