Jeff Ramseyer; Prosecuted High-Profile Murder Cases

Deputy Dist. Atty. Jeff Ramseyer, who successfully prosecuted a number of high-profile cases, including the killers of a teenage drug informant and the owner of a silent movie theater, has died. He was 39.

Ramseyer, who died Tuesday night of an apparent heart attack, joined the district attorney’s office in 1987 and tried high-profile cases in the major crimes division. He had recently been named the assistant head deputy of the major narcotics and forfeiture division.

Recently, the mother of a murder victim wrote the district attorney a letter about Ramseyer, who had won a conviction of the killer.

“Except for my son, I have never met such a compassionate, sensitive, generous and honest person,” the mother wrote. “But most of all, he listened. . . . In addition to preparing a great case, he was sensitive and compassionate to my needs, generous with his time and honest, both in and out of the courtroom.” Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti said Ramseyer was one of those lawyers who loved trying cases.

“In addition to his professional accomplishments, Jeff was one of the nicest guys you could ever meet,” Garcetti said. “We will all miss him.”

Last year, he was the prosecutor in the murder trial of two men and a woman who tortured and strangled 17-year-old Chad MacDonald, a onetime informant for the Brea Police Department. The three defendants, who were sentenced to life without parole, also attempted to kill MacDonald’s girlfriend after she was raped.

Ramseyer prosecuted two men who were sentenced to life terms in the 1997 murder of Lawrence Austin, the popular owner of Silent Movie Showcase, a theater in the Fairfax district.

James Vansickle, a projectionist at the theater and Austin’s live-in companion, arranged the murder so he could inherit Austin’s million-dollar estate, including the theater and its valuable old films, according to the prosecution.

He gave Christian Rodriguez, 21, a handgun, offered him $25,000 to kill Austin and asked him to make the crime scene look like a robbery.

Ramseyer prosecuted a number of other significant cases, including the “follow home jewelry bandit” who robbed nine women of expensive jewelry after following them home from supermarkets in their Studio City neighborhood.

Ramseyer had just finished playing basketball at his church Tuesday night when he was stricken.

He is survived by his wife, Kathryn, and three children.

Funeral arrangements are pending.