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21 years later, teen killer faces new sentencing

Posted at 7:16 PM, Oct 23, 2018
and last updated 2018-10-23 19:16:18-04

COLUSA, Calif. (KOVR) — A teen killer who was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole could have that sentence reduced.

It’s been 21 years since Erik Ingebretsen was beaten and stabbed to death by his two best friends. The then-16-year-old’s murder left Colusa shaken. Now the town is coming together in a fight for justice.

Nathan Ramazzini, who was widely believed to be the driving force behind the killing, was sentenced to life in prison but will face a resentencing hearing on Tuesday.

It was July 15, 1997, when Ingebretsen, a Colusa High School student, was brutally beaten to death by two kids his age he called his best friends.

“They took him to the Sacramento River where he proceeded to beat him with a baseball bat, stab him repeatedly,” said his cousin Emily Collins.

Ramazzini dumped Ingebretsen’s body in a Colusa County field and was later convicted of first-degree murder and was given a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Ramazzini is now 38 and parole is a possibility because of Senate Bill 9, which was passed in 2013. It gives a second chance to those who were under the age of 18 at the time of their crime and sentenced to life without parole.

Hundreds are expected to gather on Tuesday morning to oppose the new sentencing. Ramazzini’s co-defendant has since been released on parole after a plea deal with prosecutors.