Summary

• Worst Roommate Ever covers the events surrounding the Maribel Ramos murder, but leaves out some details about her killer, K.C. Joy.
• K.C. Joy had a troubled past, with a history of unemployment, family issues, and a restraining order against him from his sister.
• Joy maintains his innocence and claims that Ramos may have been suicidal, but no conclusive evidence was found regarding the cause of her death.

Worst Roommate Ever does a good job covering the events surrounding the Maribel Ramos murder, but leaves out some details about her killer, K.C. Joy. Police began investigating the disappearance of Ramos when she failed to show up to several important events, and her body was found about two weeks later. They arrested K.C. Joy soon after, and Worst Roommate Ever dives a little into the killer, and who he was. Ramos and Joy met when he answered her Craigslist ad for a roommate in Orange, California.

Ramos' sister said in Worst Roommate Ever that K.C. Joy wanted more than friendship. After Ramos told Joy he had to move, she went missing. K.C. Joy was the prime suspect from the beginning, but there was no evidence against him. That changed when a surveillance team captured Joy searching the internet for satellite images of a remote location where police found Ramos' body. K.C. Joy was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for the murder of Maribel Ramos. However, several key details were left out by Worst Roommate Ever.

K.C. Joy's Life Before Meeting Ramos

K.C. Joy Was A Estranged From His Family

Worst Roommate Ever doesn't cover much about K.C. Joy's life pre-Ramos because not a lot is known about his background. The Netflix documentary reveals Joy moved to California from Tennessee after life there had imploded. He lost his job, his parents passed away, and he'd gotten into a heated disagreement with his sister over inheritance money. When Worst Roommate Ever contacted Joy's sister, she explained he had an awful temper, which scared her so much she got a restraining order against him.

K.C. Joy had no connections to other people when he first met Maribel Ramos. He did not appear to have any friends, and his social life consisted of tagging along to events she invited him to. K.C. Joy moved to the United States as a young child and traveled a lot before ending up in California. Worst Roommate Ever mentions Joy previously lived in Tennessee. If his temper was as bad as his sister claimed, it's possible he moved around to escape bad situations. His sister still appears to live in Knoxville, Tennessee.

K.C. Joy Wanted A Retrial

K.C. Joy Maintains His Innocence To This Day

K.C. Joy pleaded "not guilty" at his trial, and continues to maintain his innocence. During the trial, he wrote letters to the judge and to news outlets arguing that there wasn't any real evidence against him. He pleaded for a retrial instead of an appeal, saying (via MEAWW), "They searched my apartment about seven times. No DNA. No fingerprint. No signs of foul play or anything." Police struggled to find physical evidence directly tying him to the crime, explaining the problem of missing information.

It was only after Joy proved to have specific knowledge of the body's location that police were able to make an arrest. Both Ramos' family and the court were unmoved by Joy's pleas, and his requests for a retrial were denied. He remains incarcerated at the Correctional Training Facility in Soledad, California, and has been denied parole on three different occasions since becoming eligible (via cdcr.ca.gov).

K.C. Joy's Defense Claimed Ramos May Have Been Suicidal

K.C. Joy Claims Maribel Died By Suicide

Another detail Worst Roommate Ever leaves out is that K.C. Joy's legal defense claimed Mirabel Ramos may have been suicidal. Since the body's location was the main piece of evidence against him, Joy's attorneys said there was no proof he committed the murder, and Ramos herself could've been responsible for her death. They declared (via NBC Los Angeles) that Ramos was prone to paranoia. The documentary reveals she had called 9-1-1 to say she felt unsafe after an argument and slept with a machete to protect herself.

The defense also tried to suggest that Ramos had a drug or alcohol abuse problem. She was drinking the night of the phone call and could've been a danger to herself. They argued she might have died of a medical condition or even killed herself, leaving K.C. Joy to dispose of the body afterward in a moment of panic. His lawyer added, "The crime that will be proven here is improper disposal of a body." However, the court disagreed.

Ramos' Cause Of Death Was Never Determined

The Investigators Never Knew Maribel's Cause Of Death

Adding to the difficulty investigators had in connecting the crime to K.C. Joy was the lack of conclusive evidence on Maribel Ramos' cause of death. Her body was found in Modjeska Canyon in the Santa Ana Mountains almost two weeks after she disappeared. It had decayed so much by that time that it had to be identified using dental records. The level of decomposition made it impossible to determine how Ramos died.

Worst Roommate Ever suggested the possibility that, since there were no signs of a struggle other than the scratches on K.C. Joy's arms, Ramos may have been smothered in her sleep. Barbed wire was also present on the scene where her body was found, but it's unknown how long it had been there and whether it had any connection to her death. Sadly, no one will ever know for sure how exactly Maribel Ramos died.

K.C. Joy Is Writing A Book

The Title Will Be Suspect, Guilty Until Proven Innocent

Worst Roommate Ever leaves out that K.C. Joy is writing a book. K.C. Joy told Eyewitness News that he is writing a book about his experiences called Suspect, Guilty Until Proven Innocent. The title's play on America's presumption of innocence principle suggests the book will criticize the country's justice system while further reiterating his plea of innocence.

At his sentencing, he stated, "Family wants me to apologize, which I cannot apologize for something I haven’t done." Little information about the project exists, but the book will likely go into detail about Joy's version of events around the time of Ramos' death, which he has had plenty of time to finalize. Joy might use the book to emphasize the fondness he felt for Ramos, diving deeper into their friendship while they lived together than the Netflix documentary series covered.

It's also possible, however, that Worst Roommate Ever's K.C. Joy will have softened his stance of denying any guilt and decide to incorporate aspects of his legal defense's arguments — mainly, that being the one to dispose of Ramos' body didn't necessarily mean he was also the reason she was dead. It's unlikely, though not impossible, that the book will finally include some sort of apology to Maribel Ramos' family.

Why Worst Roommate Ever Leaves So Much Out About K.C Joy

There Are Several Reasons Not To Focus On The Killer

There are several reasons why Worst Roommate Ever leaves out so much information about K.C. Joy. The first would be the episode length itself. The average episode in the five-part Netflix miniseries is about 50-60 minutes. This means there may not have been enough time to include every bit of information about K.C. Joy, including a more in-depth backstory and issues that have gone on past his initial trial.

To keep the story to the point, certain tidbits of information that aren't integral to the story at hand must be cast to the wayside, and those who are interested can do more research on their own. There's plenty that has been left out of Dorthea Puente, Youssef Khater, and Jamison Bachman's stories. Therefore, it's only natural the full story on K.C. Joy was pared down for the show. After all, Jamison Bachman got two episodes to himself, and there's still a fair bit of information that was left out.

Worst Roommate Ever is based on an article about Jamison Bachman. In addition, the squatter got two episodes dedicated to his exploits, meaning he was the main event that closed out the series. Show creators' interests may have been focused more on Bachman than the other subjects, therefore leaving many of the facts about K.C. Joy on the wayside. Arguably, each of the subjects could have gotten solo documentaries, given how much Worst Roommate Ever truly leaves out.

Finally, the reason behind the missing information could be to deter giving publicity to K.C. Joy's book. High-profile prisoners often strike book deals to keep their name alive and in circulation to fulfill a narcissistic need. However, to give further attention to such a thing, it enters a morally gray territory, which is something that Worst Roommate Ever could've been trying to avoid.