Domestic Violence Survivor Who Nearly Died Speaks About Her Harrowing Ordeal

When San Jose resident Monica Ramirez visited her former boyfriend to drop off their daughter after Thanksgiving, she had no idea the routine meeting would nearly cost her her life.

Ramirez got out of the ICU last Tuesday after her former boyfriend, Victor Magana, stabbed, strangled and cut her throat, leaving her for dead. Ramirez said her three-year relationship with Magana had a history of violence.

Ramirez shared custody of their two-year-old daughter with Magana, who lives in Southern California. After dropping the girl off after a Thanksgiving visit, Ramirez said the meeting turned violent.

“I’m turned back so my back is towards the door,” she said. “And I look back and he’s pulling up his pants … he puts me in a chokehold.”

Then, she said, he slit her throat.

“I woke up on the ground really bloody, but nothing registered in my head,” Ramirez said. “I didn’t know I was cut, nothing was making sense. I just knew I was bleeding.”

“I was still screaming for his help,” she said. “Victor help me. I’m hurt, call the ambulance, Victor help.”

Ramirez said he left her for dead, and then came back.

“He comes back and said ‘[expletive] die, like die,’” Ramirez said of her ordeal. “Why aren’t you dying? Why is it taking so long to die?”

Ramirez said she knew she had to find the strength to survive.

“I literally told myself, ‘if I don’t get up right now, he’s gonna end up killing me in front of my kid,” said Ramirez.

That’s when she managed to throw herself out a window to escape.

“I remember I was running,” Ramirez said. “Everything was blurry. I was dizzy and still managed to jump on a brick and hop over a fence. That’s when a neighbor asked, ‘do you need help?’ I said ‘yeah, he’s gonna kill me.’”

Magana took their daughter and fled. He was arrested near San Luis Obispo after an Amber Alert was issued. He had been spotted at a gas station, confronted by strangers and held there until authorities arrived.

The next thing Ramirez remembers is waking up in the hospital.

“A lot of me says I hope he gets what he deserves, but a lot of me hopes he learns from his mistakes and he grows and understands what he did was not okay, and he gets the help he needs,” Ramirez said.

Magana did not respond to NBC Bay Area’s attempts to reach him.

Resources for people experiencing domestic violence are available at https://www.thehotline.org, or by calling the national domestic violence hotline at 1-800-799-7233.