I am the daughter-in-law of Cynthia Ramos, who was brutally killed — the second of the year for the city of Tracy — on Aug. 6.

The reason I’m writing is that since my mother in law’s killing, we’ve had many, many court appearances that for the most part have been covered by a member of the Tracy Press, except for the last four or five. We’ve just finished two days of preliminary testimony that was so emotionally draining, it was like reliving that horrible first day with much more added detail.

No human being should have to hear the graphic details of how the woman that brought them into this world and gave them unconditional love left her world with 55 stab wounds, 13 blunt trauma wounds and was strangled on top of that.

I’m sorry if this sounds so graphic, but this is exactly what we found out those two monsters did to her, and it’s just unimaginable to think what her last moments were like. One of the monsters went so far as to say in a previous interview with the Stockton Record that he and his husband were also mourning her, and he knew who the real killer was.

I’m sure if someone from the Press had been present at some of these court proceedings, especially the preliminary hearings, I wouldn’t be sitting at my computer with tears in my eyes and a heavy heart trying to relay to you what the people of Tracy — the city that Cindy called home for 15 years — should know about and what’s going on in their community.

As I recall, Jennifer Wadsworth was a regular visitor in court, and we could always count on her getting the story right. My sister-in-law has had many conversations and e-mails with her regarding the family’s Web site, foundation and fundraisers, and she helped get the word out for us.

We also give praise to the blog post written by Press photographer Glenn Moore, “Not forgotten,” that reflected how our family felt about the lack of coverage for a woman loved so much by her family, but seemed by the media to be “just another murder victim.”

Coming from a big city, you tend to get used to the number of killings rising almost weekly, but Tracy had been immune to that until recently. You never think that it could happen to one of your own family members, especially in this way.

My hope is that even though cases like that of Cindy Ramos might not be classified as “high profile” to the media, any victim of a violent crime, especially one as brutal as this one, should never be forgotten and should be followed through the court proceedings from beginning to end. We as a community need to be aware that these horrific crimes happen, even in small cities.

In order to make sure monsters like these don’t end up in our neighborhoods, we need to get tougher on crime and punishment — especially for repeat offenders like these monsters — because you never know when it’s going to be one of your loved ones.

I know we have a long, hard emotional road ahead of us, and as a family, we will get through this somehow. This powerful, spiritual lady with a wicked laugh, beautiful smile and heart of gold has instilled these qualities in her six children and will continue to live on through us all.

As her family, we have pledged to seek justice, continue her legacy and not let her death be in vain. With this said, I hope that the Tracy Press will continue to keep Cindy Ramos’ name alive in her community, as we will always keep her alive in our hearts.

• Rebecca Martinez is the daughter-in-law of Cynthia Ramos, who was a Tracy resident until her death.