HALTOM CITY, Texas — Editor's note: The video published above is a WFAA report from 2021 when we spoke with the victim's husband.
A North Texas teen charged with capital murder in the killing of a 31-year-old Haltom City woman working as a delivery driver pleaded guilty on Thursday.
Zakariya Marshall,17, agreed to a lesser murder charge and 45 prison years in prison for the murder of Ryan Munsie.
Munsie's husband, Camaron Graham, told WFAA in 2021 that he and his wife had been together for seven years, married for four.
“She’s just the nicest person I’ve ever met in my life. I’d give anything to give her anything she ever wanted and she’s the same way,” Graham said. “She wanted to make everyone happy, she wanted to work, and she wanted to make sure our kids had a set future.”
Munsie was a mother of three working four jobs to provide for her family. That’s why she was out working, pursuing a special offer from Uber if the driver made a certain number of deliveries.
Munsie's body was found lying in a breezeway with "signs of trauma" at the Northern Cross Apartments, according to police. She had been fatally stabbed in the neck and was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
According to police, Marshall, who was 14 years old at the time of the crime, and an accomplice wanted to steal Munsie's car, but couldn't find the keys.
"This was a brutal, senseless murder," Tarrant County Assistant Criminal District Attorney Rose Anna Salinas said.
Donna Munsie, Ryan's stepmother, gave her impact statement via Zoom in the Tarrant County courtroom.
"Ryan is never going to get to watch these three children grow up. And these three kids are never going to get to see the joy in their mother's face when they get their driver's license, or the two girls come home with their first boyfriends or their first brush and tell them tell her about them. They're never going to get the chance," Donna Munsie said.
"No parent should ever have to bury a child... it's the worst thing ever. Ryan was not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but she took her troubled youth and turned her life around."
Donna said she wanted Marshall to know of Ryan's kindness.
"She was a kind person and, you know, she loved her family. And unfortunately, you know, her three kids aren't going to be able to see her."
Marshall shocked the courtroom when he asked to apologize to Munsie's family on Zoom during his guilty plea sentencing.
Tarrant County District Court Judge Gallagher instructed Marshall to step forward and into view of the camera so Donna Munsie could see and hear him.
Within minutes, Marshall began to cry. The teen explained he had anger issues that were not intended for Ryan Munsie.
"What I've done -- I think it about a lot. I'm sorry that she was the one that had to experience my pain and anger for things that had nothing to do with it," Marshall said.
"I've tried to take my life, and the only reason that I'm right here is because I believe in God myself, you know, protecting me. I had plans for the future and I would never be the same person I was when I went forward. And I'm sorry for everything," he continued.
Donna Munsie responded to Marshall's apology, saying she appreciated him "being man enough to come forward and say that."
"I will keep you in my prayers," Donna Munsie said to Marshall. "It sounds like you are trying to get yourself straightened out. I pray that you find peace in all of this and I pray our family finds peace in all of this."
Just before Judge Gallagher ordered the bailiff to escort Marshall back to a holding cell, Ryan Munsie's mother, Lori Carlton also wanted to share a statement.
"When I think about him and I do this on a regular basis, I wonder what could make a person feel entitled to take a car, let alone a life. That's not what human beings do," Carlton said.
"Human beings do what Ryan was doing. They go about their life. She was working extra as the Uber Eats driver because she and her husband were trying to buy a house for their family, and because her hours had been cut at her regular job because of the pandemic. So, she was doing what she always did. She was trying to survive and to make it honestly without having to steal from anybody, without having to kill anybody."
Carlton and Donnie Munsie both believe Marshall should spend the rest of his life in prison.
Donna Munsie and her husband are now raising Ryan's three children. One of Ryan's daughters, Molly, asked to be on the Zoom interview with WFAA and shared this about her mother:
"My mom was a really loving person, and she was really fun. She was like, such a humorous person," Molly Munsie said. "And I'll always remember her because I love her, and she had an infectious laugh."
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