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GREENSBORO — Terry Caldwell got the birthday gift that he wanted Thursday. He celebrated with a life sentence for the man who killed his daughter.

A jury found Juan Carlos Olivo Ramirez, 28, guilty of first-degree murder Thursday afternoon after more than four hours of deliberation. Ramirez stabbed April Caldwell 17 times on Christmas Day 2006, according to testimony in the four-day trial. She was 17. The two had been dating and had a son.

The verdict brought relief to the Caldwells, said Phillip Silvestri, April’s brother-in-law. The family was worried about the jury’s decision after jurors asked the judge to clarify the definition for first-degree murder, he said.

But now, the Caldwells can celebrate both the verdict and Terry Caldwell’s 48th birthday, he said.

“That’s a big birthday present for him,” Silvestri said. “He said that’s all he wanted for his birthday.”

The same verdict that brought joy to the Caldwells tore apart Isabel Ramirez. She had testified earlier this week about the difficult life her brother had lived growing up poor in Mexico. Losing their brother, David, who was found hanged, had a profound effect on Juan, she told the judge.

Her testimony never made it before the jury. Judge A. Leon Stanback Jr. ruled in favor of prosecutor Kelly Thompson, who argued that Juan Ramirez’s life in Mexico had nothing to do with Caldwell’s murder.

Isabel Ramirez will have to call her mother in Mexico to tell her the outcome of the trial, she said through her husband, Jorge Gonzalez.

“You can’t imagine how she’s going to feel,” she said. “Her last son. She can’t even come to see him.”

During the trial, prosecutors described Juan Ramirez as controlling and possessive. He had met April Caldwell while she was dining with her family at the restaurant where he bussed tables. They began dating and she soon became pregnant. She was 15 at the time.

They moved into a home together with the help of the Caldwells.

Peebles Drive neighbors Verilea Poole and Jodi Dodson testified about the tumultuous relationship between Caldwell and Ramirez. They moved in about May or June 2006. By December, April had moved out.

“They seemed like a nice couple there at first,” Poole testified. Then in September 2006, Poole said she saw Caldwell pounding on the door begging to be let in.

Dodson testified she overheard a fight and afterward, saw a lump on Caldwell’s head where she said Ramirez had pushed her into a door. Caldwell told her she was getting out, Dodson testified.

“You know, it’s so sad,” Poole said after hearing the verdict. “Nobody wins.”

April’s mother, Anna Caldwell, testified that her daughter had left Ramirez. His sister, Isabel Ramirez, refuted that Thursday, saying April was still leaving loving notes to her brother at their home.

April’s parents are raising their grandson, David Caldwell, who is now 3.

Isabel Ramirez said she would like to see her nephew.

“They don’t let us see him,” her husband, Jorge Gonzalez, said. “I tried. I called them.”

Ramirez also pleaded guilty Thursday to statutory rape because Caldwell was underage when she became pregnant. The judge sentenced him to at least 20 years in prison, to run at the same time as the life sentence.

The good thing about Thursday’s verdict — it brought justice for April, said her older sister, Donna Silvestri.

“Hopefully,” she said, “it means David has a chance to grow up and have a decent life without all of this following him.”

Contact Jennifer Fernandez at 373-7064 or jennifer.fernandez@news-record.com