Did Margaret Douglas recognize Gavon Ramsay — a neighbor boy who once asked to work in her Wadsworth yard — standing over her in the darkness?

Did the 98-year-old widow have time to beg the 17-year-old for her life as he wrapped his gloved hands around her neck and squeezed?

Maybe, in the wee, groggy hours of that April morning, Douglas thought she was still asleep, dreaming even though she was trapped in a real-life nightmare from which she’d never wake.

On Friday, after months of denying he killed his elderly neighbor, Ramsay pleaded no contest to nine charges against him in the case, including multiple counts of murder, plus kidnapping, burglary and abuse of a corpse.

Medina County Common Pleas Judge Joyce Kimbler is scheduled to sentence Ramsay in January.

The death penalty is not an option under Ohio law, because Ramsay is under 18. Ramsay could, however, face life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Ramsay’s attorney declined to talk to reporters after a court hearing Friday. But Ramsay’s legal about-face happened before his trial was supposed to start Monday and after Kimbler this week declined to exclude evidence in the case — including Ramsay’s confession, a notebook with Ramsay’s hand-written fantasies about killing people and serial murderers, and information from Ramsay’s phone that includes short video clips of Douglas the night she died, both before and after the murder.

“There’s no way to express how much of a tragedy this is, for the Douglas family and for [Ramsay’s] family,” Medina County Prosecutor S. Forrest Thompson said Friday after the hearing.

Thompson said he will ask the judge to put Ramsay away for the rest of his life.

“I can’t say in good faith the community will ever be safe if he’s free,” Thompson said.

When asked if Ramsay was on a path to becoming a serial killer, Thompson said “he may well have been on his way.”

On Friday — after Ramsay pleaded no contest — a judge found him guilty on all charges and lifted a gag order that had prevented prosecutors and defense attorneys from publicly discussing the case.

Court records and details provided by Thompson Friday revealed how police linked Ramsay to the slaying and more about what happened to Douglas at the Portage Street home where she’d lived for most of her life.

Investigators believe Douglas — a widow who lived alone — was killed around April 6, though police didn’t discover her body until April 9.

At the same time, Wadsworth police were investigating Ramsay for unrelated crimes, including the carjacking of a 50-year-old man who met Ramsay through the online dating app Grindr.

Ramsay’s mom feared Ramsay was the victim in the case and may have been sexually assaulted by the man he was accused of carjacking. She wanted police to investigate.

On April 16, Ramsay’s mom agreed to turn over her son’s phone to police.

“It is what it is,” Ramsay’s mom told police, court records show. “Whatever they find I pray to God there’s nothing too horrible in there.”

The next day, Ramsay’s mom dropped off the phone with police and signed a consent form allowing them to search it.

An officer started by looking at the phone’s search history and discovered Gavon Ramsay had been looking up information about Margaret Douglas.

Next the officer looked at images and made a disturbing discovery: Photos and video clips of what would turn out to be Douglas at her home during the early morning hours when she was killed — both while she was still alive and after she was dead.

In the images after her death, she was nude or partially nude and her killer’s hand in a loose, plastic glove is visible.

Police, after consulting with Thompson, arrested Ramsay hours later in Cuyahoga County. During the hourlong drive back to Wadsworth, police say he confessed.

Later, detectives obtained a warrant to search Ramsay’s room at his parents’ home and found, among other things, Douglas’ wallet, used plastic gloves and a purple notebook with Ramsay’s writing describing “fantasies about killing people, serial killer biographies and writings about strangling people,” court records show.

They also seized a bottle of Hollister cologne taken during the unrelated carjacking. Thompson said Friday he decided not to pursue charges against Ramsay in the carjacking because, while serious, they would pale compared with the unrelated murder and might have muddled the case.

If Ramsay wouldn’t have pleaded no contest Friday, a jury would have heard more about what happened to Douglas at the trial.

On Friday, Thompson said Ramsay slipped in through her back door and found her sleeping on a living room couch.

He used his phone to take pictures and silent video clips, one of which he said shows she’s alive, though he didn’t specify how.

Ramsay then strangled her. The teen couldn’t photograph it or take video, Thompson pointed out, because he needed both hands to kill his neighbor.

Medical evidence shows it would have taken several minutes for her to die, Thompson said.

Afterward, Ramsay lingered.

He stripped off Douglas’ bra, panties and housecoat and took more photos and video “that showed multiple acts on her body … that included some acts of a sexual nature,” Thompson said.

Mobile phone records show that Ramsay was in Douglas’ house for more than two hours during the time she was killed, Thompson said.

And for that, Ramsay — 81 years younger than Douglas — may be locked up for the rest of his life.

Amanda Garrett can be reached at 33-996-3725 or agarrett@thebeaconjournal.com.