“It was a traumatic event. He just beat me up. He just tried to take my daughter.”

Those were the words of Olnario Rodriguez-Ruffridge, 21, who took the stand Monday afternoon in his own defense to emotionally tell jurors what happened on Oct. 1, 2023, when his father, Jason Ruffridge, was fatally shot.

Rodriguez-Ruffridge is on trial for first-degree murder in Webster County District Court.

“I was scared for my life,” said Rodriguez-Ruffridge. “It wasn’t just about my life. It was about my daughter’s life.”

Rodriguez-Ruffridge told jurors that he was not raised by Ruffridge, his father, but that the two had recently rekindled their relationship and enjoyed spending time together fishing, camping, and being with Rodriguez-Ruffridge’s daughter, who was 1 at time of the shooting.

On Oct. 1, 2023, Rodriguez-Ruffridge, Ruffridge, and Ruffridge’s girlfriend, Carrie Fritz, were enjoying a night around a bonfire at his home. Rodriguez-Ruffridge took his daughter inside to tend to a medical issue that she was having. When he had finished helping his daughter, Rodriguez-Ruffridge told jurors that his father came inside the home and told him that he knew of other natural remedies and pills that would cure the baby of her issues with constipation.

Rodriguez-Ruffridge said he told his father that he had taken her to see a doctor and had a medical appointment scheduled for the following week, but that his father then escalated the conversation into a verbal and physical altercation.

“It escalated from zero to 100 so fast,” said Rodriguez-Ruffridge. “It was a verbal confrontation (that) turned physical. I was scared. He punched me in the face. He’s two times my size. He was brutally beating me. He had me in a headlock. He was punching me, kneeing me. I couldn’t breathe. I felt like I was being strangled. I was scared for my life.”

Rodriguez-Ruffridge told jurors that his father picked up his daughter and said that he was leaving and taking her with him.

“Now it’s not just my life; now it’s about my daughter,” said Rodriguez-Ruffridge.

Rodriguez-Ruffridge said he retrieved his handgun from under his mattress and put it in his pocket with the intention of scaring his father so that he would put his daughter down.

“I had to stop him from taking my daughter,” said Rodriguez-Ruffridge. “I asked him three times to put her down. The third time he said, ‘Just take her from me, homie.’ and stepped back to the front door.

Rodriguez-Ruffridge said he then pulled the gun out and shot his father.

“I pulled the gun out and I shot him,” said an emotional Rodriguez-Ruffridge. “I was trying to protect myself and my daughter. I was taught to protect family at all means. I was just trying to stop him from kidnapping my daughter. I was not thinking I’d kill him. That’s my dad.”

On Monday, jurors watched multiple videos of Rodriguez-Ruffridge being interviewed at the Law Enforcement Center by Webster County Attorney’s Office Investigator Larry Hedlund.

In the video, when Hedlund asked if Rodriguez-Ruffridge knew what had happened, he responded, “Everything happened so fast. I don’t know.”

Rodriguez-Ruffridge later asked why he was at the LEC and why he was put in handcuffs and taken by patrol car. He told Hedlund he felt as though he was being seen as a “prime suspect.” Rodriguez-Ruffridge then asked for a lawyer. Hedlund explained that he could no longer talk to him if he wanted an attorney. Hedlund then stepped out of the room. Later, the video showed Rodriguez-Ruffridge asking Hedlund if his father was OK. Hedlund replied that Ruffridge was dead.

Prior to the videos being shown to the jury, lead defense attorney Arach Wilson III asked Judge Christopher Polking to require the state to show the interview video in its entirety, not just edits. Wilson asked that the video shown include Rodriguez-Ruffridge asking for a lawyer. Typically videos shown to a jury do not include when a suspect asks for an attorney due to the potential inference of guilt.

On the stand, Hedlund testified that when asked about the gun used, Rodriguez-Ruffridge responded, “What gun?” The gun was later found in Rodriguez-Ruffridge’s grandmother’s nearby home.

Hedlund also stated that Rodriguez-Ruffridge asked to be taken to the emergency room for injuries sustained in the fight with his father. Once at the ER, he refused to answer questions from the nurse.

Criminalist Tara Scott with the DNA section of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation testified that swabs taken from the Ruger .380 handgun matched Rodriguez-Ruffridge, as did a swab of blood that was found by a toilet in the home, where Rodriguez-Ruffridge and Ruffridge had fought. Swabs from the floor of the crime scene also matched Rodriguez-Ruffridge, she stated.

Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation criminalist in the firearms section, Kristen Hart, testified that the gun and cartridges matched the firearm and bullets fired at the scene.

Associate State Medical Examiner Dr. Kelly Kruse testified that during Ruffridge’s autopsy, four bullet wounds were found. The fatal shot, she stated, was to the left side of his forehead which was “through and through at a downward angle.”

Rodriguez-Ruffridge testified that he did not purposefully aim at his father’s head when shooting, but that he believed his father had ducked when he was shooting and was struck in the head.

Kruse also testified that Ruffridge had a blood alcohol level of 0.037 and his blood sample also showed that he had 310 nanograms per liter of methamphetamine in it. Prosecutors questioned Kruse about what behaviors the methamphetamine may have caused in Ruffridge, though the defense objected to the line of questioning as Kruse was not a toxicologist.

The defense later called Dr. Brianna Peterson, who is a toxicologist with National Medical Services Labs. She testified that the amount of methamphetamine found in Ruffridge’s blood could have caused irrational behaviors, though she said that would also depend on how much he used the drug.

Throughout the day Wilson asked for a judgment of acquittal and also for a mistrial. Polking denied both requests.

Both the state and defense rested Monday. Closing arguments in the case are anticipated to begin this morning.