John Clarke and Maytee Vazquez-Clarke described the despair and desperation they felt — and continue to feel — after their son, Johnny, was murdered and one of two men charged in his death was acquitted.

The couple took the witness stand Thursday in Lucas County Common Pleas Court in the trial of now-retired Toledo police Lt. Frank Ramirez, who is accused helping the Clarkes in their purported scheme to kill a woman they believed was involved in their son’s murder.

“After this happened to my son, I lived in the basement for say three years. I didn’t go out in society,” Clarke said. “I never talked to a psychiatrist or received any help for what I saw.”

Clarke discovered Johnny Clarke, 21, and his girlfriend, Lisa Straub, 20, in a Springfield Township home in 2011. Both had been bound and asphyxiated in what was believed to be a home invasion and robbery.

In May, Clarke, 46, entered an Alford plea and was found guilty of felonious assault and a one-year firearm specification for firing a shot at Tiffany Williams on Dec. 26, 2014, near Colburn and Spencer streets. She was not injured, and Clarke said he fired once straight up in the air merely to scare her.

Vazquez-Clarke, 45, entered an Alford plea and was found guilty of retaliation for relaying information about Ms. Williams’ whereabouts that night to her husband. In exchange for their pleas, the Clarkes agreed to testify against Mr. Ramirez, who, defense attorneys contend, was helping them in their quest to get everyone involved in their son’s death arrested and jailed.

Mr. Ramirez, a 31-year veteran of the police department, retired after he was indicted along with the Clarkes in 2015 for attempted murder, felonious assault, obstructing justice, tampering with evidence, and discharge of a firearm over a highway.

Mr. Ramirez is accused of orchestrating a plan to have Ms. Williams go to the Colburn Street address and relaying that information to Vazquez-Clarke, who then told her husband where and when to find Ms. Williams.

Clarke testified that Mr. Ramirez called his wife’s phone that day with the information.

“What’s Frank telling you?” Brian Deckert, a senior assistant attorney general and special prosecutor in the case, asked Clarke.

“Go down there and fire off a shot and scare her,” Clarke responded.

Asked why he would suggest that, Clarke said, “Maybe because Tiffany Williams and her mom had robbed Frank two days before this happened.”

During her testimony, Vazquez-Clarke was asked to read a series of text messages she exchanged with Mr. Ramirez discussing her hatred for Ms. Williams and others she believed were responsible for her son’s death.

She frequently asked him to help, said she was losing her mind, and asked him to find out whether there were arrest warrants for Ms. Williams and the others.

Clarke said the idea was that maybe if the individuals were locked up they “would crack and talk since there was a $25,000 reward for any information” about the murder.

Clarke said his wife had more contact with Mr. Ramirez than he did.

“Would it be fair to say that after the death of your son, your contact with Frank Ramirez increased?” Mr. Deckert asked Clarke.

“Yes,” he said, explaining that their lives fell apart after the murder, and they turned to Mr. Ramirez for help.

“I just figured if Frank had pull, if anybody could help, it would be him,” Clarke testified.

Vazquez-Clarke is to return to the stand for cross-examination this morning.

Contact Jennifer Feehan at: jfeehan@theblade.com or 419-213-2134.

First Published September 2, 2016, 4:00 a.m.