Who was Vanessa Ceja-Ramirez? Missing Illinois woman raped, strangled and set afire in 'beyond gruesome' murder
A 22-year-old woman who disappeared in an Illinois forest preserve was found dead on Wednesday by authorities who say she had been raped, beaten, strangled and then set ablaze, according to reports. The woman has been identified as Vanessa Ceja-Ramirez. She was reported missing on Monday after going out for a jog with her mother and a friend in the Midlothian Forest Preserve. The Cook County coroner described her murder as "beyond gruesome", according to a Fox 32 report.
Ceja-Ramirez had told her mother and the friend that she was tired and would meet them back at their car, according to a Sun report. She was nowhere to be found after the mother finished jogging. They began looking out for her around the preserve and the worried mother called the police after finding some of her daughter's clothing on the ground but not her.
Authorities said they searched a two-square-mile area in the wooded preserve with helicopters and K-9 dogs, according to the Daily Mail. The animals picked up her scent at 151st and Pulaski Avenue, near the location of her phone's last ping. Based on this information, police searched an apartment complex two miles away in Oak Forest, three miles from the preserve. The police weren't able to determine if she was ever at the complex and failed to find any clues.
A 30-person volunteer team had also joined the search party and after 2 days, they discovered Ceja-Ramirez's remains while looking through the bushes, in the 15300 block of South Crawford Avenue. According to community activist, Andrew Holmes, Ceja-Ramirez was “beaten, partially burned and someone intercepted her, and possibly pulled her into a wooded area and basically tortured her,” he told Fox 32 Chicago. "To the individual, we ain't gonna stop. We are going to keep looking until we find out who you are, until we identify you until you are brought to justice," Holmes said during an interview with WLS, addressing Ceja-Ramirez's killer.
Flyers were distributed with a $2,000 reward is being offered for any information that could lead to a suspect's arrest. On Thursday, an autopsy report revealed Ceja-Ramirez died of asphyxiation due to ligature strangulation, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. Her death has been ruled a homicide. No arrests have been made in the case yet and suspects are yet to be named.
Ceja-Ramirez's loved ones gathered for a wake in Harvey on Wednesday night, where they remembered her as a college student and teacher's aide. Relatives said they fear she may have been the victim of foul play, according to a WLS-TV report. "She’s just somebody that we believed in, that had her future in her hands, just like most of our kids here,' said Alejandro Villegas, her uncle. "She was a sweet child that was humble, smiled, shy. She was a good person. And she just didn’t deserve anything of this."
Harvey Mayor Christopher Clark urged residents to come forward with any information they might have on what happened to Ceja-Ramirez. "Whatever information you may have, if you just saw Vanessa at a split second, say something to someone about it," Clark said.
Police are asking if anyone with information to call Cook County sheriff’s police at 708-865-4896.