Missing 19-year-old found dead in NC river, spurring homicide investigation, cops say
UPDATE: North Carolina police have charged two people with first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping in Jose Ramirez’s death. As of Oct. 12, Asheville officials said they are looking for suspects Samuel Gonzalez De La Cruz and Roberto Robles-Ramirez.
ORIGINAL STORY, PUBLISHED OCT. 5: A 19-year-old was found dead in a river, prompting a homicide investigation in Western North Carolina, officials said.
Jose Ramirez was reported missing almost a week before his body was discovered Saturday in the Swannanoa River, according to the Asheville Police Department.
“Due to the suspicious nature of the death, APD is investigating this incident as a homicide at this time,” officials wrote Monday in a Facebook post.
Over the past week, Asheville officers said they had been helping police in the nearby town of Woodfin, where Ramirez was reported missing on Sept. 27. Two days later, the Woodfin Police Department posted Ramirez’s description on Facebook and said it was seeking clues in his disappearance.
The case took a turn on Saturday, when an anonymous tipster reported a body in the water close to Azaela Road and Asheville Recreation Park. The area is southeast of downtown Asheville, a popular tourist spot in the mountains.
Ramirez’s death marks the eighth homicide in the city this year, officials said. Representatives from the Asheville and Woodfin police departments didn’t immediately share additional details about the case with McClatchy News on Tuesday morning.
Police ask anyone with information to call 828-252-1110, send “TIP2APD” via text to 847411 or use the TIP2APD app.
This story was originally published October 5, 2021 at 8:35 AM with the headline "Missing 19-year-old found dead in NC river, spurring homicide investigation, cops say."
