An Illinois woman whose body was found Wednesday, two days after her reported disappearance, was beaten, raped, strangled, and burned, officials said.
Vanessa Ceja-Ramirez, 22, was found dead at the Midlothian Meadows Forest Preserve, as CrimeOnline previously reported. The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office listed her cause of death as ligature strangulation and said she was sexually assaulted, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Ceja-Ramirez reportedly vanished Monday while going back to her car during a walk through the nature preserve with her mother and a friend. The mother called police after completing her jog and discovering Ceja-Ramirez was missing, according to WBBM.
Forest preserve police said Ceja-Ramirez’s cellphone pinged two miles away at an apartment complex in Oak Park. However, they could not confirm that is where the ping originated; a police canvass of the area produced no evidence or sign of the missing woman, according to WLS.
“She was beaten, partially burned and someone intercepted her, and possibly pulled her into a wooded area and basically tortured her,” community activist Andrew Holmes told the news outlet.
Authorities picked up Ceja-Ramirez’s scent before they found her body roughly four miles from where she was last seen alive.
The Cook County sheriff’s office is investigating Ceja-Ramirez’s death. No arrests have been made.
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[Featured image: Vanessa Ceja-Ramirez/Facebook]
