Crime & Safety

Area Man Admits to 2011 Strangling Murder of Estranged Wife


An area man who pleaded guilty on Tuesday to aggravated manslaughter in connection with the 2011 murder of his former wife, a Red Bank woman, could face 27 years in prison.

Oscar Prior-Ramirez, 33, of Eatontown, admitted to strangling his estranged wife, Viridiana Beltran-Gomez, 26, after an argument the two had on May 12, 2011, a release from the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office said.

Prior-Ramirez, the release added, then confessed that he hid her body in a wooded area while he bought a shovel, tarp and concrete to bury her in a shallow grave about 100 feet from mile marker 119 off the Garden State Parkway.

The body remained there for more than a month, according to police reports, before it was found on June 25, 2011. Prior-Ramirez was arrested shortly after the discovery.

Gomez had been reported missing on May 13, 2011, after last being seen on the previous night leaving her job at Seina Grill on Shrewsbury Avenue in Red Bank and not being heard from by family or friends, police reports said.

A joint investigation was launched by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office and Red Bank and Eatontown police and it was found that Prior-Ramirez had abducted Beltran-Gomez on May 12 and evidence indicated that he was responsible for Beltran-Gomez's death.

A preliminary autopsy of Beltran-Gomez's body revealed that she had been killed either by strangulation or smothering, a previous report from the Prosecutor's Office said.

Beltran-Gomez and Prior-Ramirez were married for three years and have two young boys.

Prior-Ramirez is scheduled for sentencing on Feb. 7, 2014 before Superior Court Judge Richard W. English.

According to a release from Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni, his office will recommend that Prior-Ramirez receive a term of 27 years in a New Jersey state prison, subject to the provisions of the No Early Release Act (NERA). NERA requires a defendant serve 85 percent of the sentence imposed before becoming eligible for parole.

Gramiccioni said in the release that the plea agreement was reached after consultation with and approval of the victim’s family.

Ramirez has been in custody at Monmouth County Correctional Institution since his arrest on June 25, 2011. He is being held on $1.5 million bail as set by Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Ronald L. Reisner.

* Reports by former Patch editor Ed Van Embden contributed to this story.


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