The estranged husband of a Red Bank woman missing since mid-May has been charged with her murder following the discovery of a body buried near the Garden State Parkway in Aberdeen, according to news reports over the weekend.
Oscar Prior-Ramirez, 31, or Eatontown, was charged in the death of Viridiana Beltran-Gomez, above, according to a report that first appeared in the Asbury Park Press Saturday night. Bail was set at $1.5 million.
Authorities said Prior-Ramirez, left, has been in a Monmouth County hospital for past six weeks. But they did not disclose the name of the hospital or the reason Prior-Ramirez was hospitalized.
Beltran-Gomez, 26, who had two children with Prior-Ramirez, vanished after working her shift at the Siena Grille on Shrewsbury Avenue in Red Bank on May 12. Police received a report that she was missing the following day.
Authorities later said Beltran-Gomez was believed to have last been seen with her ex. They also released a photo of the 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited he was believed to be driving. The vehicle was missing its front bumper and headlights.
Beltran-Gomez was the subject of at least two extensive searches of the Navesink River involving a helicopter, State Police boards and a dog.
Warshaw’s office has been mum, though, on what led investigators to the river and later, to Aberdeen, where a body believed to be that of Beltran-Gomez was dug up Saturday about 100 feet off the parkway at exit 119 Saturday afternoon.
An autopsy was completed Sunday, but Warshaw told the Star-Ledger he could not disclose the cause of death or discuss a motive in the slaying.
James Katims, the Siena Grille’s owner, told the Sledger that Beltran-Gomez had worked at the restaurant for about three days.
