The estranged husband of a Red Bank woman found murdered alongside the Garden State Parkway in 2011 has pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter, the Monmouth County Prosecutor announced Tuesday.
Oscar Prior-Ramirez, 33, of Eatontown, admitted in court that he strangled his ex-wife, Viridiana Beltran-Gomez, 26, of Bank Street, during an argument on May 12, 2011, according to a press release from the office of Acting Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni.
Appearing before Superior Court Judge Richard W. English in Freehold Tuesday, Prior-Ramirez also admitted that he concealed Beltran-Gomez’s body in a nearby wooded area. He returned the next day after purchasing a shovel, tarp and concrete that he used to bury her body in a shallow grave off the parkway in Aberdeen, he told the judge.
Beltran-Gomez, a mother of two young children, was reported missing May 13, a day after she was last seen leaving her job at the now-closed Siena Grill on Shrewsbury Avenue. She was reported last seen with Prior-Ramirez, whose Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited was seized by authorities before he was charged with murder.
Her body was discovered by investigators five weeks later.
Sentencing is scheduled for February 7, when prosecutors say they will recommend a term of 27 years in prison.
