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November 17, 2009

Arraignment set for man accused of murdering fellow Guatemalan

By Michelle Seeber, CNHI News Service

WOODWARD — Arraignment for a Guatemalan man charged with first-degree murder has been set for 11 a.m. Dec. 8 in Woodward County District Court, according to court documents.

At the arraignment, a trial date will be set for 22-year-old Julio Juarez Ramos, who along with his brother, Isidro Juarez Ramos, 29, of Guatemala, is charged in the May 16 killing of Antonio Lopez Velasquez, who also was from Guatemala.

The preliminary hearing for Isidro Ramos is 9:30 a.m. Dec. 17 in Woodward, according to the court records.

The two men are being tried separately “in case one of them turns over evidence against the other,” Wood-ward County Sheriff Gary Stanley said Monday.

Both murder suspects are illegal immigrants, court records state.

According to court affidavits, the two brothers allegedly strangled Velasquez and allegedly confessed to Enid police. They then led authorities to Velasquez’s body, which was found in a rural area near Mooreland.

The Ramos brothers were living in Mooreland when the crime occurred, according to the affidavits. Velasquez had been living in Woodward.

Mooreland Police Chief Stephen Summerall received a report Velas-quez was missing, and it was thought he might be in Enid, according to court documents.

Summerall contacted Enid police, but instead of Velasquez, they found the Ramos brothers in Velasquez’s Ford Mustang. The brothers were arrested, according to the affidavits.

Velasquez’s girlfriend, Linda Sue Ann Castillo, who first reported him missing, allegedly told Summerall Velasquez had loaned a substantial sum of money to Julio Juarez Ramos and the two had been fighting about the loan for several weeks, according to the affidavits.



Seeber writes for the Woodward News.

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