MANHATTAN RESIDENT CONVICTED OF MURDERING RICHMOND HILL WOMAN

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown announced today that a Manhattan resident was convicted late yesterday in the brutal murder of his girlfriend in her Richmond Hill home after she confronted him with the fact that he was seeing another woman.

District Attorney Brown identified the defendant as Hilberto Ramos, 21, of 139 West 14th Street, Manhattan. He was found guilty after a three week jury trial before Supreme Court Justice Randall Eng. He will be sentenced on September 23 for intentional murder in the second degree, burglary in the first degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree. He faces a prison term of 25 years to life for the murder.

District Attorney Brown said,"This was a particularly vicious crime. The defendant not only strangled the victim but cut her throat and then shot her five times, ultimately placing her body face down in a tub of water."

According to District Attorney Brown, Hilberto Ramos was engaged to another woman and also seeing the victim. On the evening of July 18, 1996, the defendant arrived at the apartment of the victim. During the course of conversation, he called the victim by the other woman's name. The two argued and the victim asked the defendant to leave. This enraged the defendant and he took out a bandana he was carrying and proceeded to strangle her. He then took a box cutter, slit her neck and shot her five times. The defendant next took the victim's body and placed it face down in a tub of water. He then took her wallet, ID, jewelry and fled.

Police were called to the scene by the victim's mother who returned home after work at about 7:30 a.m. and discovered her. daughter's body in the bath tub. During the course of the investigation the police found the victim's diary which contained the name of the defendant. Further investigation resulted in the defendant's arrest. Police later recovered the gun and the victim's identification on the shore of the Hudson River not far from the defendant's residence. Approximately two months later the defendant's employer found the woman's stolen jewelry.

Deputy Bureau Chief Assistant District Attorney Jack Warsawsky of the Queens District Attorney's Homicide Trials Bureau under the supervision of Daniel A. Saunders, Bureau Chief, prosecuted the case.