(Photo: Det. Martinez taking Rafael Ramos into custody for the 1997 murder of his ex-wife)
Westchester DA Rocah Announces grand jury indicts Ramos’s ex-husband for strangulation murder
On June 15, Westchester County District Attorney Miriam E. Rocah announced that a Sleepy Hollow man was indicted for the 1997 beating and strangulation death of his 34-year-old ex-wife, Nusinaida Ramos. Both cases—after lengthy investigations by the Yonkers Police Department and the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office—are the latest homicides charged by the Cold Case Bureau, which the District Attorney established upon taking office in 2021.
DA Rocah said: “Today we have delivered some measure of closure to the families who have lived with these unsolved cases for a combined 36 years. The sentence and indictment in these cases show what can be accomplished with the resources and commitment of our dedicated Cold Case Bureau. Thanks to the tenacious work by our attorneys, investigators, and our vital police partners, we are securing justice for victims.”
Yonkers Police Commissioner Christopher Sapienza said: “I applaud the extraordinary efforts of our
Yonkers Police Cold Case Detectives and the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office Cold Case Bureau in pursuing justice for the Ramos family. Words cannot assuage the grief of losing a loved one to violence, so we hope these efforts bring some degree of closure to those who knew Nusinaida.”
A Westchester County Grand Jury indicted Rafael Ramos, 54, for Murder in the Second Degree, for the alleged beating and strangulation death of his ex-wife Nusinaida Ramos. The defendant was arraigned before Judge Fufidio in Westchester County Court on June 14, 2023, and remanded.
On the afternoon of March 9, 1997, the defendant, a former Corrections Officer at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, allegedly used a T-shirt to strangle his ex-wife to death after beating her until she bled in her Colins Street apartment in Yonkers. The next day, Yonkers police conducted a welfare check at the behest of the victim’s family and found her dead on her living room floor.
Yonkers police arrested the defendant on June 14, 2023, at his residence in Sleepy Hollow. The case is before Judge Fufidio in Westchester County Court, and is being prosecuted by Cold Case Bureau Chief Daniel Flecha of the Trials and Investigations Division. Criminal Investigator James Menton assisted with the investigation.
The charges against the defendant are merely an accusation, and the defendant is presumed
innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Rocah also announced that Wanda Veguilla was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the 2012 Murder of Pamela Graddick. That case was also solved by the Cold Case Bureau in 2021.
The Yonkers Police Tweeted, Thank you to Yonkers PD Cold Case Detectives John “Lumpy” Geiss (ret.) and Vionett Martinez for their pursuit of justice for the families of Pamela Graddick and Nusinaida Ramos.
