The Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office on Thursday charged a man in the cold-case murder of Patricia Ramirez, whose body was found on a hillside above Memory Grove nearly 25 years ago.
Thomas Pennington — who was Ramirez’s ex-boyfriend — is charged with one count of murder in the second degree, a first-degree felony.
Court documents indicate Pennington, now 45, is in custody at the Tipton Correctional Center in Tipton, Mo. Bail has been set at $1 million.
Ramirez, 20, left her residence on the evening of July 8, 1986, and never returned. Her body was found five days later near 700 North Bonneville Boulevard.
Detectives said her skirt was unzipped, her shirt was torn, buttons were missing and her bra was torn in half. One half of the bra was used to strangle her.
Ramirez’s roommate, who filed a missing person report, told police Ramirez had left home to meet three people at the now-defunct Crossroads Mall in downtown Salt Lake City, according to charges.
The roommate told The Tribune at the time that Ramirez went to visit a boyfriend in Clearfield and collect a necklace from him and planned to return to her hometown of Brooklyn, N.Y., the next day. Police have said Ramirez was last seen exiting a bus at 50 S. State Street about 10:15 p.m. on July 8, 1986.
According to charges, police interviewed two witnesses who said they learned Ramirez had been killed when Pennington made statements at a party on the evening of July 8. A third man told police that he drove Pennington and two other men on an errand in which they appeared to dispose of a body.
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