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Man charged in rape and murder of Chicago area woman found dead in forest preserve in 2020

Court date for man charged with murder of woman in suburban forest preserve
Court date for man charged with murder of woman in suburban forest preserve 01:51

CHICAGO (CBS) -- A man from central Illinois has been charged with raping and strangling a woman who was found dead in a south suburban forest preserve in 2020.

Dakota Petrey, 30, has been charged with first-degree murder and aggravated criminal sexual assault in the death of 22-year-old Vanessa Ceja Ramirez, from Harvey.

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Vanessa Ceja Ramirez

Ramirez was found dead in the Midlothian Meadows Forest Preserve in November 2020, two days after she was reported missing. An autopsy determined she had been strangled. Cook County Sheriff's police said her body had been partially burned and evidence showed she had been sexually assaulted.

Investigators determined that, at the time Ramirez vanished, Petrey lived at an apartment building in nearby Oak Forest, where Ramriez's cell phone had pinged shortly before her family reported her missing.

Since then, detectives executed dozens of search warrants and submitted multiple pieces of evidence for DNA testing, which determined Petrey's DNA was found on Ramirez's body and at the crime scene. Investigators said Petrey also was known to frequent the Midlothian Meadows Forest Preserve, although there is no indication he and Ramirez knew each other.

"This heinous crime is every parent's worst nightmare," Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said in a statement. "It took years of tireless work by our police detectives to investigate this case, but we never gave up on finding Vanessa's killer and seeking justice for her and her family."

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Dakota Petrey has been charged with first-degree murder and aggravated criminal sexual assault in the death of 22-year-old Vanessa Ceja Ramirez, from Harvey. Cook County Sheriff

Petrey, who lives in Lewistown in central Illinois, about 60 miles northwest of Springfield, was arrested on Saturday, after he was released from the Fulton County Jail in Lewistown, where he had been in custody on unrelated charges since last October.

At his first court appearance on the murder charges on Sunday, a Cook County judge ordered him detained until he faces trial.

Petrey was due back in court on Wednesday.

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