NY Salvador Ramirez, 26, Yonkers, NY, September 19, 1993

[fortwhatitsworth]

Colombian immigrant Salvador Ramirez had it all ahead of him in life. He was set to become a naturalized US citizen in a few months, had a great job a local hospital, and a two year old daughter, Sophia, that he adored.

At just 26, his marriage fell apart when his wife, Ruth, became pregnant by another man. Salvador wanted to save the relationship, but Ruth wanted custody of Sophia and a divorce. A custody battle ensued and Sal was poised to gain sole custody of Sophia after discovering a journal in which Ruth wrote that she had violated some of the court's conditions.

And then, on September 19, 1993, Sal disappeared. He planned to go pick up Sophia from her mother's house after dropping a loved one off at JFK International Airport, but he never arrived. His car was found abandoned at the airport several days later by his brother and sister. There is no indication that Sal boarded a flight and his brother has had Sal's passport in his possession all these years.

Ruth kept Sophia and shortly after Sal's disappearance she moved to California with her new husband and baby.

Sal is listed on NamUs and has gotten exactly zero press coverage aside from his story being covered on The Vanished Podcast.

What happened to Sal? Did he leave the country and return to his native Colombia? Does Ruth know what happened?

Sources: EPISODE 164: Salvador Ramirez Part 1EPISODE 165: Salvador Ramirez Part 2The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

 

[StarEyes]

Colombian immigrant Salvador Ramirez had it all ahead of him in life. He was set to become a naturalized US citizen in a few months, had a great job a local hospital, and a two year old daughter, Sophia, that he adored.

At just 26, his marriage fell apart when his wife, Ruth, became pregnant by another man. Salvador wanted to save the relationship, but Ruth wanted custody of Sophia and a divorce. A custody battle ensued and Sal was poised to gain sole custody of Sophia after discovering a journal in which Ruth wrote that she had violated some of the court's conditions.

And then, on September 19, 1993, Sal disappeared. He planned to go pick up Sophia from her mother's house after dropping a loved one off at JFK International Airport, but he never arrived. His car was found abandoned at the airport several days later by his brother and sister. There is no indication that Sal boarded a flight and his brother has had Sal's passport in his possession all these years.

Ruth kept Sophia and shortly after Sal's disappearance she moved to California with her new husband and baby.

Sal is listed on NamUs and has gotten exactly zero press coverage aside from his story being covered on The Vanished Podcast.

What happened to Sal? Did he leave the country and return to his native Colombia? Does Ruth know what happened?

Sources: EPISODE 164: Salvador Ramirez Part 1EPISODE 165: Salvador Ramirez Part 2The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

I was just coming to post the podcast episodes. I’m so glad you have them up! Marissa does an excellent job. Let’s hope it leads to some good tips!

 

[Jlquick30]

This case is so sad to me. It seemed to me, that everyone knew what probably happened to him - but they couldn't prove it. I hope the current LE are able to piece something together.

 

[Al Ka]

1993 disappearance of Yonkers man gets fresh look

Last year Ramirez's niece, Diana Rojas, began looking into his disappearance and also prompted others to do so.

She was six when her uncle went missing and remembers him as always friendly. He would take her to the diner, and for ice cream, and play with her in their neighborhood.

"It's heartbreaking to know that he's never been found, that there have been no new leads," said Rojas.

The Vanished, a podcast focusing on missing people, featured Ramirez’s case in March after Rojas brought it to the producers’ attention.

And last month, Yonkers cold-case detectives continued gathering DNA from Ramirez’s siblings. They have submitted samples to NAMUS, the National Missing and Unidentified Person System, so that a DNA profile of Ramirez can be obtained and compared to unsolved cases.

"Its not going to end up just a missing person case," said Detective John Geiss. "Our focus now is to find him. And then we'll try to figure out what happened to him and why."

Rojas now lives in her mother Rosa's basement apartment on Coyle Place with her husband and young son, in the same room the 28-year-old Ramirez was living in when he disappeared.
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In the summer of 1993, Ramirez left a job at a dry cleaners and started working as a housekeeper at the Ruth Taylor Institute, on the grounds of the Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla.

Ramirez had gotten custody of Sophia, thanks in part to details in Ruth’s diary that she had left behind in the girl’s diaper bag following a visit, his lawyer told police after the disappearance. The diary showed that she had taken the girl to California in violation of their custody arrangement.

On Sept. 19, Ramirez and his brother drove their mother to JFK Airport for her return trip to Colombia.

Back in Yonkers, they gathered with several relatives for lunch. Ramirez left to play soccer and, around 4 p.m., drove off to Elmsford.

One of his brothers told police later that a colleague of Ramirez saw him that afternoon heading north on the Saw Mill River Parkway near Lawrence Street in Greenburgh.

Ruth showed up on Coyle Place with Sophia later that afternoon, saying Ramirez had never shown up. She waited a little while and then left with the girl.
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Missing persons cases in Yonkers are assigned to the youth division. But by early October, Detective Robert Molinaro also was assigned to the case. A police report cited “extraneous circumstances and suspicious activities.”

Among those were the custody fight, the fact that Ramirez never picked up a pair of paychecks at work totaling $519 and that his brother had his passport. Also, Ramirez's lawyer told police that he believed Ramirez would have moved to California to be near Sophia if he had lost physical custody of her.

Ramirez's wife was granted her divorce a few weeks after he disappeared, according to county court records.
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The police reports, which were provided to Rojas, show no interview with Ramirez’s girlfriend, who was pregnant with his child at the time. Ramirez never mentioned the pregnancy to his siblings.
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His son, Raul Mendez, was born in January 1994. He never met his father and didn't even know of him until he was 7. He has been close to Diana and her family since he was a young boy, and knew he was related to them but didn't know how until years later.

Mendez, who still lives in Yonkers, also wants answers about what happened to his father.
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Rojas said that besides the loss of her uncle, the worst part of the ordeal was that her family was cut off from Sophia. She suspects the girl may have been told her father abandoned her, which Rojas insists never would have happened.

She found Sophia on social media recently and reached out, hopeful they could renew a relationship that a quarter century ago was a 6-year-old doting on her little cousin.

Instead, she got no response and was blocked from further contact.

1993 disappearance of Yonkers man gets fresh look

Just to clear up few things - his estranged wife was pregnant with her new boyfriend and Ramirez's girlfriend was pregnant with him.

 

[CastlesBurning]

Bumping for Salvador, now missing over 28 years...

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

 

[John/Jane Doe]

Salvador Ramirez – The Charley Project