Dakota Petrey watched as police descended on his apartment building in search of the 22-year-old woman. His family suspected him early on.
patch.com
Summing up some of the info from this article:
On the day Vanessa Ceja Ramirez went missing, as police canvassed the area in search of Ceja Ramirez and her phone, Petrey and his girlfriend watched from their window. His girlfriend later told police he "paced back and forth between windows in their apartment, with the lights off" while police were at the scene. He told her not to answer the door if police approached.
About a week later, Petrey's nephew called a tip line to report that his mother—Petrey's sister—had said the crime "sounded like something her brother would do," and that he had asked for her help moving his van that had been parked just blocks from where Ceja Ramirez's body had been found.
In December 2020, police learned that in late October, Petrey had received a notice that his apartment would be treated for bedbugs on Nov. 4 — two days after Ceja Ramirez went missing. Authorities said Petrey later sent his landlord a letter objecting to allowing exterminators into the apartment, giving excuses including online classes and the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Nov. 13, after refusing to allow entry into the apartment, Petrey received an eviction notice. He and his girlfriend vacated the premises in mid-November 2020. Police in December 2020 then searched the apartment, which had been secured as-is by the landlord after they left. Inside, detectives found a zip tie, lighter fluid and a cell phone, which was later determined NOT to belong to Ceja Ramirez, court records show.
In 2021, around the time that police collected his DNA from a can discarded at his workplace,
he told his girlfriend in messages that "that something is wrong with him. ... and it’s just who he is, and he can’t help it, that he’s a psycho or something, and that he’s evil.
This is a quote from the article:
"He stated that he’s a horrible person and he can’t help himself for things," court records show. "He stated he is sick in the head and can’t say anything more. He stated that if he told her she would not love him, and things can be bad, but he doesn’t want things to get bad." When pressed if he hurt someone, Petrey allegedly responded: "can't say."
