Missing N.J. Woman, Baby Were Murdered, Police Say

A Millville man has been charged with two counts of homicide in connection with the death of a 34-year-old South Jersey woman and her three-month old daughter, Vineland Police said Wednesday morning.

Ricardo Santiago, 34, of Millville, is the father of a 5-year-old child he had with Neidy Ramirez, of Vineland, according to CBS 3.

Ramirez and her daughter, Genesis, were last seen alive on Friday Nov. 27, in the Vineland area. Her 2005 Chevy Trailblazer abandoned on Route 55 north near milepost 45.3 on Saturday afternoon.

He is lodged in Cumberland County jail on $1 million cash bail. Police didn’t provide a motive.

Santiago was not Genesis’s father, according to the report.

He surrendered on Wednesday following a collaborative joint investigation between the Vineland Police Department, New Jersey State Police and Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office. Police said he was being “cooperative.”

Police believe they were killed in Vineland, and their bodies were moved, according to the Courier Post. Their bodies were recovered late Wednesday night in the salt marshes on the edge of the Cohansey River in Fairton.

Autopsies were being performed on the bodies Wednesday morning.

Police didn’t provide a motive, but said it appeared there was some dispute going on, according to the report. They didn’t say whether there were previous domestic disputes between the two.

The 5-year-old and an 8-year-old child Ramirez also mothered are staying with family members, according to 6 ABC, which reported earlier in the day that police were interviewing a person of interest in the case.

Ramirez worked at Conte Pasta in Vineland and was described as someone who stays in constant contact with her friends and family, according to the 6 ABC report.

Anyone with information about this investigation is asked to call Vineland Police Criminal Division Main Extension 856-691-4111, ext. 4180 or the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office at 856-453-0486.

The attached images of Ricardo Santiago, Neidy Ramirez and Genesis Ramirez were posted by Vineland Police.