MIDLOTHIAN, Ill. (AP) - A suburban Chicago woman who vanished Monday after walking in a nature preserve with her mother and a friend has been found dead in the forested preserve, authorities said.
The body of Vanessa Ceja-Ramirez, 22, was found Wednesday afternoon at the Midlothian Meadows Forest Preserve, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
An autopsy was planned for Thursday as the medical examiner works to determine how the Harvey woman died. The Cook County sheriff’s office is also conducting a death investigation.
Ceja-Ramirez went missing Monday after she decided to return to a car midway through a walk in the nature preserve with her mother and friend. When they returned to the car, she wasn’t there and could not be located or contacted, police said.
Ceja-Ramirez’s loved ones gathered Wednesday night for a vigil in Harvey, where they remembered her as a college student who was the light of her family and community.
Relatives said they fear she may have been the victim of foul play, WLS-TV reported.
“She’s just somebody that we believed in, that had our future in her hands, just like most of our kids here,” said Alejandro Villegas, her uncle. “She was a sweet child that was humble, smiled, shy. She was a good person. And she just didn’t deserve anything of this.”
Harvey Mayor Christopher Clark urged the public to come forward with any information they might have on what happened to Ceja-Ramirez.
“Whatever information you may have, if you just saw Vanessa at a split second, say something to someone about it,” Clark said.
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