Dakota Petrey, 30, has been charged with first-degree murder and aggravated criminal sexual assault in the 2020 death of 22-year-old Vanessa Ceja Ramirez.
Ceja Ramirez’s body was found in the Midlothian Meadows Forest Preserve days after she disappeared; investigators connected Petrey to the crime using DNA evidence. Petrey was taken into custody on Saturday, following his release from jail on unrelated charges.
On the afternoon of Nov. 2, Ceja-Ramirez was walking with her mother and her mother’s friend at the forest preserve when she drifted back to tie her shoes.
The following text exchange took place, documents show. It has been translated from to English from Spanish.
- 3:47 p.m. from her mother: “where are you?”
- 3:48 p.m. from Vanessa: “I went back because its too long of a walk.”
- 3:51 p.m. from Vanessa: “Where are you guys at?”
- 3:53 p.m. from her mother: “We are on our way back.”
- 4 p.m. from Vanessa’s phone: “Ha verdad” (blue iMessage went to green after 3:53 p.m.)
- 4:21 p.m. from her mother: “Where are you”
- 5:34 p.m. from her mother: “The police are looking for you”
Ceja-Ramirez’s mother was confused by the “ha verdad” response, which loosely translates to “for real,” and tried calling the phone several times.
Police were contacted and she was not located using K-9 and helicopter units. During the search, documents state her mother used the “Find my iPhone” to track her phone and saw it was at a school just west of 151st and Central.
