Georgetown – The Delaware State Police Homicide Unit has arrested Juan Carlos Tovar Cruz, 22 of Georgetown, in connection with the death of a 30-year-old Georgetown man, according to Public Information Officer, Master Corporal Gary Fournier.
Fournier tells First State Update that at approximately 2:54 a.m. Sunday, October 30, 2016, troopers responded to the 14,000 block of Wilson Hill Road for a report of an assault. Troopers made contact with a 40-year-old female at a neighboring house who stated she had just been brutally assaulted by her tenant, according to Fournier. Police said, Juan Carlos Tovar Cruz, who had just recently been allowed to rent a room at that residence, began assaulting the female victim around 7:00 p.m. Saturday October 29, 2016.
Troopers said that at one point Cruz allegedly tied her to her bed and then grabbed a kitchen knife and began cutting her about the legs, throat, and hands. Fournier said once the assault was over, Cruz untied her and left the bedroom which gave her time to flee and run to a neighbor’s house where they called 9-1-1. She was then transported by Emergency Medical Services to Nanticoke Memorial Hospital where she was treated and eventually released with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
In the course of this investigation, troopers responded to the victim’s residence where they located an unidentified male subject in the driveway. Sussex County Paramedics responded to the scene and pronounced the victim dead deceased. The Delaware Division of Forensic Science was contacted and removed the male victim, who was later identified as Ricardo Perez-Ramirez, 30 of Georgetown. An autopsy was conducted on Monday October 31, 2016, which ruled the death a homicide by blunt force trauma to the head, according to Fournier.
Delaware State Police Homicide Detectives took over the case and upon searching the house, located documents in the bedroom of Cruz which positively identified him. On Sunday, October 30, 2016 at approximately 11:15 p.m. troopers made contact with Cruz in the area of Concord Road (Rt. 20) west of County Seat Highway (Rt. 9), Seaford as a call was made for a suspicious person in the area. Cruz was taken into custody without incident and transported to Troop 4 Georgetown, where he was charged with one count of Assault 1st Degree and Possession of a Deadly Weapon during the Commission of a Felony. He was arraigned at JP3 and committed Sussex Correctional Institution in default of $80,000.00 cash bond.
On November 1, 2016, Homicide Detectives said they were able to link Cruz to the murder and charged him with Murder 1st and Possession of a Deadly Weapon During the Commission of a Felony. He was arraigned at JP3 and remains incarcerated at SCI on an additional 2,500,000.00 cash bond.