2004 Media Releases:

CAMDEN COUNTY PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE
VINCENT P. SARUBBI, CAMDEN COUNTY PROSECUTOR
MEDIA   INFORMATION

March 24, 2004

Camden County Prosecutor Vincent P. Sarubbi and Waterford Police Chief John Bekisz announced that investigators have determined the identity of a man whose body was found in the woods in Waterford Township, N.J., on March 7, 2004, and have charged two men with stabbing the victim to death.

Maximino Juarez Ruiz, 29, and his brother, Alejandro Juarez Ruiz, 38, are charged with Murder. They are being held in lieu of $400,000 bail each, which Superior Court Judge Samuel D. Natal set during an arraignment today.

The defendants are accused of killing Ramon Vazquez Herrera, 30, on Jan. 17, 2004, and leaving his body in a wooded area about a mile off the 1600 block of Chew Road in Wharton State Forest, near a dirt path that runs through the woods. A group of off-road motorcyclists discovered the body at approximately 1 p.m. on Sunday, March 7, 2004, and notified authorities. An autopsy determined the victim had been stabbed multiple times in the upper body and died as result of his wounds. The victim had no identification on his person, so his identity could not be established at that time. Through investigation, officers determined a tentative identity. They confirmed the identity late last week through fingerprints from a letter investigators obtained, which the victim had written to a friend in another state.

The investigation indicates that both defendants and the victim lived in a trailer park in the 400 block of Williamstown Road in Winslow. The defendants drove the victim to Wharton State Forest on Jan. 17 at approximately 6:30 p.m., the investigation has determined. There, they engaged in an altercation, during which Alejandro Juarez Ruiz allegedly stabbed Vazquez Herrera numerous times.

Both defendants and the victim were Mexican natives who were in the United States illegally and worked at farm labor, landscaping and other odd jobs, investigation indicates.

Sarubbi and Bekisz credited their investigators - Senior Investigator Ronald Moten of the Prosecutor's Office and Waterford Police Detective Thomas Kalick - for their work on the case. They also praised the work of Investigators Felix Martinez and Miguel Rubert of the Prosecutor's Office, who served as interpreters for detectives, as well as the Prosecutor's Office Crime Scene Investigations Unit, which confirmed the victim's identity through fingerprints.

"To start with an unidentified body deep in the woods and little other evidence, and to bring the investigation to the point where arrests are made this quickly is a credit to the skill, determination and commitment of the detectives," Bekisz said. "This was a team effort and it paid off."

No court appearances are scheduled at this time.

All persons charged with criminal offenses are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.