By John Burton
FREEHOLD – An Eatontown man was sentenced to a 27-year prison sentence Thursday, April 17, for the May 2011 murder of his estranged wife, a Red Bank woman.
The sentence for Oscar Prior-Ramirez, 34, of Eatontown is subject to the No Early Release Act, meaning he will have to serve at least 85 percent or nearly 23 years before being considered for parole, according to Charles Webster, a spokesman for the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.
Prior-Ramirez pleaded guilty Nov. 19 to first-degree aggravated manslaughter, the product of a plea agreement between the defendant and the prosecutor’s office, with the approval of the victim’s family, according to Webster.
Prior-Ramirez killed his wife, Viridiana Beltran-Gomez, 26, who was the mother of their two young sons. Beltran-Gomez’s family reported her missing on May 13, 2011, when she failed to return home from her job at a Shrewsbury Avenue restaurant in Red Bank.
The subsequent investigation led authorities to Prior-Ramirez and to Beltran-Gomez’s remains, where were discovered buried in a shallow grave about 100 feet off of the Garden State Parkway from mile marker 119 in Aberdeen on June 25, 2011. Authorities said at the time the cause of death was homicidal asphyxiation.
Prior-Ramirez has been held in custody since June 2011 on $1.5 million bail.
