Inmate Haunted By Spirit of Girl he Murdered
Way Of The Ray
Dreams add twist to slaying
Cops charge inmate in Pontiac case, cite haunting
March 18, 2003
BY L.L. BRASIER
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
It had been almost eight years since he killed the girl, prosecutors
said, and as he sat in his prison cell, he became convinced she was
haunting him.
When Salome (Sal) Gonzales went looking for a witch doctor among his
fellow inmates to help exorcise the ghost of 8-year-old Mindy Ramirez,
he sealed his fate, prosecutors say.
Gonzales, 46, was serving a 23- to 60-year prison sentence at the Thumb
Correction Facility in Lapeer for raping a 9-year-old niece, when he
became convinced that the child who was shot from an ambush in March
1995 was now haunting him, investigators said.
He was convinced that the child's restless spirit was showing up in his
dreams to confront him, accusing him of killing her, police said.
"The proofs will be consistent with that," said Assistant Oakland County
Prosecutor Rob Novy.
The child's plea for justice was like "a call from the beyond," Novy
said.
Novy declined to provide details about who Gonzales solicited, or what
he said. However, prosecutors have a map Gonzales reportedly drew while
in prison showing a home on Perry Street in Pontiac where they said he
killed Mindy with a gunshot wound to the head.
The spectral accusations are supported, according to people familiar
with the case, by a tape recording of Gonzales discussing the killing.
Gonzales killed the child, police and prosecutors said, to keep her from
telling her parents that he had been sexually assaulting her.
Last week, Mindy's mother, Dona Ramirez, said Gonzales was a neighbor
and a casual acquaintance of the family.
"I don't really remember him coming near us," she said. "I don't
remember much about him at all."
Mindy Ramirez was playing in the backyard with her new German shepherd
puppy about 3 p.m. March 25, 1995, when a single gunshot rang out from
nearby woods.
Pontiac police never closed the case, but had run out of leads until
state corrections officials contacted them recently about Gonzales.
Gonzales' lawyer Michael McCarthy said he was aware of the allegations
about the witch doctor, but declined to comment about the details.
"I've heard the story, but I've just received the information today, so
I don't have enough of a grasp of facts to discuss it," he said.
Gonzales is due in Pontiac's 50th District Court on March 25 for a
preliminary exam. He is charged with first-degree murder and faces life
in prison without parole if convicted.
Contact L.L. BRASIER at 248-858-2262 or bra...@freepress.com.
Zaltor
"Way Of The Ray" <way...@ix.netcom.com> wrote in message
news:3E77790E...@ix.netcom.com...
> http://www.freep.com/news/locoak/nslay18_20030318.htm
<snipped for length>
> Gonzales is due in Pontiac's 50th District Court on March 25 for a
> preliminary exam. He is charged with first-degree murder and faces life
> in prison without parole if convicted.
No! That is too good for him! Death! Death I say! His execution
should take no less than 5 years of slow agonizing pain and torture,
even that is almost to good for him. Maybe it should be life... Of
pain and torture, in fact lets figure out the secret of immortality
so he can live forever!... >:(