SANTA ANA, Calif. (KTLA) — An Orange County man suspected of killing a Cal State Fullerton student was charged Tuesday with first-degree murder.
Kwang Choi Joy, 54, was accused of killing his roommate, Maribel Ramos, and disposing of her body in a remote area of Modjeska Canyon in the Santa Ana Mountains.
Joy’s arraignment was continued to June 7.
He remained behind bars on $1 million bail.
Ramos’ body was found in some bushes near Santiago Canyon Ranch and Jackson Ranch Road.
Investigators contend Joy got into a fight with Ramos after she told him to move out of her home because he wasn’t paying rent.
But that might not have been Joy’s only motive.
“He may have been infatuated with her and I don’t know if that was necessarily mutual,” prosecutor Scott Simmons said.
Ramos, 36, was last seen on surveillance video outside her apartment building around 8:30 a.m on May 2.
She was reported missing a few days later after she failed to show up at a veteran’s appreciation dinner where she was supposed to give a speech.
Ramos was supposed to graduate from Cal State Fullerton with a criminal justice degree Sunday.
Her niece will accept her diploma on her behalf.