Man admits strangling woman, dumping body

A former Watertown man admitted Monday in Jefferson County Court that he strangled his girlfriend to death and disposed of her body in a suitcase in 2008.

Ramon A. Robles-Ruiz, 30, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in connection with the Dec. 8, 2008, death of Annette Y. Vazquez, 33. He is expected to be sentenced May 10 to 20 years to life in state prison.

Robles-Ruiz admitted through a Spanish interpreter that he strangled Ms. Vazquez with his hands following an argument at his apartment in Watertown. He could not recall the address where the killing occurred, although he had a live-in relationship with Ms. Vazquez at 657 Olive St.

Robles-Ruiz also told Judge Kim H. Martusewicz that he put Ms. Vazquez's body into a suitcase and left it in a ditch, although he did not know the exact location.

“I don't remember. I don't remember,” he said.

Ms. Vazquez's remains were found March 23 in a ditch off Vrooman Hill Road in Antwerp.

Ms. Vazquez was discovered missing after she failed to pick up her two daughters, then ages 12 and 6, at school on Dec. 8, 2008. Later that day, police found her car abandoned in an Arsenal Street parking lot.

Robles-Ruiz fled to his native Puerto Rico, where he was arrested in February 2009 on an unrelated charge and held there until October. A County Court warrant charging him with second-degree murder was issued and he was returned to the United States in November.