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Death Of Missing Vanessa Ceja Ramirez, Found Dead In A Cook County Forest Preserve, Ruled A Homicide

HARVEY, Ill. (CBS) -- Vanessa Ceja Ramirez, who was found dead in a south suburban forest preserve, was strangled to death, the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office now says. Her death has been ruled a homicide.

Police had been searching for the 22-year-old Harvey woman since Monday when she disappeared in the Midlothian Meadows Forest Preserve.

The investigation shows Ceja left her mother while on the jogging trail to head back to her car – and when her mother finished jogging, Ceja was nowhere to be found.

Her mother called police.

Originally, investigators said they searched on Monday in the forest preserve by air and with canines, but Ceja's body was not found until two days later.

Forest Preserve police said it got a ping of Ceja's cellphone in nearby Oak Forest, but could not say with certainty if she was at the apartment complex where the ping originated.

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