The man suspected of killing a 25-year-old engaged Georgia mom and fitness TikToker was in the country illegally, according to state lawmakers who called her murder a “preventable tragedy.”
Angel DeJesus Rivera-Sanches, 24, was arrested last Monday on kidnapping charges related to the disappearance of Minelys “Mimi” Zoe Rodriguez-Ramirez, whose remains were found about a week after she was reported missing.
Rivera-Sanches — who is expected to be charged with the young mom’s murder following an autopsy — had crossed the southern border illegally and was reportedly trying to run back to Mexico when he was arrested, Georgia Sen. John Albers said.
“The suspected murderer, Angel DeJesus Rivera-Sanches, an illegal immigrant who had no right to be here, was apprehended in Atlanta as he tried to flee back to Mexico,” the Republican lawmaker said in a statement.
Habersham County Police confirmed to 11Alive that Rivera-Sanches was in the US illegally.
Albers said Rodriguez-Ramirez, who moved to Georgia from Puerto Rico six years ago, “did everything right, yet her life was cut short because of our federal government’s repeated failure to protect its own citizens.”
Georgia Senate Majority Leader Steve Gooch reiterated his colleague’s sentiments.
“The murder of Minelys Zoe Rodriguez-Ramirez, so close to my district, is a tragedy that should prompt us all to question how much longer we will put our own people at risk due to Washington’s failure to secure our borders,” Gooch said.
“Mimi followed the law, worked hard and raised a family here, yet her life was stolen by an illegal alien who had no right to be in this country,” he added. “Enough is enough. We must protect our families, uphold the dignity of those who respect our laws and restore the security that every community deserves.”
The mom of a 9-year-old daughter back in Puerto Rico was last seen at a Walmart in Cornelia on Oct. 22. She was reported missing by her fiancé, Julio Tovor, the next day after she never made it home.
Rodriguez-Ramirez told Tovor that she was going to the megastore to exchange a photo with an acquaintance. He received an odd text that he said didn’t sound like her at around 9:30 p.m. on the night she vanished, according to the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office.
“I am waiting for the brother to pick him up,” the message read.
The remains of a woman believed to be the missing mom were later discovered on Furniture Drive, near the Walmart parking lot.
Albers blamed the Biden administration’s lax border policies for Rodriguez-Ramirez’s slaughter and the February murder of 22-year-old Georgia nursing student Laken Riley allegedly at the hands of illegal migrant Jose Ibarra.
“Once again, our open-border policies have claimed another innocent life on American soil, right here in Georgia,” Albers said. “…How many more lives must be lost due to the open-border policies in Washington, D.C.?
“Earlier this year, our community mourned the tragic death of Laken Riley, a resident of my district, and now we mourn Mimi Rodriguez-Ramirez. These were preventable tragedies, and we will not forget them,” the Chairman of the Georgia Senate’s Public Safety Committee said. “Say their names.”