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Inset: Mario Alejandro Ramirez (Broward County Sheriff”s Office). Background: The apartment complex where Ramirez allegedly killed his pregnant wife in Oakland Park, Fla. (Google Maps).
A Florida resident has been arrested following the fatal stabbing of his pregnant wife earlier this week, according to local law enforcement.
Authorities from the Broward County Sheriff’s Office have charged Mario Alejandro Ramirez, 37, with murder described as dangerous and depraved, though not premeditated.
The tragic event unfolded shortly after midnight on Tuesday in an apartment located on Northeast 41st Street in Oakland Park, a city situated just a few miles from Fort Lauderdale.
As the incident was happening, multiple 911 calls were made, according to recordings obtained by Miami-based WPLG, an independent TV station.
In one of the calls, Ramirez himself reportedly informed dispatchers that the apartment housed three children as what began as a “domestic dispute” escalated into violence, according to officials.
At around 12:55 a.m., the stabbing was reported in another call.
Deputies encountered Ramirez at the apartment and struggled with him while trying to apply pressure to stanch the bleeding from an apparently self-inflicted injury, according to the sheriff’s office.
Inside, fire rescue crews found Fayanni Ramirez, whose age has not been released as of this writing, suffering from multiple stab wounds. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene of the crime.
Investigators quickly confirmed the woman was pregnant and lived in the apartment with her three other children.
“It sounded like furniture, like hitting, and there was a lot of screaming,” one neighbor previously told the local TV station.
Another neighbor walking past the site of the fatal stabbing said: “They opened the door and then when I walked back, like to go home, I see, like, a body laying on the floor…apparently somebody got stabbed in the neck.”
In gruesome news footage of the unit taken from the outside, a splotch of a red substance appears to be dripping from a window.
At the time of the slaying, the victim had an active restraining order out against the defendant, according to law enforcement.
On Friday, Ramirez appeared in court for a bond hearing. He is represented by a public defender, Broward County records show.
The defendant is currently being detained in the Broward Main Jail without bond, WPLG reported. During the bond hearing, the judge also reportedly ordered medical and mental health evaluations.
Ramirez is also on an immigration-related detainer hold, according to the TV station.
The motive for the woman’s death remains unclear, prosecutors said.