$1M bail set for suspect after gruesome discovery at Tri-Cities homeless housing project
Security camera footage shows Reymundo Carrillo-Bojorgez allegedly fleeing from the Bishop Skylstad Commons in Pasco early Sunday morning.
After taking the elevator and walking out of the four-story building around 6:30 a.m., he drove off in a car owned by 39-year-old Elisa Ramos, according to court documents filed Monday.
She was found dead a short time later. She’d been stabbed to death inside her studio apartment at the homeless housing project that just opened in the spring.
Several hours later, Franklin County sheriff’s deputies found Carrillo-Bojorgez walking along a highway north of Pasco. He had deep cuts to his hands and what appeared to be blood on his pants, said the affidavit of probable cause from Franklin County Superior Court.
Carrillo-Bojorgez, 28, was charge Monday with premeditated first-degree murder.
The documents shed light on the gruesome, early-morning murder of the Pasco, Wash., woman who lived at the complex serving the chronically homeless.
It appears the two may have been living together when she died. But it’s unclear what their relationship was.
Carrillo-Bojorgez was booked Sunday evening and made his first appearance in court Monday afternoon, speaking through a Spanish-English interpreter.
Superior Court Judge Sam Swanberg set his bail at $1 million.
‘Blood all over the apartment’
The commons is a 60-room housing complex that that opened in April at the corner of Lewis Street and 20th Avenue.
It’s a first-of-its-kind project for the Tri-Cities area, and was built by Catholic Charities of Eastern Washington. The housing complex aims to give people a place to live for as long as they need before they are able to move into other housing in the area.
Ramos lived on the fourth floor. At about 7 a.m. Sunday, a neighbor called police to report that her door was open and her dog was out roaming the hallway.
The caller said they could “see blood all over the inside of the apartment” and that a person was lying on the floor face down, according to court documents.
Police arrived and found Ramos near her bed. They also found blood splattered on a cooking pot, smeared on cabinet handles, and on two knives and a drywall saw later found.
Due to the scene’s “complexity,” Pasco police called in crime scene technicians with the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab were called in to help with the investigation.
Bloody shoe marks were found throughout the apartment, as well as in the bathroom where the sink was still running.
According to court documents, Ramos’ body had “numerous stab wounds, a deep cut across her neck and multiple cuts across her face and eyes.”
Welfare check
About six hours later, around 1 p.m., deputies were called by a passerby to check on a man walking along a roadway north of the Pasco city limits.
When Carrillo-Bojorgez — who was found with “deep cuts to both hands and what appeared to be blood on his pants” — was approached by police, he gave conflicting comments about his condition.
“Reymundo first stated he was cut by glass, then stated the injuries were caused by chickens. Reymundo avoided telling the deputies where he had come from and refused a ride to Pasco or to be seen by a doctor after his hands were cleaned and bandaged by a Franklin County medic,” court records read.
Deputies initially released Carrillo-Bojorgez, but found him near the same location about four hours later after police showed the sheriff’s deputies the security footage.
At that time, when asked where he lived, Carrillo-Bojorgez allegedly handed the deputy a piece of paper with the same address and apartment number that Ramos was living at. He was arrested and taken to the jail.
He’s scheduled to enter a plea to the charges on July 25.
Officials with Catholic Charities of Eastern Washington could not be reached Monday about the incident.
Catholic Charities operates several similar housing units across Eastern Washington, including St. Michael’s Haven in Walla Walla and Buder Haven in Spokane.
The organization has more than 2,600 affordable housing units and 600 units in a supportive environment.
