The net is closing in on Miguel Ángel Ramos Quesada, the only accused in the 2016 disappearance of Juana Ramos Medina, whose body has yet to be found. The private prosecution, made up of Ramos’s children —Dácil and Daniel Falcón Ramos— and his nephew Samuel Falcón, filed their private accusation against Miguel Ángel Ramos Quesada, the victim’s ex-partner, on July 20. They accuse him of homicide and a crime against moral integrity, and request 17 years in prison, the same as the Public Prosecutor’s Office. The document, accessed by EL PAÍS, points out contradictions in the accused’s account of his movements that night, the lack of alignment between his story and the geolocation of the phones, and his total lack of cooperation in the search for the body, which has never been found.
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“The accused,” the prosecution states, “acted this way with his ex-partner by not accepting Juana’s expressed decision to want to have a life independent of his criteria, free from his impositions, annoyed because she was expanding her social relationships with new friends.”
Other steps in the process remain to be completed, such as submitting the defense’s statement, holding other procedures like the preliminary hearing or preliminary issues. Thus, an “optimistic” forecast from the prosecution expects the oral trial to be held before the summer of 2027. “We have made great progress,” says lawyer Alberto Hawach, “it is a procedural milestone to have come this far in a complex case. And, above all, it fulfills the family’s aspiration to hold a trial that clarifies what happened.”
Juana Ramos, 56 years old, disappeared on August 20, 2016. She was the mother of two children, cared for her octogenarian parents, and also helped her daughter care for her grandson, who has an autism spectrum disorder. She lived in the La Paterna neighborhood in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, where she managed a business in the area. That day, she was scheduled to meet with her ex-partner, Miguel Ángel Ramos, owner of a pizzeria, supposedly to discuss financial matters. They had been in a relationship for 13 years. They had been separated for three months.
Miguel Ángel and Juana arranged to meet on August 20. Around 10:00 p.m., he picked her up at her home in La Paterna —a peripheral neighborhood of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria— in a white Renault Kangoo. Together, they headed towards the municipality of Arucas (north of the island). The accused claims he dropped her off at her home at 12:30 a.m. on August 21.
She never returned home. The prosecution, led by lawyer Alberto Hawach, maintains that the accused voluntarily killed Ramos Medina sometime between that night and the early hours of August 21. The exact time or place is unknown.
Two days later, the search operation was already underway. Contradictions in the suspect’s account quickly emerged. On August 22, agents from the Homicide Brigade retraced the route indicated by the accused. However, this did not match the geolocation of the mobile phones. These initial clues led to the arrest of the accused as the main suspect on September 6. He was released on bail on October 6.
Contradictions continued in subsequent investigations. On September 13, during the reconstruction of events, the accused told security forces he wore a black t-shirt on the night of August 20. However, shopping center cameras recorded him with his daughter at 7:09 p.m. on August 20, wearing a red polo with a white collar. He also stated that he did not get out of the car during the entire trip, a version that also does not match the location of both phones.
He claimed to have left her safe and sound at her home. However, that night, the alarm at Ramos Medina’s home, which she always activated before going to bed, was not turned on. A neighbor, awake until 4:00 a.m., did not hear any vehicle arrive. Both the home, the business, and the woman’s car appeared intact. Only the clothes and personal effects used that night were missing. “Juana Ramos Medina never returned to her home,” concluded the Public Prosecutor’s Office in its accusation just a month ago.
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“To avoid being discovered and to determine how he took Juana’s life,” the private prosecution states, “Miguel Ángel disposed of Juana’s body.” This decision has led to an incessant search for the body over the years, especially in the northern part of the island. With no results: to this day, “no biological trace of the victim has been found.” The family’s lawyers highlight “the accused’s total lack of cooperation in the search efforts for someone who had been his partner for 13 years.”
They even recall an episode on November 26, 2018. Security forces were following the accused, who, upon noticing the surveillance, approached them very rudely. “What’s going on?” Ramos Quesada snapped at them. “We’re going to find her,” the agent replied.
At that moment, he answered, “I hope so, and I thank you… I hope she appears now and is alive.” Minutes later, however, and apparently without surveillance, he said: “You’re going to find, you’re not going to find shit.” Which, the prosecution argues, is interpreted as an indication that the accused knows the body will not be found.
The accusations consider no other option than homicide: Ramos Medina was responsible for caring for her octogenarian parents —both of whom died without knowing their daughter’s whereabouts— and also helped her daughter Dácil care for her son, who has an autism spectrum disorder.
Moreover, the missing woman wanted to start a new life, but the accused clung to the financial debt he owed to the victim to exert control. The woman had two debts with the tax authorities —about 15,000 and 9,000 euros— generated by businesses the accused himself had started but had put in her name.
The prosecution maintains that he paid her 550 euros monthly in cash to cover that debt, and that these payments were precisely the necessary condition for her to maintain contact with him. The daughter-in-law, daughter, and sister of Ramos Medina offered to pay the debt on her behalf, an offer she always rejected, insisting that the accused himself should pay.
The statement summarizes the situation. “The accused acted this way with his ex-partner by not accepting Juana’s expressed decision to want to have a life independent of his criteria, free from his impositions, annoyed because she was expanding her social relationships with new friends, having exercised a watchful behavior over her with a need to control her contacts, visits, fearful of a definitive breakup.” In 2018, Juana Ramos was included on the list of women killed by gender-based violence by the Government Delegation against Gender Violence.
The phone 016 assists victims of gender-based violence, their families, and their environment 24 hours a day, every day of the year, in 53 different languages. The number is not recorded on the phone bill, but the call must be deleted from the device. Contact can also be made via email 016-online@igualdad.gob.es and WhatsApp at 600 000 016. Minors can contact the ANAR Foundation phone 900 20 20 10. In an emergency, call 112 or the National Police (091) and Civil Guard (062) numbers. If calling is not possible, the ALERTCOPS app can be used to send an alert signal to the police with geolocation.
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