Ramon A. Ortiz

Ramon A. Ortiz, left, 57, of Pennsauken and Carlos Alicea-Antonetti, 36, of Camden appear in Camden County Superior Court to be arraigned for the alleged murder of Fatima Perez, 41, of Camden, Thursday, May 15, 2014. Her body was found in Monroe Township on Wednesday, May 14. (Staff Photo by Joe Warner/South Jersey Times)

(Joe Warner)

Two men intially sought in the disappearance of Fatima Perez earlier this week have been charged in her murder, Camden County Prosecutor's Office confirmed this morning.

Carlos Alicea-Antonetti, 36, of Camden, and Ramon Ortiz, 57, of Pennsauken, are both charged with murder in the death of the 41-year-old mother of two who went missing from her home Monday and was found buried in a Monroe Township field Wednesday morning.

The pair were arraigned Thursday afternoon.

Judge Edward J. McBride set bail at $5 million for each defendant as requested by Camden County Assistant Prosecutor Christine Shah. Shah had requested the amount so much higher than typical bail guidelines in part because of the heinous nature of the crime.

She also factored in likelihood the defendants would try to disapear. They could face life without parole. Detectives had received a tip that they were at the Express Inn on Route 38 in Cherry Hill after the murder.

According to Shah's probable cause statement in court, investigators found Ortiz walking on Route 38 near the inn, then found Alicea-Antonetti in a room there. Also in the room were a cellphone with battery removed and the box for a newly purchased cellphone.

Both defendants opted to apply for a public defender.

According to a probable cause statement released by the Camden County Prosecutor's Office, Alicea-Antonetti told investigators he and Ortiz buried Perez alive on Monday.

That confession came among others in an interview with detectives on Wednesday, the probable cause statement says.

Alicea-Antonetti allegedly told them he picked Perez up Monday in a van near her home to take her to buy a car. The victim's relatives reported they last saw her leave home with $8,000 in cash for the car.

Fatima Perez, 41, of East Camden, was found dead Wednesday in Monroe Township.

According to detectives, Alicea-Antonetti recalled getting into an argument with Perez. She fell out of the van, injuring herself, the accused said, but got back into the vehicle.

Alicea-Antonetti, who owns and operates a landscaping company, told the detectives he then picked up Ortiz, one of his employees, who was cutting the grass at North 23rd Street, according to the probably cause statement.

Alicea-Antonetti said the two tied Perez up and placed duct tape over her mouth and eyes before driving her to a wooded area in Monroe, pouring lime over her and burying her alive. However, Ortiz said she was already tied up when he got into the van.

Detectives said they seized more than $7,000 in cash from Alicea-Antonetti.

On Thursday, friends and relatives of Perez were gathered outside her home in the 400 block of North 41st Street, in Camden. She'd been reported missing from the home Monday night.

"She left without her car and without her keys," said the victim's sister, Vanessa Castro. "That's how we knew she had gone with someone she knew."

Castro said one of the accused used to work on her lawn.

She and Perez grew up together in Nicaragua, she explained, and Perez moved to the United States about eight or nine years ago.

"She was a hard worker, and she bought her house within a couple of years of coming to the States," Castro said.

Perez was a good mother to her 21-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son, she added.

"She was strong, very strong," Castro said. "But she was very innocent and very naive about people. She trusted people too easily.

"She just didn't have any bad inside her," Castro continued. "She didn't see any evil in people and she didn't know how far it could go."

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