SAN ANTONIO – The arrest of a man in connection with a murder that happened nearly six months ago is coming as a bit of a shock to some of his former neighbors.
Philip Ramirez, 40, had moved out of the apartment complex where it happened some time ago.
However, bits of crime scene tape remain near his old home.
Ramirez’s former neighbors also vividly remember that October night when San Antonio police showed up at his door.
According to an arrest affidavit, Ramirez initially called SAPD to the complex on Fredericksburg Road near Gus Eckert. He told them a woman at his home was overdosing on drugs.
When officers arrived, the affidavit stated that they found blood smeared on the walls throughout the third floor apartment. First responders pronounced Andrea Anzaldua, 44, dead in a bathtub with the water still running.
The affidavit stated that police received the results of Anzaldua’s autopsy late last month and then issued a warrant for Ramirez’s arrest.
According to Anzaldua’s autopsy, she died after she was beaten and strangled, not from a drug overdose.
One neighbor hid her identity as she spoke to KSAT 12 News on Wednesday morning. The neighbor said she was surprised to learn that this is now a murder case, although she does recall hearing a loud argument back on that night in October.
“(Ramirez) said to her, ‘Shut up!,” the neighbor said. “Then after that, all I heard was thump, thump, thump.”
At the time, the neighbor said she dismissed the commotion as a simple argument or fight.
When officers arrived a short time later, the neighbor said she then realized something more serious had happened.
“I’m sorry to hear what he did to her,” the neighbor told KSAT. “My condolences to her family.”
Ramirez was booked into the Bexar County jail Tuesday afternoon on the murder charge.
He is being held on a $150,000 bond in that case, and in connection with other outstanding warrants.
KSAT 12 News made several attempts to reach members of Anzaldua’s family in Edinburg, which is an approximately three-and-a-half hour drive south of San Antonio. However, they did not return phone calls or answer online messages.
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