Those who knew the woman whose remains were discovered in a Surprise landfill said she endured a difficult childhood and struggled with mental health issues.
Friends of 23-year-old Raquel Marie Morales shared that she had confided in them about being sexually abused by her father as a child. Prison records show he began serving a sentence just weeks before her remains were found. Family said she nearly died when she fled the state with a man unknown to them.
“She was a sweet girl who made bad choices,” said Ursula Villegas of Morales while describing the situation between the woman and the man she left Arizona with.
Villegas, 53, broke the news of Morales’ death to her 24-year-old child, Savannah Crull, just minutes before the two spoke on May 2 with The Arizona Republic.
Morales and Crull were friends since meeting at Desiderato High School in Phoenix, spending nights at Villegas’ home in the city. Morales would offer to help and often volunteered to cook for Villegas and Crull, the mother said.
Surprise police said Morales’ remains were found April 17 in a privately run landfill in the northwest Valley city. Upon her being identified May 1 by police, a spokesperson said Morales had not been reported missing.
Though her death was deemed “suspicious,” a cause and manner remained pending, the spokesperson said.
She ‘was terrified of her dad’
Remains found in landfill were identified as 23-year-old Raquel Marie Morales of Surprise.
Crull, who uses they/them pronouns, said that Morales once lived with them and their late grandfather at a home in Phoenix. According to Crull, Morales’ father, Theodore Lee Ramsey, became aggressive during a visit and falsely accused them of holding Morales hostage.
“Her father made sure I wasn’t in contact with her,” Crull said. “He (Morales’ father) was a very messed-up man.”
Villegas added, “Raquel was terrified of her dad.”
Prison records show Morales’ father, Theodore Lee Ramsey, began a 25-year sentence on March 11 at the Florence state prison complex.
The 47-year-old Theodore Ramsey is serving time on a sexual conduct with a minor conviction for a September 2010 incident he pleaded guilty to earlier this year.
Morales was once employed at a Fry’s food store and was supposed to be living with a paternal cousin, according to her 72-year-old grandmother, Susan Ramsey. She said Morales had earlier lived with both her and her father at her south Phoenix home.
Susan Ramsey maintained that her son is innocent, claiming he accepted a plea deal on Jan. 31 to avoid a life sentence. According to Maricopa County court records, several additional charges related to sex crimes against children, which he was accused of committing between 1995 and 2018, were dismissed as part of the agreement after he admitted guilt in connection to a 2010 offense.
Crull said she overheard Theodore Ramsey make a sexually objectifying comment about their body to Morales when he and his daughter were on a phone call.
“I was over 18, but that doesn’t matter. He knew me since I was a minor,” Crull said.
Another friend, 24-year-old Phoenix resident Lawlo Dio, recalled being told by Morales how her father sexually abused her. Morales also told a schoolteacher about the abuse, according to Dio.
The grandmother said her son has been jailed since August 2023. A police officer approached her on April 28, informing her Morales was missing and asking about Theodore Ramsey, Susan Ramsey said.
She was informed of her granddaughter’s death by the woman’s mother a couple of days before the public announcement and said she was sleepless the night of May 1. Her granddaughter’s body had not yet been released to the family, she said.
‘I told people to leave her alone’
Crull and Morales eventually lost touch with each other in 2021.
Sometime before then, Crull said Morales left with a man she told her friend she met through her father.
Susan Ramsey said this man was a truck driver who abandoned her in the city of Indio in Southern California where she was hospitalized after she became unconscious and stopped breathing.
“She had a close call then,” Susan Ramsey said, adding her son drove out to California to retrieve his daughter.
Neither Morales’ friends nor her grandmother know who this man was.
Morales was bullied by schoolmates at Alma L. Houston Academy, an elementary and middle school located at Baseline Road and Seventh Street, Dio said.
“I used to be there for her … like her protector. Like, I told people to leave her alone,” Dio told The Republic over the phone shortly before her voice catched as she remembered her late friend.
The family received disability payments for Morales, according to Villegas and a neighbor of hers who said he cashed those checks for her at a check-cashing business where he was previously employed.
Susan Ramsey said her granddaughter was bipolar and had ADHD and was taking medication. Villegas said that in addition to an ADHD diagnosis, Morales was on the autism spectrum.
Susan Ramsey recalled Morales being a docile girl growing up.
“When she was little, you didn’t even know she was around,” the grandmother said May 2.
When reached by phone the following day, the grandmother, her voice audibly shaken, said she would miss her granddaughter and “the times that we’ve had together.”
Surprise police said in an email that the lead detective on Morales’ case was not available for questions over the weekend when The Republic reached out the afternoon of Saturday, May 3.
Anyone with information on the case is asked to call the Surprise Police Department at 623-222-8477 or email crimetips@surpriseaz.gov.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Woman found dead in Surprise landfill was abused, bullied, friends say