A Dekalb County man who grew up in Greene County received a life sentence for a murder he was convicted of committing in Greene County two years ago, according to the Ocmulgee Circuit District Attorney’s Office.
Charli Rey Ramos, 21, pleaded guilty to murder in front of Ocmulgee Superior Court Judge Terry N. Massey on Monday, May 9, for the death of 16-year-old Anthony “AJ” Haszleton Jr.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation arrested then 19-year-old Ramos man on a murder charge on Oct. 25, 2020, after human remains were found off of Highway 15 South in Greensboro in a shallow grave near a mobile home.
According to Captain Lee Stancill of the Greene County Sheriff’s Office, Ramos faced charges of malice murder and concealing the death of another person in the wake of the discovery of the skeletal remains.
The Greene County Sheriff’s Office called in the GBI to investigate, and the agency began working with the DeKalb County Police Department due to a possible link to a missing person’s investigation out of DeKalb County.
According to Stancill, the remains were then sent to the GBI Medical Examiner’s Office for a positive identification and autopsy.
At the time, Atlanta news outlets were reporting that the body could be Haszleton’s, who disappeared from his Decatur home on April 16.
According to WSB report, items of clothing matching Haszelton’s, were found with the remains, and investigators had also looked into possible gang connections.
A Dekalb County police report said, “Anthony had gone to Greene County with an older male gang member by the name of Charli Ramos” and said “if he didn’t return by 3 p.m. that evening something bad had happened to him.”
According to 11Alive News, Haszelton’s mother found a girl hiding in Hazleton’s closet on the day he went missing. “The girl told her that she was waiting for Haszelton, who left to run an errand. But the next day, one of her son’s friends texted her that “they suspected his life may be in danger.”
The story says a report obtained indicates “the mother contacted Greensboro Police that day asking them to conduct a wellness check at an address in nearby Union Point, which she’d gotten from some of her son’s friends,” but the location was abandoned.
An investigation by the DeKalb County Police Department led to Ramos, who stated that he and Haszleton went to Greene County to burglarize a residence. Cell phone records showed that while both young men came to Greene County, only Ramos returned, contradicting his statement to police that he dropped Haszleton off in Decatur.
In October of that year, Bill Sisson came across what appeared to be human bones in a grave on his property, which is adjacent to the property on which Ramos’s family lives, according to the DA’s office.
GBI crime scene analysts reviewed the scene and gathered the remains. DNA testing confirmed that the remains belonged to Haszleton, but because of the advanced state of decomposition, a cause of death was unable to be determined.
Before he was sentenced, Ramos gave a short, prepared statement, asking Haszleton’s family for forgiveness for his actions, according to the DA’s Facebook page.
“Haszleton’s sister, Rajai, spoke to the court and told Judge Massey that her brother was a good person who had gotten mixed up with the wrong crowd and was betrayed by someone he trusted.”
Judge Massey sentenced Ramos to life in prison. He will be eligible for parole in 2050.