GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Authorities say that Jeisaac Rodriguez-Garcia allegedly burned the body of Jason Mendez-Ramos, which was found on the edge of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay campus in September, but he is not charged with the murder itself.
Rodriguez-Garcia made an initial court appearance Friday afternoon on a charge of mutilating a corpse. A previously set bond of $10,000 was kept in place.
According to the criminal complaint, police were called to the campus on Sept. 28 for a grass fire and discovered a body.
Jason Mendez-Ramos (Photo courtesy Green Bay Police Dept.)
An officer “indicated that given the location of the scene, extensive burns to the body, and noticeable injuries to the victim, one could ascertain that an accelerant, coupled with the application of an open flame was used to cause the fire,” the complaint states.
Using security video from a nearby location, police developed a timeline:
- 12:21:41 Suspect vehicle comes into camera view going south on Sussex Road
- 12:21:52 Suspect turns the headlights of vehicle off
- 12:22:20 Driver’s side door opens
- 12:22:26 Movement is observed inside of the suspect vehicle
- 12:24:19 Movement is observed inside or behind the suspect vehicle
- 12:25:21 Driver’s side door (rear) opens
- 12:25:31 A fire is observed to have been ignited
- 12:25:42 Suspect vehicle leaves eastbound on Champeau Rd.
The video and an anonymous tip allowed police to identify that vehicle. The vehicle’s owner then identified Rodriguez-Garcia as having borrowed the van.
Rodriguez-Garcia said Mendez-Ramos was an acquaintance through work. Rodriguez-Garcia claimed he was home at the time the van could have been by UWGB, but police noted cell phone records contradicted that.
“Jeisaac again stated that the van was in his driveway when he got home and that he never drove the van and that maybe the van was dropped off after the homicide to implicate Jeisaac,” the complaint states. “Through phone cell records and video surveillance it was determined that Jeisaac’s cell phone was located in the same areas where the van was seen on video on September 27 into September 28, 2021.”
A DNA sample taken from a sock found near the body consisted of a four-person mixture with a “very strong support for inclusion” with a statistic of one quadrillion times more likely to observe this DNA profile to be inclusive of Rodriguez-Garcia.
An investigator told Rodriguez-Garcia he thinks Rodriguez-Garcia was driving the van to UWGB to dump the body and he denied that, according to the complaint.
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