Coroner: Woman killed in Henderson died of blunt force head trauma

Sitting in the back of a police car, Narciso Manalo Ramos tried to explain why he got so angry at his sister that he hit her with a rock — telling an officer, “You know women,” according to Henderson Police Department arrest documents.

The 72-year-old told the officer his sister, 74-year-old Purificacion Ramos, was “always ‘b———-’” at him since she moved into his Henderson home in October, his arrest report said. So on Friday morning, Narciso Ramos picked up a rock and struck her head “a lot of times,” the report said.

Officers were called about 9:15 a.m. Friday to Ramos’ home on the 600 block of National Street about 9:15 a.m. Friday after the 72-year-old called 911 to report that he was in a fight with his sister and she was “unconscious and bleeding.”

The front door was ajar when police arrived, and Narciso Ramos walked outside and sat in a chair when ordered to, the report said. He was covered in blood.

Just inside the home, officers could see Purificacion Ramos lying face up, “with a large amount of blood surrounding her head,” the report said. Officers determined she was “beyond any help,” and she was pronounced dead at the scene.

She died of blunt force head trauma, and her death was ruled a homicide, the Clark County coroner’s office said Tuesday. Henderson police previously said her age was 75.

Narciso Ramos sat in the back of a police car and voluntarily talked to officers, saying that his sister had been living with him since October, when his wife was placed in hospice care. His wife since had died, and he was prescribed anxiety and depression medications that he stopped taking in January, the report said.

He told officers that on Friday morning, Purificacion “was still ‘b———-’ at him and he got pissed off and hit her with a rock,” the report said. He admitted to striking her multiple times with a “hotdog shaped rock used to crush things.”

He told the officer his sister was always complaining “about different things,” the report said. Then, Narciso Ramos said, “You know women,” the officer wrote in the report.

Narciso Ramos said that “he was not afraid for his life and Purificacion did not make any threats to harm him or anybody else,” the officer wrote, adding that he said that “he was not trying to kill her but he was just mad at her and wanted to hit her.”

“He said he is hopeless and does not have any more hope since his wife died,” the report said.

Narciso Ramos was charged with murder with a deadly weapon, court records show. He remained in the Henderson Detention Center on Tuesday without bail.

Standing outside his home on Tuesday afternoon less than a mile from Henderson City Hall, 65-year-old Douglas Debelak said he never thought that his friend and neighbor was capable of the beating outlined in the report.

“I couldn’t even see him swat a fly,” Debelak said, describing the 72-year-old as a “good, friendly neighbor” who kept to himself and went by the nickname “Bob.”

He said Narciso Ramos lived in the neighborhood for about 15 years, and he stuck around after retiring from the Wells Enterprises-Henderson Ice Cream Plant about seven years ago.

Debelak said he would occasionally visit his friend for dinner, and met Purificacion Ramos a handful of times since she moved in. Debelak said that after Narciso Ramo’s wife died in November, he knew the man was having a hard time dealing with the prospect of moving away.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.