Migrant charged in Gilgo Beach throat slashing, fueling serial killer copycat fears

New York prosecutors have charged an illegal immigrant from Venezuela with attempted murder in a throat-slashing attempt that experts warn could be a potential copycat attempt ahead of an expected guilty plea from the suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer.

"This defendant allegedly drove a man that he knew to a remote beach and attacked him from behind with a knife," Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said in a statement. "The evidence recovered from his vehicle raises serious questions about what he intended that night."

Ruben Guanipa Ramirez, 26, is accused of smothering an unidentified male victim's mouth with a rag before stabbing him from behind on the left side and attempting to slash his throat.

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Police later searched Ramirez's car, a 2024 Lexus NX250, and allegedly found multiple knives, rope, duct tape, blankets, plastic drop cloths, a "large-wheeled bag," gloves and a box cutter.

Ramirez entered the country in 2014 with a B2 tourist visa, non-immigrant visas granted for six months, and he never left. For several years, he benefited from temporary protected status for Venezuelans, but that expired, too, last year.

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He is being held at the Suffolk County Jail in Riverhead - the same facility housing Gilgo Beach suspect Rex Heuermann, 62.

While authorities have not publicly spoken of any connection between the crimes, observers like retired NYPD sergeant Joseph Giacalone, former head of the NYPD's Bronx Cold Case Unit, see alarming similarities.

"Was this a copycat crime... related to what is happening with Rex Heuermann in the news?" said Giacalone, who has been following the Gilgo case for years.

"They need to take a long hard look at this guy."

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He said the items recovered from Ramirez's car were particularly concerning, noting Heuermann's alleged victims were found bound with duct tape and wrapped in burlap or plastic.

Some were dismembered.

Prior to the attack in the Gilgo Beach parking lot, Ramirez allegedly drove the victim to a pool hall in Nassau County and then Jones Beach, another waterfront nearby - where Heuermann once worked on the summer beach patrol.

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"During the altercation, the victim sustained defensive wounds to his hands but was able to wrestle the knife away from Ramirez," Tierney's office said in a statement.

The victim managed to seize control of Ramirez's car, call 911 and drive himself to a friend's apartment in Queens, where the NYPD met up with him and he received medical treatment.

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State police found Ramirez walking along the Long Island Expressway hours later.

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That's more than 20 miles from where prosecutors said the victim escaped from him on the side of Ocean Parkway - the remote waterfront highway made infamous after police found 11 bodies just east of Gilgo Beach in 2010 and 2011.

Ramirez is being held on $200,000 cash bail, $500,000 bond or $2 million partially secured bond.

He's due back in court on April 29 and faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted of the most serious charge of attempted murder.