(SIOUX CITY, IA) Thursday marks the two-year anniversary of the death of 6-year-old Manuel Ramirez. He died in his Sioux City home on the evening of March 7th, 2011. That night, police received a call for a possible drowning but later autopsy results classified the cause of death as consistent with asphyxia. Police are still investigating his death as a murder but no one's been arrested. A Siouxland News investigation into his death late last year uncovered at least three reports made to DHS on Manuel's behalf but those reports came back unfounded.
We also shared that Manuel had been buried at Calvary Cemetery with no headstone to mark his grave. A number of viewers reached out to us after that story aired, interested in doing what they could to help. A bank account set up to raise money for a headstone collected $731. People also left toys and gifts at the site of Manuel's grave over the holidays. Now, a bronze marker is ready to be installed.
"You see a lot of bad news, this is, everybody pulls together for this child, it's nice to see everybody work together to recognize him," says Walt Peterson, Calvary Cemetery Sextant.
The marker will be put in sometime this spring once the ground thaws.
