Police say Gabriel Arrazola Perez left a brewery gathering after getting a location pin and never returned home.
ST. PAUL, Minn. — A Minnesota man has been charged with second-degree murder after police say a beloved St. Paul barbershop owner left a party to meet someone who sent him a WhatsApp location and was later found dead on railroad tracks.
Omar Andres Ramos Castro, 24, was arrested June 4 in the death of Gabriel Arrazola Perez, 44. Prosecutors say Perez was stabbed multiple times after leaving a May 24 gathering at a local brewery. His body was found the next day near railroad tracks in St. Paul. Police say phone records, surveillance video and WhatsApp evidence helped connect Ramos Castro to the case.
The investigation began May 25, when a man walking his English bulldog near railroad tracks noticed the dog pulling toward an area where a body was lying. The man called 911 and told police the body had not been there the day before. Officers found a driver’s license and prescription eyeglasses that identified the victim as Perez. Investigators later found Perez’s Subaru Crosstrek about half a mile away.
Family members told police they last saw Perez around 4 p.m. May 24 at a brewery gathering. After he left, relatives said, no one heard from him again. Investigators reviewed phone records and found that Perez called the same number three times after leaving the gathering. Police said the person using that number called Perez back at 6:34 p.m.
Detectives later recovered Perez’s phone with help from a K-9 unit. Police said fingerprints found on the phone did not match Perez. Investigators said the phone showed that a WhatsApp user had sent Perez a pinned location near the area where his body was later found. Surveillance video from the tracks showed Perez and another man walking in the area at about 7:03 p.m., according to court documents.
Police said additional video showed Perez’s body was visible between 8:55 p.m. and 11:12 p.m. after it had not been seen there earlier. Investigators also said cellphone location data placed the number Perez had been contacting at the scene before, during and after the killing. Video from a nearby Speedway convenience store showed a man wearing clothing that matched the person seen with Perez near the tracks.
Investigators identified the man as Ramos Castro and tracked him to an apartment. He was arrested and questioned with help from a translator. Police said he first claimed he had only met Perez once, when Perez offered him work clearing construction debris from his home. Authorities said his account changed after detectives confronted him with phone data and surveillance footage.
According to the criminal complaint, Ramos Castro eventually admitted he had been with Perez near the railroad tracks on May 24. Police said he claimed Perez made unwanted sexual advances toward him and that he became angry. Investigators said Ramos Castro admitted stabbing Perez with a pocketknife, though he claimed he could not remember how many times because he was overwhelmed by anger.
The medical examiner documented several stab wounds to Perez’s back, neck, chest and abdomen, along with defensive wounds. Court records say some wounds fractured vertebrae in his neck and back. Prosecutors charged Ramos Castro with second-degree murder, and he is being held in the Ramsey County Jail on $2.5 million bond.
Perez was known in the Twin Cities as a respected barbershop owner and community member. Friends, customers and relatives described him as hardworking, generous and deeply connected to the people around him. His death has brought grief across the St. Paul community as the murder case moves through court.
The case remains active, with prosecutors expected to present evidence from phone records, surveillance video and witness statements in future court proceedings.