Background: Footage of Samuel Aquim Charon, in gray T-shirt, after his arrest (Bexar County Sheriff”s Office). Inset: Stacey Dramiga (Bexar County Sheriff’s Office).
A Texas man whose DNA was allegedly found on the body of a woman who was found dead after she went for a walk has been charged with her murder.
Stacey Dramiga, 63, was a health care worker, wife, and mother who went for a walk on the morning of Sept. 22, 2024, and never came home. The next day, her body was found, and for just over a year, her case went unsolved.
On Wednesday, the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office announced that they had identified a suspect in Dramiga’s slaying after a DNA match was made. That suspect is 23-year-old Samuel Aquim Charon, who is now in custody at the Bexar County Adult Detention Center.
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During a press conference on Wednesday, Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar recapped the details of the year-old case, stating that Dramiga was missing for about 12 hours before her family became concerned that she had not returned from her walk. She had been known to take lengthy walks on Sundays and be out for several hours, but she had been gone longer than usual.
Several police departments participated in the search efforts for Dramiga, whose body was found the morning of Sept. 23, 2024. Salazar stated that Dramiga had died from “blunt, penetrating trauma to the head” and had been “sexually assaulted.” Her body was also “partially burned.”
Investigators were able to collect a DNA sample from her body as well as a rock that police believe was the alleged murder weapon.
After the discovery of Dramiga’s body, arrests were made, but cases were not. But Salazar said “just a few days ago, on Oct. 13, we got a call that broke this case wide open for us.”
On April 9, Charon was arrested in Bexar County on a charge of criminal mischief. A state law that went into effect in Texas a few years ago allowed authorities to collect DNA from everyone booked into jail. Charon’s DNA was collected and added to CODIS, the nationwide DNA database that is maintained by the FBI.
Salazar said that Charon’s DNA was a possible match to the DNA found in connection with the Dramiga homicide. He stated that his department needed to get another sample from Charon, and they were able to obtain a search warrant to go to Charon’s home and obtain more of his DNA. Charon was also questioned by police, but Salazar said, “That conversation didn’t really yield much at all.”
When the medical examiner confirmed that Charon’s DNA was allegedly a match for the DNA found at the Dramiga crime scene, Salazar was ready to make the arrest. Charon was taken into custody on Wednesday and charged with capital murder and tampering with a corpse.
After Charon was escorted back into custody with the press waiting for him outside, Salazar told the gathered reporters, “That man y’all just met out there is a monster.”
Charon is being held on $1.25 million bond. His next court date is scheduled for Jan. 13, 2026.
