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 resident has been charged with the murder of a woman whose remains were discovered after she went missing on a walk, with DNA evidence allegedly linking him to the crime.
Stacey Dramiga, a 63-year-old health care professional, wife, and mother, embarked on a walk on the morning of September 22, 2024, but tragically did not return home. Her lifeless body was uncovered the following day, leaving her case unsolved for over a year.
In a recent development, the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office shared on Wednesday that they have identified the suspect in Dramiga’s murder following a DNA match. The suspect, 23-year-old Samuel Aquim Charon, is currently detained at the Bexar County Adult Detention Center.
At a Wednesday press briefing, Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar revisited the details of this year-old investigation. He explained that Dramiga’s family became worried approximately 12 hours after she was last seen, as she failed to return from her usual Sunday walk, which typically lasted several hours but had extended longer than usual that day.
Multiple law enforcement agencies assisted in the search for Dramiga. Her body was ultimately discovered on the morning of September 23, 2024. According to Salazar, she had suffered “blunt, penetrating trauma to the head,” had been “sexually assaulted,” and her body was “partially burned.”
Detectives managed to obtain a DNA sample from her remains and a rock that authorities suspect was used as the 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.
