Updated 3:00 PM
WATERTOWN (AP) -- A mother of two was strangled and her body dumped along a rural northern New York road, investigators said Thursday.
Jefferson County Medical Examiner Dr. Samuel Livingstone ruled the death of 33-year-old Annette Vazquez a homicide. An autopsy showed she died of asphyxiation caused by strangulation.
Vazquez had been missing since Dec. 8 when her body was found Monday by a motorist in the town of Antwerp, about 25 miles from her home in Watertown.
Watertown detective Lt. Frank Derrigo declined to comment about how Vazquez was strangled, citing the pending investigation. But he said police believe she was killed in Watertown and her body dumped near Antwerp.
Watertown authorities issued a warrant last month charging Ramon Robles-Ruiz, her 29-year-old former boyfriend, with second-degree murder in connection with Vazquez's disappearance.
Robles-Ruiz fled to his native Puerto Rico, where he was arrested Jan. 31 on fraud charges. He remains in Puerto Rico awaiting disposition of those charges and extradition.
Vazquez disappeared after a neighbor heard her arguing with a man. She was last seen leaving her job at McDonald's in Watertown and was reported missing after she failed to pick up her two daughters, ages 12 and 6, at school.
Her family told police Robles-Ruiz had threatened to kill her if she broke off their relationship. She had been planning to move in with her new boyfriend, they said.
Vazquez had divorced in Puerto Rico and moved to Watertown in the summer of 2007 to manage several apartment houses owned by her brother, a soldier at nearby Fort Drum.
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