On a quiet night on Tybee Island, Georgia, the life of 60-year-old Bera Elaine Ribel came to a tragic end. On January 1, 2015, she was found deceased in her residence on Estill Hammock Road. A concerned family member had been unable to reach her and asked neighbors to check on her welfare. It was these neighbors who alerted the authorities to the grim discovery around 10:20 p.m.
Inside the home, police found Ms. Ribel alongside 48-year-old Ramon Anthony Mooney of Rincon.
Both had sustained fatal gunshot wounds in what investigators from the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department have described as a murder-suicide. It was determined that Ms. Ribel and Mooney had been in a relationship that had recently ended.
Further investigation into Mooney's background revealed a violent criminal history. He was a registered sex offender, having been convicted of aggravated sexual battery in 2011. Years prior, in 2003, he was arrested and charged with kidnapping and criminal sexual conduct after he abducted his then-wife at knifepoint, raped her, and threatened her life. While police did not explicitly state that Mooney was the perpetrator in the murder-suicide, the ongoing investigation pointed toward that conclusion. There has been no information released to suggest any other suspects or arrests in connection with the deaths of Bera Elaine Ribel and Ramon Anthony Mooney.
