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SALT LAKE CITY — Two people suspected of being involved in the 2009 shooting death of Cesar Ramirez on I-15 were arrested Wednesday.
Ramirez, 18, was shot in rush-hour traffic near 2100 South on I-15 on Jan. 9, 2009, and died several days later of his injuries. Investigators believe the shooting was gang-related, and say it escalated from an altercation between two rival gangs.
Nicholas Dean MacNeil, 32, and Aaron J. Paul Campbell, 33, were both arrested Wednesday and booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of murder, more than 14 years after the shooting. Both men are associated with the Nortenos gang and have a history of violent criminal activity, according to investigators.
In a 2019 statement, the Utah Department of Public Safety said Ramirez and his brother were riding inside a Jeep Grand Cherokee, and were in an ongoing argument with Matthew Day and two others, who were inside a Nissan Maxima.
Day — who was driving the Maxima — identified his passengers as Campbell and MacNeil, according to a police booking affidavit. He said the occupants of the Jeep made gang signs and Ramirez’s brother threw a bottle at the Maxima. Day asked the passengers "if they wanted to get them, or if he should drive away," and they "both said that they should get them."
The Maxima then began to follow the Jeep and pulled up next to them while traveling south on I-15. Campbell had a .40 caliber pistol and MacNeil had a .410 shotgun, and they both fired at the Jeep, the affidavit alleges.
Day told investigators he saw Ramirez hunch over as if he had been hit and slowly veer off the freeway into the hazard lane.
The medical examiner recovered a .40 caliber bullet, and ruled Ramirez’s death a homicide.
In addition to the eyewitness accounts, investigators said multiple witnesses who were not named in the arrest report said they heard both men admit to and brag about the 2009 killing.
Day was later convicted of manslaughter, but in 2019 a $5,000 reward was issued for information leading to the arrest of the two remaining suspects.
Officers have requested that MacNeil and Campbell be held without bail, because they believe the suspects might retaliate against or try to tamper with the witnesses.
It’s unclear when investigators learned the identities of the suspects, or why it took so long to bring them into custody. Both were released from federal custody in July 2022, according to the affidavit.
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