A Whitfield County grand jury has indicted Fred Edward Sherman Jr. of Dalton for the August death of Luz Divina Ramirez.
Ramirez was found dead after the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office was asked to conduct a welfare check on a woman lying under a bridge on Willowdale Road at the Crow Valley Road intersection.
Sherman was indicted for malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, aggravated battery, kidnapping, armed robbery, robbery by force and concealing the death of another.
Sherman is scheduled to be arraigned in Whitfield County Superior Court on Jan. 13, 2025, before Judge Cindy Morris. He is represented by a public defender.
The indictment said Sherman caused the death of Ramirez by “striking her head with a concrete block.” It said Sherman held Ramirez “against her will” and took “her belongings.” It said he then covered her body with a comforter.
Ramirez, 50, was homeless and legally blind, according to her daughter Belinda Harrison.
“She had a great sense of humor which many people have highlighted when speaking to me about her,” said Harrison in an interview after her mother’s death. “She didn’t live under the bridge, that was a place she frequented to panhandle for money because her disability check did not cover the cost of a motel for an entire month, much less give her enough to even begin to feed herself.”
Robert Hill, founder and president of Dalton’s Greater Works, recalled Ramirez as “very kind, very nice. She was quiet and tended to keep to herself when she came in here.”
Dalton’s Greater Works provides services to homeless people and indigent people in the community, including through a food pantry and a clothing “store” where those in need can get clothing.