Man Accused Of Murdering Sister, Stealing Her Money, Disposing Body

The Missouri State Highway Patrol announced July 17 that it had made an arrest in the case of a woman whose remains were found in Shannon County in January 2022.

Robert C. Bender, 59, Alton, Mo., has been charged with first-degree murder, stealing an abandonment of a corpse.

Bender is accused of killing Debra J. Ramsey, 66, who is his biological sister and was living with him.

Ramsey’s body was found Jan. 12, 2022 by Missouri Department of Transportation workers who were mowing on Highway 60 in Winona.

Winona is around 27 miles north of where Bender and Ramsey were living.

An autopsy found that Ramsey had been killed by multiple gunshot wounds and all 10 fingers removed.

Bender is accused of stealing nearly $50,000 from Ramsey’s account for the last two years.

Based on photographic data, it is believed Ramsey’s body had been dropped off between Christmas 2021 and Jan. 2, 2022.

It also is believed the body may have been frozen prior to that.

Investigators didn’t make a break in the case until April 23, 2024, when they interviewed Ramsey’s daughter. The daughter said she had not spoken with Ramsey for more than a year and half and not been able to despite repeated attempts.

She had not had physical contact with her since December 2014 and occasionally talked to her on the phone.

The daughter said they went to Ramsey’s home on May 25, 2023 to contact her mother. 

Bender was not home. The daughter and two other parties walked around the house and noticed a deep freezer sitting outside next to the woodbine. 

She looked through a window and saw her mother’s bedroom door was boarded up.

Bender arrived later and said, “oh (expletive).” 

Unsolicited, he told the parties the door was boarded up because there was a hole in the floor, even though they didn’t mention they noticed.

Bender would not let them in the house and referred to Ramsey in the past tense.

Bender said Ramsey had moved to Florida with a boyfriend who was retired from the military and would mail a “burner phone” every month.

The daughter did not believe this. Ramsey had lived in Florida 30 years earlier, but was disabled, walked with a cane and did not have any boyfriends.

Bender said the boyfriend would tell him how much money to send to her mother every month. The cash was then mailed to Florida.

The daughter said Ramsey and Bender did not get along and they would frequently threaten to kill each other, but she never knew their arguments to become physical.

A DNA sample from the daughter was sent to a laboratory and returned a 99.9 percent match.

Investigators later contacted Social Security and found that Ramsey had been received more than $1,600 per month in disability income that was being deposited into the Alton Bank.

A form from the Department of Health and Human Services bearing Ramsey’s forged signature stated she no longer needed medical benefits. It was signed on July 31, 2023.

The Alton Bank was subpoenaed and said Ramsey’s account was “significantly less” than it should since she had been deceased since at least the last week of December 2021 or January 2023, indicating someone was using the Social Security funds being deposited into the account each month.

Multiple ATM surveillance videos showed Bender using Ramsey’s debit card to make multiple withdrawals, totaling $49,910.

A search warrant was served at Bender’s home on July 17, with several items being seized, including firearms.

Ramsey’s bedroom contained several large blood stains on the drywall ceiling.

The probable cause statement says that Bender never denied killing Ramsey. He said he could not tell investigators what happened — not because he could not, but because he would not and telling them would not help him.