PEOPLE July 29, 2019 51deceased at 6:19 a.m.”
Hours later police arrestedAmanda, charging her with one
count of aggravated manslaugh-
ter. At press time she had not yet
entered a plea. “It is important to
remember that, like anyone else
charged with a crime, Ms. Ramirez
is presumed innocent,” Jennifer Sel-
litti, a spokesperson for Camden’s
office of the public defender, which
is representing Amanda, said in a
statement.
For their part, friends and family of the sisterssay they remain in shock. At a June 27 hearing,
where Amanda was ordered to be held in jail
without bail, they watched her sob at the defense
table as she listened to the proceedings. “My
daughter that’s in jail, she’s not a monster,” says
Class, the twins’ heartbroken mom. Class says
when she made eye contact with Amanda, “I told
her that I love her.” Afterward family members
filed out and prepared to attend the wake for
Anna, who was buried the following day. “They
loved each other,” Class says through tears. “We
don’t know what happened that night.”
While police have yet to reveal a possible motive for
the stabbing, due to the ongoing investigation,
they say the alcohol-fueled evening led to an
explosive, physical altercation between the sis-
ters. When police first arrived on the scene, they
say, Amanda told them she had seen Anna walking
down a street looking disheveled, so she picked
her up and drove her home, where she collapsed,
per police reports. Later she revised that story,
saying that she had arrived at her apartment to
find Anna bleeding on her front step. But when
investigators questioned Amanda about dried
blood in her ear and fresh scratches on
her cheeks, she allegedly admitted to
having an argument with her sister
and said that “she and her sister
exchanged multiple blows,” a police
report states.
Amanda allegedly then told policethat Anna came at her with a knife,
and she stabbed her sister as they
struggled. Though the reason the
sisters were fighting has not been
revealed by police, some news outlets have
reported that Anna and Amanda were involved
in a love triangle, fighting over the same man.
But those reports have not been substantiated,
and Class says she doesn’t believe them as each
twin had her own boyfriend. But she also can-
not fathom what might have caused the sisters
to fight. Anna, a certified nursing assistant, and
Amanda, a home health aide, supported each
other in their careers and hoped to eventually
become registered nurses together, Class says.
As single moms—Anna had three daughters and
Amanda has one—they also helped each other
raise their kids. “They were at each other’s sides
when they gave birth,” says Class. “They took
the kids out together, they
drove each other to work. I
never noticed any difference
in them. They were a team.”As she waits for answers, Class
is also now tasked with raising
her four young granddaugh-
ters, with help from extended
family, who she says are sup-
portive “because they know
Anna and Amanda loved each
other.” But even if she eventu-
ally learns what happened that
night, she says she knows she
will never find peace. “When
you lose a child, you don’t
sleep,” she says. “You just wish
this was a nightmare and you
could wake up and see them
walk in the door like they
always would.” •‘ALWAYS
CLOSE’
“I bought two of
everything,” says
Ivelisse Class of
the girls (top, as
toddlers and
right). “They were
always close.”FINAL PHOTO
Anna Ramirez
(bottom) posted
this picture with
Amanda (top)
to her Facebook
page June 22,
hours before the
night turned
deadly.