The private security guards alleged to have killed him were never prosecuted. The case of Ramirez, whose body was found outside the ZacapaEx plantation in March 2013, reveals just how convoluted security and justice have become in Guatemala, where private guards outnumber police 5-to-1, and the soaring crime rate is married with shocking levels of impunity. Ramirez, a young corn farmer with a pregnant girlfriend and toddler son had set off with his two brothers-in-law that Sunday, a slingshot in his pocket for hunting. Residents get seasonal work in the fields and packing plants, or are hired as guards to patrol the farms against thieves, who take everything from fruit to tires and equipment. Authorities described the suspects as private security guards who worked on the farm, although the men claimed they were only hired to do odd jobs. Later, authorities arrested a fourth man, a guard hired from a private security firm, Gevas, to patrol the melon farm. After Ramirez's death, the family was visited by Osmany Giron, the melon company's director of operations, who offered his condolences. By doing so, according to the document filed in court on April 12, 2013, the couple absolved ZacapaEx and the three suspects of any charges and agreed to drop their court action. A week after charges were dropped, Carranza was patrolling the perimeter of the melon farm when he was shot to death by a man passing by on a motorcycle. Like Ramirez's death, his killing remains unsolved although a representative of the Gevas security company suggested responsibility lies with friends of Ramirez and his brothers-in-law, whom she described as "criminals."