Maribel Ramos murder trial: Roommate convicted of 2nd-degree murder

SANTA ANA, Calif. (KABC) -- Kwang Choi Joy was found guilty Tuesday of killing his roommate, California State University Fullerton student Maribel Ramos. Joy was convicted of second-degree murder.

Sentencing is scheduled for September 12.

Ramos was found dead in a shallow grave in the Santa Ana Mountains in 2013. She was an Iraq War veteran who was about to graduate.

Prosecutors allege 55-year-old Joy was in love with Ramos, but she didn't feel the same way.

Authorities suspect they got into a fight when he failed to come up with his share of the rent, and she told him he had to leave.

After Ramos disappeared, prosecutors allege Joy lied about her whereabouts. He told Eyewitness News in a May 2013 interview he had nothing to do with her disappearance.

"She's my best friend, actually she's my only friend, only family member I have, so I miss her," he said.