Arizona cold case: A woman's remains ID'd, but police still seek her missing kids and person of interest
PHOENIX – Authorities are seeking a man in connection with a woman who was found dead in 1989 in Mohave County, Arizona and whose kids remain missing.
DNA analysis has identified then-28-year-old Marina Ramos, of Bakersfield, Calif., as the woman found slain on Dec. 12, 1989, on a road by the Arizona-Nevada border, the Mohave County Sheriff's Office said. A victim of multiple stab wounds, the unclothed woman appeared to have been killed at the site where her remains were recovered about 50 miles south of Las Vegas, the sheriff's office said.
The agency noted that since Ramos' August 1989 disappearance, her two daughters, Elizabeth Lisa Ramos, then 14 months and now possibly 34 years old, and Jasmin Maria Ramos, then 2 months and now possibly 33, have also been missing.
Confirming the status of Ramos' daughters contributed to the urgency in resolving this case, Lori Miller, an investigator with the Mohave County Sheriff's Office, told The Arizona Republic, part of the USA TODAY Network, in an interview on Tuesday.
"The family would like to know what happened to those two little girls," Miller said. "The hope is that they were just raised by somebody else, that they are still alive and thriving somewhere."
Ramos was last known to be with a man known only as Fernando, and she and her daughters were seen driving with him in a black SUV headed to his Ontario, Calif., home, the sheriff's office said.
The agency on Tuesday released a sketch of the man.
Miller said the nature of the relationship between Ramos and Fernando is not known, adding the man was potentially between his late 30s to mid-40s at the time he was seen with the victim.
There remains the possibility Ramos was sexually assaulted before her killing, and investigators are examining evidence for DNA from someone other than her, Miller said.
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Detectives at the time were unable to identify the woman, but a DNA profile was matched to a relative of Ramos this past December, the Sheriff's Office said. The victim's fingerprints were run through the federal NamUs missing persons database in February 2022 and matched to a Maria Ortiz of Bakersfield, the agency said.
Police there linked investigators with someone who possibly knew Ortiz, with this person saying they did not know someone with that name, but named Ramos as a cousin missing since 1989, the sheriff's office said.
Another family member of Ramos gave sheriff's investigators a DNA sample leading to her in December being positively matched as the fatal stabbing victim, the agency said.
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The database's fingerprints came from a shoplifting arrest, Miller said. The sketch of the man known as Fernando was made through information from a relative caring for Ramos' daughters while she was jailed, Miller added.
According to a Dec. 14, 1989, article in The Republic, Ramos' then unidentified remains were the fourth homicide victim found in Mohave County in as many months with two others found earlier in the year. A sheriff's official at the time said the discovery added to the reputation the county had of being a "dumping ground" for homicide victims.
Ramos' body was found by four tourists before noon and less than 24 hours after her death, investigators said, according to The Republic's reporting at the time.
Anyone with information regarding this case, or the possible identities of those involved, is asked to call the Sheriff’s Office at 928-753-0753, ext. 4408.
Reach breaking news reporter Jose R. Gonzalez at jose.gonzalez@gannett.com or on Twitter @jrgzztx.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: California woman slain in 1989 ID'd as mother of missing girls: police
