Daughters of Arizona cold-case homicide victim located 36 years later, police say

PHOENIX — The daughters of a woman killed 36 years ago in the Arizona desert in a cold-case homicide were recently located, authorities said.

According to the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office, its Special Investigation Unit (SIU) found Elizabeth and Jasmine Ramos — the daughters of the homicide victim Marina Ramos — in August.

Police said that it was not originally known that Ramos had daughters when she was killed in 1989.

What happened to the cold-case homicide victim?

On Dec. 12, 1989, a female victim was found naked with multiple stab wounds off of White Hills Road, which is around 50 miles south of Las Vegas, near U.S. Route 93 in Mohave County. At the time, police were unable to identify her but entered her DNA profile into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS).

In February 2022, SIU submitted the victim’s fingerprints to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) for the the FBI to examine. A match was found shortly after out of Bakersfield, California, for a woman named Maria Ortiz who had been arrested by the Kern County Sheriff’s Office in June 1989 for shoplifting.

However, when SIU contacted a friend who was listed on residential records with Ortiz, they discovered that Maria Ortiz was an alias for a woman named Marina Ramos who had been missing since 1989. Based on a physical description, police determined that Ramos was the cold-case homicide victim.

In addition, they learned that at the time Ramos went missing, she had her two daughters with her, 2-month-old Jasmine and 14-month-old Elizabeth.

How did SIU locate Ramos’ daughters?

After finding out about the daughters’ existence in 2023, SIU put out press releases, social media posts and used broadcast television to try and locate the girls as well as obtain information regarding the homicide.

According to SIU, family members of Ramos provided DNA samples that were then entered into CODIS and completed commercial DNA test kits to try and find the girls.

On Aug. 27, investigators located a woman who had a high DNA match to the Ramos family members. She was contacted by SIU and investigators learned that Jasmine and Elizabeth has been abandoned in a park restroom in Oxnard, California on Dec. 14, 1989 — two days after Ramos was discovered dead in the desert.

Police contacted the woman’s sister who confirmed the story as well as provided newspaper articles and photos of the incident. The two women gave DNA samples and were confirmed to be Elizabeth and Jasmine Ramos.

Investigators also spoke with the Oxnard Police Department who told them that after being discovered in the bathroom, the girls had been put in the custody of Child Protective Services and entered the foster care system for a significant amount of time before being adopted by a couple in Ventura County.

The homicide investigation continues

The Mohave County Sheriff’s Office is still searching for suspects in Marina Ramos’ murder.

At the time of the fatal incident, a witness in the area told police that she saw a woman and two men with the children at a park. The witness described the men as Hispanic and said the woman was wearing a long red skirt with white boots while carrying the the smaller child in a yellow blanket. One of the men was carrying the older child.

Anyone with information regarding the cold-case homicide is asked to contact the sheriff’s office at 928-753-0753 ext. 4408.

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