LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The victim of a 1989 cold case murder has been identified, but now investigators want to find who killed her and what became of her missing children.
A woman’s naked body was found on Dec. 12, 1989, on Old Temple Bar Road in Mohave County, Arizona, about 50 miles east of Las Vegas. The Mohave County Sheriff’s office said it appeared she had been stabbed several times and died at the scene. Although attempts to identify her were unsuccessful, detectives did obtain a DNA profile.
In Feb. 2022, investigators obtained the woman’s fingerprints and submitted them to NamUs where the FBI matched them to a woman named Maria Ortiz in Bakersfield, California.
During the follow-up investigation and contact with a family member who matched the DNA from 1989, it was learned the woman’s actual name was Marina Ramos and she went missing in 1989 along with her two daughters, 2-month-old Jasmin Maria Ramos and 14-month-old Elizabeth Lisa Ramos.
She was last seen in Bakersfield in August 1989 with her daughters and a Hispanic man, only known as Fernando. The four were seen driving away in a black SUV headed for Ontario, California where Fernando supposedly lived.
The Mohave County Sheriff’s office is hoping someone can help identify the man known as Fernando. They are also seeking any information about her daughters, who would now be 34 and 33 years old.
Anyone with information is urged to contact the sheriff’s office at (928) 753-0753 ext. 4408.