SIU COLD CASE INVESTIGATION
Mohave County Sheriff’s Office Special Investigations Unit (SIU) is looking for information from the public on a cold-case homicide from 1989.
On December 12, 1989, the female homicide victim was located on the Old Temple Bar Road off of White Hills Road in Mohave County, approximately 50 miles south of Las Vegas, Nevada. The victim was wearing no clothing and was observed to have been stabbed multiple times. It appeared that the victim had been killed at the scene where she was located. Any and all attempts to identify her or the suspects involved in her homicide proved unsuccessful at that time. However, detectives were able to obtain a DNA profile from the victim.
In February 2022, MCSO's SIU team obtained the victim’s fingerprints from the investigative case file and submitted them to NamUs for examination by the FBI. The next day, SIU was notified that the prints were a match for Maria Ortiz out of Bakersfield, California.
Follow-up was conducted with the Bakersfield Police Department, which led them to a possible associate of Maria Ortiz. Telephone contact was made with the associate, revealing that they had no knowledge of anyone named Maria Ortiz. The associate did indicate that they had a cousin, identified as Marina Ramos, who had been missing since 1989. Additionally, Marina’s two daughters, ages 2 months and 14 months at the time, had also been missing since that time.
SIU investigators contacted another family member of the victim, who agreed to give a DNA sample for familial comparison. In December 2022, SIU was notified that the victim and the relative matched DNA family lines, thus verifying her identity as Marina Ramos (DOB 4-19-1961).
Marina Ramos was last seen in August 1989 in Bakersfield, California, with her daughters Elizabeth Lisa Ramos (DOB 6-23-1988) and Jasmin Maria Ramos (DOB 6-15-1989). She was last known to be with a Hispanic male, known only as “Fernando”. The four were seen driving away in his black SUV, headed for Ontario, California, where “Fernando” lived.
MCSO is seeking any and all information regarding this incident. Attached is a composite sketch of “Fernando”, who MCSO is looking to identify. The two missing daughters, Elizabeth Ramos and Jasmin Ramos, would now be 34 and 33 years old. Anyone with information regarding this incident, or the possible identities of those involved, are encouraged to contact the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office at 928-753-0753 ext. 4408.
