Woman found stabbed to death in Arizona desert in 1989 is identified

MOHAVE COUNTY, Ariz. (TCD) — A female homicide victim found more than three decades ago was recently identified as a missing woman out of Bakersfield, California.

According to a news release from the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office, on Dec. 12, 1989, the victim’s naked body was found around 50 miles south of Las Vegas on Old Temple Bar Road off White Hills Road. She had reportedly been stabbed multiple times at the scene.

At the time of the discovery, the Sheriff’s Office said authorities were unable to identify the victim, but they did obtain DNA.

This month, the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office Special Investigations Unit was able to use the victim’s fingerprints and they matched to a woman in Bakersfield, California, named Maria Ortiz.

According to the Sheriff’s Office, investigators tracked down a “possible associate” of Ortiz but they reportedly “had no knowledge of anyone named Maria Ortiz.”

That possible relation, however, informed investigators that she had a cousin named Marina Ramos, who had been missing since 1989, and Ramos had two children, ages 2 months and 14 months, who were missing as well.

Using a family member’s DNA, investigators reportedly confirmed that the 1989 cold case victim was Marina Ramos.

The Sheriff’s Office said Marina Ramos was last seen in Bakersfield in August 1989 with her two daughters, Elizabeth and Jasmin Ramos. The victim was allegedly with a man known as “Fernando,” and they were seen driving in a black SUV toward Fernando’s home in Ontario, California.

The Sheriff’s Office has asked for the public’s help with any information regarding the victim’s missing daughters, who would be 34 and 33 years old today, as well as “Fernando.”