Karen Stitt cold case: Hawaii man arrested for 1982 murder of teen who was raped and stabbed 59 times
SUNNYVALE, CALIFORNIA: A suspect has been detained by the police in connection to the grisly murder of a high school sophomore who was stabbed 59 times and raped on her way home. In the early morning hours of September 3, 1982, 15-year-old Karen Stitt disappeared while she was waiting for a bus in Sunnyvale, California. Gary Ramirez, 75, has been arrested by the police in Maui, Hawaii, after they claimed that his DNA matched the blood from the teen's leather jacket.
Prior to Stitt's disappearance before making her way home, she had been playing 7-Eleven video games with her boyfriend. Her bound and beaten body was found roughly 100 yards from the bus stop the following morning by a delivery truck driver. The truck driver told local reporters the murder was “very violent." Investigators from Santa Clara County were able to connect Ramirez by using DNA technology linked to family tree genealogy.
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Police said that Ramirez worked as a bug exterminator and had no criminal record. His older brother, Rudy Ramirez, who also lives in Maui said that does not believe that Ramirez is capable of committing such a horrific act. “I’ve never seen him violent or get angry ever,” Ramirez’s brother told The Sun. “He wouldn’t hurt a fly.” Ramirez reportedly has a bad hip and appeared to be so stunned from his arrest that he could say little more than, “Oh my gosh," according to Sunnyvale police Detective Matt Hutchison.
Hutchinson teamed up with a genealogist who narrowed the DNA down to four brothers three years ago. He collected a DNA sample from one of Gary Ramirez’s children, which showed a high probability that the suspect was their father, he said. The authorities then issued a search warrant to swab Ramirez's mouth for a DNA sample which was ultimately found to be positive with the DNA found at the crime scene.
Hutchinson opened up his laptop and clicked on the photo of Karen. “I wanted to scream, but I can’t because I didn’t want to wake up the hotel,” Hutchinson said when he opened the email with the DNA match. “So I just took a moment to reflect.” “I took a quick glance at her photo,” he said, “and I just told her, ‘We did it.’”
The operation to arrest Ramirez took “months of planning and was a coordinated effort” between Santa Clara County, Maui law enforcement and federal authorities, the district attorney’s office said. Ramirez will next appear in court tomorrow, October 28 when he is expected to enter a plea. He now faces charges of rape, murder and kidnapping.