Latest news with #KarenStitt
Daily Mail
14-05-2025
- Daily Mail
Hawaii cold case killer is handed ultimate sentence for murdering teen girl in 1982
A Hawaiian man has been sentenced to life in prison more than 40 years after he brutally murdered a teenage girl. Gary Ramirez, 78, will not be eligible for parole until he is 103 years old after he pleaded no contest to the 1982 murder of 15-year-old Karen Stitt. The Palo Alto teenager had been sexually assaulted and stabbed 59 times, with her brutally battered body dumped behind a cinderblock wall in town. Stitt's boyfriend had last seen her about midnight September 2, walking toward a bus stop in Sunnyvale, planning to return home to Palo Alto. He ran home after watching her approach the bus stop, because he was out after his curfew and feared his parents would ground him for being home late. Her body was found 100 yards from the bus stop the next morning. They killer's blood and bodily fluid were found on her body. Between Stitt's death in 1982 and the identification of Ramirez as her likely killer, a host of detectives worked tirelessly trying to investigate the tragic crime. In 2019, Sunnyvale Detective Matt Hutchison received a tip tracing her killer to a family of four brothers in Fresno. By April 2022, Ramirez had been identified as the likely killer and his DNA had been traced to that left behind at the crime scene. The 78-year-old Hawaiian man living in Maui was arrested at his home and charged with murder, kidnapping and rape. Hutchison said when he arrested Ramirez, the man was so shocked he could barely say more than just 'Oh my gosh.' Ramirez grew up in Fresno and frequently visited or lived in different areas along the west coast, including the Bay Area, San Diego, Colorado and Hawaii. Ramirez, a former bug exterminator, had no previous criminal record according to police. 'Over 40 years ago, Karen Stitt lost her life, but she was not forgotten,' District Attorney Jeff Rosen said.
CBS News
13-05-2025
- CBS News
Man sentenced to life in 1982 cold case murder of Palo Alto teen Karen Stitt
The man who was convicted in the 1982 cold case murder of 15-year-old Karen Stitt will spend the rest of his life in prison, prosecutors in Santa Clara County said. District Attorney Jeff Rosen's office announced that 78-year-old Gary Ramirez was sentenced Monday to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 25 years. Prosecutors said many of Stitt's family and friends attended the sentencing hearing. Ramirez pled no contest to Stitt's murder on Feb. 24. He was arrested on the island of Maui in Hawaii in 2022, where he had been living at the time. Gary Gene Ramirez August 2022 booking photo, how he appeared approximately 40 years ago. Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety "Over 40 years ago, Karen Stitt lost her life, but she was not forgotten," Rosen said in a statement. "Today, thanks to a dedicated detective, a persistent prosecutor, and our Crime Lab, the person responsible is behind bars." Stitt was a student at Palo Alto High School and had recently moved to the South Bay from Pittsburgh. On Sep. 2, 1982, Stitt had taken a bus from Palo Alto to Sunnyvale to visit her boyfriend. Around midnight, Stitt was waiting for a bus home near El Camino Real and Wolfe Road. The next morning, her body was found about 100 yards away from the bus stop. Karen Stitt, a 15-year-old student at Palo Alto High School, was found murdered in Sunnyvale in Sep. 1982. Gary Ramirez was convicted of Stitt's murder in 2025 and was sentenced to life in prison. Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office Prosecutors said Stitt had been sexually assaulted and stabbed more than 50 times. Despite investigating all potential leads, the case went cold for decades. In 2019, detective Matt Hutchison of the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety used a tip to determine that Stitt's killer was likely one of four brothers from Fresno, prosecutors said. In April 2022, the DA's office said Ramirez was identified as the likely source of blood and bodily fluid left at the crime scene. The DA's crime lab confirmed the identification. "I believe we have a responsibility to these victims no matter how old the case is," Hutchison said following Ramirez's arrest.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Yahoo
Man, 78, sentenced in vicious 1982 rape, stabbing death of California teen
In 1982, 15-year-old Karen Stitt's naked body was discarded near a bus stop in Sunnyvale after she was brutally raped and stabbed and finally, more than 40 years later, her killer has been sentenced. The Palo Alto teen had spent the evening with her 17-year-old boyfriend, who, after a night of walking around together, left her at the bus stop around midnight so she could get back home, and he wouldn't miss his curfew. A truck driver spotted Stitt's body, bloody and tied up, in the bushes near a bloodstained cinder-block wall just before 11 a.m. the following day, officials with the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office said in a news release. She had been sexually assaulted and stabbed more than 50 times in the neck, stomach, chest and back, and despite the killer leaving both his blood and semen on the teen's body, police were unable to implicate anyone in the gruesome murder and the case went cold. In the years that followed, investigators used DNA technology to create a profile from the bloodstain found on the wall and the bodily fluids on Stitt that exonerated her boyfriend, but did not match anyone else in the national DNA crime database, the L.A. Times reported. In 2019, Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety Detective Matt Hutchinson used a tip that the teen's killer was likely one of four brothers from Fresno and launched a genealogical investigation to find a family member that matched DNA from the crime scene. Some three years later, in April 2022, Gary Ramirez, now 78, a resident of Maui, was identified as the suspect after his daughter provided a DNA sample to investigators. Arrests made in 'sextortion' scam tied to California teen's suicide Four months later, he was arrested at his Maui home, extradited to Santa Clara County and charged with murder, rape, kidnapping and being armed with a deadly weapon in the commission of a felony. In February, the 78-year-old pleaded no contest to the 1982 slaying and on May 12 was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 25 years. 'Over 40 years ago, Karen Stitt lost her life, but she was not forgotten,' District Attorney Jeff Rosen said. 'Today, thanks to a dedicated detective, a persistent prosecutor, and our Crime Lab, the person responsible is behind bars.' Several of Karen Stitt's friends and family reportedly attended Monday's sentencing, where they were able to share the pain that the long-unresolved case continues to cause. 'Justice is a difficult thing,' Robin Morris, Stitt's aunt, said in an interview, according to The Times. 'He's lived his entire life, and my niece didn't get that privilege.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Yahoo
Man convicted of murdering 15-year-old Palo Alto girl
(KRON) — A Hawaiian man was convicted Monday of brutally murdering a 15-year-old Palo Alto girl, Karen Stitt, prosecutors said. Stitt was sexually assaulted and stabbed 59 times near a Sunnyvale bus stop in 1982. Her killer remained at large for decades. On Monday, Gary Ramirez pleaded no contest to the 1982 slaying. Ramirez, 78, of Maui, will face a life prison sentence when he is sentenced on May 12 in Santa Clara County Superior court. District Attorney Jeff Rosen said, 'Karen Stitt would have been 57 years old today. Today I am thinking of a young woman whose life and future were torn from her.' Stitt was last seen alive on the night of September 2, 1982 walking toward a bus stop. Her teenaged boyfriend walked her to the area of El Camino Real and Wolfe Road because she was going to catch a bus in Sunnyvale back to her home in Palo Alto. 'Her boyfriend, worried he would get grounded for being out after his curfew, ran home after watching Ms. Stitt walk toward the bus stop,' prosecutors wrote. The next morning, the girl's naked body was found hidden behind a blood-stained cinderblock wall. She had been sexually assaulted and stabbed dozens of times. Her lifeless body was found just 100 yards from the bus stop. 'The killer left both his blood and bodily fluid on Ms. Stitt,' prosecutors wrote. Rosen said that from 1982 until 2022, a continuous line of detectives at Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety put their 'heart and soul' into investigating the case. Beginning in 2019, SDPS Detective Matt Hutchison used a tip to determine that Stitt's killer was likely one of four brothers from Fresno. In 2022, Ramirez was identified as the likely source of blood and bodily fluid left at the crime scene. The Santa Clara County DA's Crime Lab confirmed the identification. Rosen said, 'Her murder was solved by forensic science, a remarkably stubborn detective, and a determined prosecutor. May their efforts serve as our memorial to this innocent teen and as a message from all of us in law enforcement to our community: We don't give up. Ever.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
