1982 California Murder Suspect Arrested and Charged

Hawai’i man Gary Ramirez, 75, was arrested on August 2 in connection with the 1982 murder of 15-year-old Karen Stitt in Sunnyvale, California.

Stitt was last seen on September 2, 1982, by her boyfriend as she and her boyfriend parted ways near a bus stop in Sunnyvale, planning on going home to Palo Alto.

Sitt’s nude body was found behind a blood-stained cinderblock the next day, per a press release from the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office. Police and forensics teams would determine that Stitt was raped and then stabbed 59 times.

Despite years of investigation, the case remained cold for 40 years. Although her boyfriend was long considered a suspect, he was cleared due to the advancements in DNA technology.

In 2019, police received a tip that one of four brothers from Fresno could have been the killer. Ramirez was raised in Fresno and served in the U.S. Air Force. In late April 2022, police established a link between Ramirez and bodily fluid left at the scene.

Ramirez was arrested at his home in Makawao on the island of Maui on August 2. Once he is extradited to California, he will be arraigned on charges of murder, kidnapping, and rape.