Topline: They were abandoned in a California park days after their mother’s body was discovered in the Arizona desert.
Published: September 26, 2025 8:26 am ET
Must Read
(Photos via Mohave County Sheriff's Office / Facebook)
MOHAVE COUNTY, AZ — In the remote Arizona desert nearly 36 years ago, a woman’s brutal murder left behind more than an unsolved crime—it left behind a mystery of identity, abandonment, and two missing children. That mystery now has some long-awaited answers.
On December 12, 1989, the body of a woman was discovered off Old Temple Bar Road near White Hills Road in Mohave County. She had been stabbed repeatedly, and her body was found nude, discarded in the desert.
According to the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO), no suspects were identified at the time, and the woman was buried as a Jane Doe.
That victim has now been identified as 28-year-old Marina Ramos, thanks to advancements in forensic DNA technology and the persistence of investigators.
Marina Ramos (via Mohave County Sheriff’s Office / Facebook)
According to AZCentral, the breakthrough came in 2022 when MCSO’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) recovered a fingerprint from the original file and submitted it to a national database. The match came back to a “Maria Ortiz,” arrested months earlier in Bakersfield, California, for shoplifting. Investigators would later learn that Ortiz was an alias used by Ramos.
From there, the trail picked up momentum. When MCSO’s Lori Miller, a lead investigator on the case, contacted a relative of Ramos, the woman clarified she didn’t know anyone named Maria Ortiz—but her cousin, Marina Ramos, had vanished in 1989. That was the turning point. Soon after, the SIU confirmed Ramos’ identity, but an even deeper mystery remained: what had happened to her two young daughters, 14-month-old Elizabeth and 2-month-old Jasmin, who had last been seen with her?
Jasmin and Elizabeth Ramos (via Mohave County Sheriff’s Office / Facebook)
By 2023, Miller and her team had started a renewed search for the girls, working alongside Ramos’ extended family, who provided DNA samples for comparison. As reported by KNXV (ABC15), the breakthrough came when Jasmin, now 36 and living under the adopted name Tina, submitted her own DNA to a public genealogy site. That submission triggered a high-probability match in August 2025.
Working backwards through the evidence, Miller found that the girls had been discovered on December 14, 1989—just two days after Ramos’ body was found. They had been abandoned in a women’s restroom at Colonia Park in Oxnard, California, about 400 miles from the Arizona desert where their mother had died. According to the Oxnard Police Department’s original report, a man walking in the park heard crying and asked a woman to check the restroom. There, the two infants were found on a wet bathroom floor, alone and without identification.
Child Protective Services took custody of the girls. They were placed in foster care and eventually adopted together by a couple in Ventura County. Raised as Melissa and Tina, they didn’t learn of their adoption until their teenage years. The truth about their past would only come to light decades later.
Jasmin and Elizabeth Ramos (via Mohave County Sheriff’s Office / Facebook)
“This is what I’ve been searching for and wanting for a very, very long time,” Tina told ABC15, reflecting on the discovery of her birth mother’s identity. “To figure out where I came from and who my family was.”
Melissa, who now lives in Arizona, recalled the moment she was contacted by Miller: “As soon as she said she was a homicide investigator, I had this gut feeling she knew something about my parents. I just ran out of the room and didn’t even know how to process what was being said.”
According to PEOPLE, both women are now married with children of their own. Tina resides in Oregon and has already begun speaking with some of her biological cousins. She hopes to speak soon with Ramos’ sister. Melissa is planning to make her first connection with extended family in person.
Jasmin and Elizabeth Ramos (via Mohave County Sheriff’s Office / Facebook)
The emotional weight of the discovery is still settling in. Tina shared with ABC15 that learning the truth had both comforted and saddened her. “I was sad to know that my mom is gone, and I will never be able to see her,” she said through tears. “But at the same time, I was happy to know she’s not suffering… All those abandonment issues I dealt with when I was a kid were, like, automatically released for me.”
While the daughters of Marina Ramos have been found and her identity restored, the investigation into her murder remains open. Back in 1989, witnesses at Colonia Park reported seeing a Hispanic woman in a red skirt and white boots with two Hispanic men. They were seen exiting a black mini pickup truck near the park. One witness told MCSO that the younger child was wrapped in a yellow blanket. Investigators believe these individuals were likely involved—“directly or indirectly”—in Ramos’ death, according to Miller.
The Mohave County Sheriff’s Office is urging anyone with information to come forward and contact them at 928-753-0753, ext. 4408.
Jasmin and Elizabeth Ramos (via Mohave County Sheriff’s Office / Facebook)
Presumption of Innocence: A presumption of innocence means that any defendant in a criminal trial is presumed to be innocent until they have been proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. The defendant in this case is only accused of the charges set forth in the criminal complaint. They are innocent until proven guilty.
Editor Picks
Latest Articles
Sisters Found Decades After Mother’s 1989 Desert Murder in Arizona
They were abandoned in a California park days after their mother’s body was discovered in the Arizona desert.
By Jacob Charles
Published: September 26, 2025 8:26 am ET
(Photos via Mohave County Sheriff's Office / Facebook)
MOHAVE COUNTY, AZ — In the remote Arizona desert nearly 36 years ago, a woman’s brutal murder left behind more than an unsolved crime—it left behind a mystery of identity, abandonment, and two missing children. That mystery now has some long-awaited answers.
On December 12, 1989, the body of a woman was discovered off Old Temple Bar Road near White Hills Road in Mohave County. She had been stabbed repeatedly, and her body was found nude, discarded in the desert.
According to the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO), no suspects were identified at the time, and the woman was buried as a Jane Doe.
That victim has now been identified as 28-year-old Marina Ramos, thanks to advancements in forensic DNA technology and the persistence of investigators.
Marina Ramos (via Mohave County Sheriff’s Office / Facebook)
According to AZCentral, the breakthrough came in 2022 when MCSO’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) recovered a fingerprint from the original file and submitted it to a national database. The match came back to a “Maria Ortiz,” arrested months earlier in Bakersfield, California, for shoplifting. Investigators would later learn that Ortiz was an alias used by Ramos.
From there, the trail picked up momentum. When MCSO’s Lori Miller, a lead investigator on the case, contacted a relative of Ramos, the woman clarified she didn’t know anyone named Maria Ortiz—but her cousin, Marina Ramos, had vanished in 1989. That was the turning point. Soon after, the SIU confirmed Ramos’ identity, but an even deeper mystery remained: what had happened to her two young daughters, 14-month-old Elizabeth and 2-month-old Jasmin, who had last been seen with her?
Jasmin and Elizabeth Ramos (via Mohave County Sheriff’s Office / Facebook)
By 2023, Miller and her team had started a renewed search for the girls, working alongside Ramos’ extended family, who provided DNA samples for comparison. As reported by KNXV (ABC15), the breakthrough came when Jasmin, now 36 and living under the adopted name Tina, submitted her own DNA to a public genealogy site. That submission triggered a high-probability match in August 2025.
Working backwards through the evidence, Miller found that the girls had been discovered on December 14, 1989—just two days after Ramos’ body was found. They had been abandoned in a women’s restroom at Colonia Park in Oxnard, California, about 400 miles from the Arizona desert where their mother had died. According to the Oxnard Police Department’s original report, a man walking in the park heard crying and asked a woman to check the restroom. There, the two infants were found on a wet bathroom floor, alone and without identification.
Child Protective Services took custody of the girls. They were placed in foster care and eventually adopted together by a couple in Ventura County. Raised as Melissa and Tina, they didn’t learn of their adoption until their teenage years. The truth about their past would only come to light decades later.
Jasmin and Elizabeth Ramos (via Mohave County Sheriff’s Office / Facebook)
“This is what I’ve been searching for and wanting for a very, very long time,” Tina told ABC15, reflecting on the discovery of her birth mother’s identity. “To figure out where I came from and who my family was.”
Melissa, who now lives in Arizona, recalled the moment she was contacted by Miller: “As soon as she said she was a homicide investigator, I had this gut feeling she knew something about my parents. I just ran out of the room and didn’t even know how to process what was being said.”
According to PEOPLE, both women are now married with children of their own. Tina resides in Oregon and has already begun speaking with some of her biological cousins. She hopes to speak soon with Ramos’ sister. Melissa is planning to make her first connection with extended family in person.
Jasmin and Elizabeth Ramos (via Mohave County Sheriff’s Office / Facebook)
The emotional weight of the discovery is still settling in. Tina shared with ABC15 that learning the truth had both comforted and saddened her. “I was sad to know that my mom is gone, and I will never be able to see her,” she said through tears. “But at the same time, I was happy to know she’s not suffering… All those abandonment issues I dealt with when I was a kid were, like, automatically released for me.”
While the daughters of Marina Ramos have been found and her identity restored, the investigation into her murder remains open. Back in 1989, witnesses at Colonia Park reported seeing a Hispanic woman in a red skirt and white boots with two Hispanic men. They were seen exiting a black mini pickup truck near the park. One witness told MCSO that the younger child was wrapped in a yellow blanket. Investigators believe these individuals were likely involved—“directly or indirectly”—in Ramos’ death, according to Miller.
The Mohave County Sheriff’s Office is urging anyone with information to come forward and contact them at 928-753-0753, ext. 4408.
Jasmin and Elizabeth Ramos (via Mohave County Sheriff’s Office / Facebook)
Presumption of Innocence: A presumption of innocence means that any defendant in a criminal trial is presumed to be innocent until they have been proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. The defendant in this case is only accused of the charges set forth in the criminal complaint. They are innocent until proven guilty.
Editor's Note: ThePo makes every effort to accurately transcribe the contents of affidavits of probable cause contained in criminal complaints. Often, the complaints themselves are copies of copies of faxed copies, and are difficult to read. To confirm the accuracy of our transcription, contact the Magisterial District Court listed above and request a copy of the criminal complaint. It's a public record to which you are entitled.
Must Read
Editor Picks
Latest Articles
Sisters Found Decades After Mother’s 1989 Desert Murder in Arizona
They were abandoned in a California park days after their mother’s body was discovered in the Arizona desert.
By Jacob Charles
Published: September 26, 2025 8:26 am ET
(Photos via Mohave County Sheriff's Office / Facebook)
MOHAVE COUNTY, AZ — In the remote Arizona desert nearly 36 years ago, a woman’s brutal murder left behind more than an unsolved crime—it left behind a mystery of identity, abandonment, and two missing children. That mystery now has some long-awaited answers.
On December 12, 1989, the body of a woman was discovered off Old Temple Bar Road near White Hills Road in Mohave County. She had been stabbed repeatedly, and her body was found nude, discarded in the desert.
According to the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO), no suspects were identified at the time, and the woman was buried as a Jane Doe.
That victim has now been identified as 28-year-old Marina Ramos, thanks to advancements in forensic DNA technology and the persistence of investigators.
Marina Ramos (via Mohave County Sheriff’s Office / Facebook)
According to AZCentral, the breakthrough came in 2022 when MCSO’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) recovered a fingerprint from the original file and submitted it to a national database. The match came back to a “Maria Ortiz,” arrested months earlier in Bakersfield, California, for shoplifting. Investigators would later learn that Ortiz was an alias used by Ramos.
From there, the trail picked up momentum. When MCSO’s Lori Miller, a lead investigator on the case, contacted a relative of Ramos, the woman clarified she didn’t know anyone named Maria Ortiz—but her cousin, Marina Ramos, had vanished in 1989. That was the turning point. Soon after, the SIU confirmed Ramos’ identity, but an even deeper mystery remained: what had happened to her two young daughters, 14-month-old Elizabeth and 2-month-old Jasmin, who had last been seen with her?
Jasmin and Elizabeth Ramos (via Mohave County Sheriff’s Office / Facebook)
By 2023, Miller and her team had started a renewed search for the girls, working alongside Ramos’ extended family, who provided DNA samples for comparison. As reported by KNXV (ABC15), the breakthrough came when Jasmin, now 36 and living under the adopted name Tina, submitted her own DNA to a public genealogy site. That submission triggered a high-probability match in August 2025.
Working backwards through the evidence, Miller found that the girls had been discovered on December 14, 1989—just two days after Ramos’ body was found. They had been abandoned in a women’s restroom at Colonia Park in Oxnard, California, about 400 miles from the Arizona desert where their mother had died. According to the Oxnard Police Department’s original report, a man walking in the park heard crying and asked a woman to check the restroom. There, the two infants were found on a wet bathroom floor, alone and without identification.
Child Protective Services took custody of the girls. They were placed in foster care and eventually adopted together by a couple in Ventura County. Raised as Melissa and Tina, they didn’t learn of their adoption until their teenage years. The truth about their past would only come to light decades later.
Jasmin and Elizabeth Ramos (via Mohave County Sheriff’s Office / Facebook)
“This is what I’ve been searching for and wanting for a very, very long time,” Tina told ABC15, reflecting on the discovery of her birth mother’s identity. “To figure out where I came from and who my family was.”
Melissa, who now lives in Arizona, recalled the moment she was contacted by Miller: “As soon as she said she was a homicide investigator, I had this gut feeling she knew something about my parents. I just ran out of the room and didn’t even know how to process what was being said.”
According to PEOPLE, both women are now married with children of their own. Tina resides in Oregon and has already begun speaking with some of her biological cousins. She hopes to speak soon with Ramos’ sister. Melissa is planning to make her first connection with extended family in person.
Jasmin and Elizabeth Ramos (via Mohave County Sheriff’s Office / Facebook)
The emotional weight of the discovery is still settling in. Tina shared with ABC15 that learning the truth had both comforted and saddened her. “I was sad to know that my mom is gone, and I will never be able to see her,” she said through tears. “But at the same time, I was happy to know she’s not suffering… All those abandonment issues I dealt with when I was a kid were, like, automatically released for me.”
While the daughters of Marina Ramos have been found and her identity restored, the investigation into her murder remains open. Back in 1989, witnesses at Colonia Park reported seeing a Hispanic woman in a red skirt and white boots with two Hispanic men. They were seen exiting a black mini pickup truck near the park. One witness told MCSO that the younger child was wrapped in a yellow blanket. Investigators believe these individuals were likely involved—“directly or indirectly”—in Ramos’ death, according to Miller.
The Mohave County Sheriff’s Office is urging anyone with information to come forward and contact them at 928-753-0753, ext. 4408.
Jasmin and Elizabeth Ramos (via Mohave County Sheriff’s Office / Facebook)
Presumption of Innocence: A presumption of innocence means that any defendant in a criminal trial is presumed to be innocent until they have been proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. The defendant in this case is only accused of the charges set forth in the criminal complaint. They are innocent until proven guilty.
Editor's Note: ThePo makes every effort to accurately transcribe the contents of affidavits of probable cause contained in criminal complaints. Often, the complaints themselves are copies of copies of faxed copies, and are difficult to read. To confirm the accuracy of our transcription, contact the Magisterial District Court listed above and request a copy of the criminal complaint. It's a public record to which you are entitled.
Must Read
