In a case that has spanned decades, investigators have finally confirmed that two sisters, missing since infancy, are alive—and attention has now shifted to solving their mother’s long-unsolved homicide.
Back in December 1989, two infant girls were discovered abandoned in a public restroom in Oxnard, California. Just two days earlier, their mother’s body had been found in the Arizona desert. She had been fatally stabbed and left unidentified for decades. The girls, without any way to trace their origins, were placed into foster care and later adopted together by a family in Ventura County, growing up safe under new names while the mystery of their past remained unsolved.
Years later, in 2022, fingerprint analysis linked the unidentified victim to “Maria Ortiz,” an alias that turned out to be Marina Ramos—the girls’ biological mother. Ramos had last been seen traveling with her daughters in 1989. Then, in August 2025, genealogical DNA testing confirmed that two women raised under different identities were, in fact, Ramos’ missing daughters, Elizabeth and Jasmin.
The focus now is on Ramos’ murder. Her body had been left near Old Temple Bar Road in Mohave County, Arizona, about 50 miles south of Las Vegas. Witnesses reported seeing her with two men and her daughters in a black vehicle before her death. A composite sketch of a suspect known only as “Fernando” has circulated, but no arrest has been made.
For investigators, identifying Ramos and finding her daughters are considered major breakthroughs. Still, after 36 years, the most pressing question remains unanswered: who killed Marina Ramos? The Mohave County Sheriff’s Office continues to seek information, urging anyone with knowledge of the case to come forward.
