Two sisters identified in decades-old Mohave park case; their mother was murdered in 1989

Elizabeth and Jasmin Ramos, two sisters found as infants after being dumped in a Mohave County park in 1989, have been identified, ending a decades-long mystery about their origins. Investigators say their mother, Marina Ramos, 28, was murdered in the same incident, and the case remains unsolved.

At the time of their discovery, Ramos's nude body was found on the morning of December 12, 1989, stabbed multiple times and left in a remote stretch of scrub. The two babies were located alive two days later in a park restroom and were placed into foster care. They were later adopted in California as Melissa and Tina, raising questions about their true lineage that would take decades to answer.

In February 2022, DNA from Ramos's body entered into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) and matched a Bakersfield, California woman named Maria Ortiz, who had been arrested for shoplifting six months before her death. Investigators traced Ortiz’s associates and roommates, who recalled a missing person named Maria Ortiz. A cousin provided a description that matched Ortiz, and investigators determined that Marina Ramos had used the Maria Ortiz alias at the time of her death. The discovery linked the victim to Marina Ramos and spurred renewed efforts to locate the two sisters, who had been lost in the foster system for years.

Over the next two years, authorities pursued additional genetic leads. On August 27, 2025, a woman with a strong DNA match to a Ramos family member surfaced in CODIS. The sisters provided DNA samples, and a genetic genealogist concluded that they were Elizabeth and Jasmin Ramos. They also provided newspaper clippings from 1989 that helped corroborate their identities. Until that point, the sisters had no knowledge of their mother’s real name.

Despite confirming the identities of the two girls, investigators say the homicide remains unsolved. Detectives are actively trying to locate a man identified only as Fernando, who was dating Marina Ramos around the time of her murder, but no arrest has been made. The Mohave County Sheriff’s Office described the development as bittersweet: one part of a 36-year mystery has been resolved, but the investigation into Marina Ramos’s homicide continues.