15-year-old Karen Stitts was living in Santa Clara, California in 1982. California life was new to her, as she had recently moved there to live with her father from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Michael Calhoun, a friend, and neighbor of Karen in California had this to say about Karen in an interview with Almanac News:
“Karen was not like any other girl I had met before. When she transferred from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Palo Alto, California, to live with her father during the second half of my sophomore year in high school, the first time I set eyes on her, I knew she was special — someone I wanted to get to know. Her smile could light up the darkest of rooms; her beautiful feathered blonde hair, and the way she spoke. I won’t say it was an accent per se, but it was different than any other girl I knew.”
On Thursday, September 2, 1982, Karen took a bus to Sunnyvale to visit her boyfriend. They spent the evening together, going to the 7–11 store to play video games and just hang out. Close to midnight, Karen needed to get back to the bus stop so she could get home.
Her boyfriend walked her close to the bus stop but then had to turn around and get home so he wouldn’t be late for his curfew.
The next morning, a delivery driver in the area saw something odd sticking out of the bushes. Upon further investigation, he found the nude body of Karen Stitts. She had been stabbed to death.
There was ample DNA found at the scene, but no other clues leading them to any suspects. Of course, Karen’s boyfriend was initially a person of interest, but he was quickly ruled out when his DNA didn’t match. The detectives were baffled and haunted by the fact that they didn’t have any idea who would kill this 15-year-old girl.
Her cause of death was ruled to be stabbing, and her manner of death was ruled homicide. Karen had been stabbed 59 times. She had also been sexually assaulted.
Years went on, and there were few clues to help detectives find the killer, but the case was never far from their minds.
In 2019, law enforcement started working with a genealogist on DNA analysis. It was learned that the DNA belonged to one of four brothers living in Fresno, California in 1982.
In April 2022, a Sunnyvale, California detective obtained a DNA sample from a child of Gary Ramirez. The DNA revealed there was a “high probability” that the child’s father was the killer.
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