New DNA technology could help Tulare County investigators find suspect in 1994 murder

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Twenty-five years to the day after a 10-year-old was abducted, investigators with the Tulare County Sheriff's Office get a significant break in what may no longer be a cold case.

"A lot of sweat blood and tears over this case, just like Sheriff Boudreaux was talking about and mentioned, it's dear to his heart, and it's dear to a lot of investigators," said Lt. Joe Torres with the Violent Crimes Unit.

It was March 3, 1994, when 10-year-old Angelica Ramirez was taken from a Visalia swap meet. There with her parents and brother, she had walked away to use the restroom.

That would be the last time they saw her alive.

"We searched the swap meet brought the K9 dogs, airplanes, everything to try to find her," Torres said.

Two days later, her body was found in a canal off Avenue 96 in Pixley.

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Though she was submerged in water, investigators were able to pull the suspect's DNA.

"The way he committed it was not the first time that he's done this. There's no way you're going to go from raping and murdering a 10-year-old to saying I'm going to stop now," Torres said.

He says for the last two and a half decades, in collaboration with the US Department of Justice, investigators have been trying to match the suspect's DNA with anyone in their criminal database.

But thanks to Parabon Nano Labs' Snapshot DNA Analysis, they now have a composite sketch they hope you can help identify.

"(He's a man) with light brown skin, brown and black hair and brown or black eyes," Torres said.

They can't determine how old the suspect was at the time of the crime committed but based on the DNA evidence; they know their suspect is of Central American descent and can show what he looked like at the ages of 25, 50 and 75.