Youth Is Arrested in 1985 Mutilation Slaying of Girl, 14

A youth was charged Tuesday with the murder of his one-time sweetheart, Norma Isela Ramirez, a 14-year-old student whose death and mutilation baffled Santa Ana police for almost two years.

Carlos Alberto Tirado, 17, arrested on a murder warrant, was being held by juvenile authorities, Santa Ana police said. Investigators added that Tirado had been a “prime suspect” since the killing.

Tirado and the victim “had a close relationship for several months” but had broken up shortly before the killing, Police Sgt. John McClain said. He refused to say what led to the arrest after two years and did not suggest a motive.

Tirado has made no statements to authorities, according to Edison W. Miller, his lawyer.

“Carlos is innocent,” said Miller, a former county supervisor. “That’s all we know, that he is completely innocent.”

Ramirez had received a telephone call late on the night of her death and had left her home. McClain said police believe she was “inveigled” to come to a bike trail by someone she knew.

Identified by Picture

Her body, severely mutilated with a hatchet or machete, was discovered five hours later on May 28, 1985, on the Santa Ana River bike trail. The body remained unidentified for three days until investigators saw a picture of Ramirez in a Spanish-language newspaper that described her as a missing person.

McClain, who heads the department’s homicide squad, said she had been “very brutally murdered.” He said the “complex and difficult” case required painstaking police work.

Because Tirado was under 16 at the time of the crime, he cannot be tried as an adult, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Charles J. Middleton. If the charge is sustained under the juvenile code, he could be held by the California Youth Authority until he turns 25.

The victim’s father, Ruben, attended the press conference called by police Tuesday, then held his own after authorities left.

Weeping softly as he thanked police, the father nonetheless insisted that there was more than one assailant. “I don’t believe just one person killed my daughter,” he said, pointing to the mutilation that was carried out with at least two bladed instruments.

He said that his instincts told him that Tirado was “wrong” when they first met and that he urged his daughter to end the relationship. He said he thought that his daughter had broken off with Tirado and added that he “will never know”’ why she went out that night.

An uncle of the victim, Javier de la Fuente, said Tirado had called Norma that night and previously had threatened to kill her if she left him.

“We suspected him since the beginning,” De la Fuente said. “He threatened her at school, in front of several friends.”

Tirado’s family, through their attorney, declined to be interviewed.

Miller claimed that police “harassed” Tirado after the killing.

Tirado “had been repeatedly questioned by police at the time, to the point the family asked me to intervene to block what they felt was constant harassment,” Miller said. “I told school authorities I didn’t want him pulled out of class without my knowledge.”

Miller said he does not know what led police to arrest Tirado.

“We have no way of knowing what, if any, credible evidence they could have uncovered at this late date,” Miller said. “We assume this was thoroughly investigated at the time.”

The Tirados are longtime Santa Ana-area residents whom he has represented on prior legal matters, Miller said. They have received threats from the Ramirez family, Miller added, which he has reported to police.

A detention hearing is scheduled today for Tirado in Juvenile Court, officials said.

Asked if anyone might qualify for the $10,000 reward offered by De la Fuente for information leading to the apprehension of those responsible for the killing, McClain said that decision would be up to De la Fuente.

De la Fuente, who operates the newspaper that first ran his niece’s picture, said he believes that police had received a tip which led to the arrest but acknowledged that it was merely a suspicion.