Case Dismissed in Mutilation Killing of Girl, 15

Citing a lack of evidence, Superior Court Judge Donald A. McCartin dismissed charges Monday against a Santa Ana youth accused of savagely hacking his girlfriend to death two years ago.

The dismissal came in the third day of the murder trial of Carlos Alberto Tirado, 17, who was being tried as a juvenile in Orange County Superior Court.

Tirado was arrested last May 12 and charged with the May 27, 1985, murder of 15-year-old Norma Isela Ramirez. Her mutilated body was found on a bike trail near the Santa Ana River in Alona Park.

Lack of Evidence

After the arrest, Santa Ana police said Tirado had always been the “prime suspect” in the case, although he wasn’t arrested until almost two years after the killing. Police said they were hampered by a lack of hard evidence.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Charles J. Middleton, who was prosecuting Tirado, acknowledged after the dismissal that all of the evidence was circumstantial.

“Many people don’t understand that a case can be presented on circumstantial evidence,” Middleton said in an interview Monday night. “That is the only evidence we had, but we believe the evidence showed that Tirado was the perpetrator of the crime.”

McCartin said in his ruling that the circumstantial evidence was not compelling enough to warrant further prosecution of the case.

“I accept the decision, and I highly respect Judge McCartin, although I am disappointed,” Middleton said.

Defense attorneys Edison W. Miller, a former county supervisor, and J. Michael Hughes could not be reached for comment.

At the opening of the trial last week, however, Miller said the prosecution’s evidence was “very skimpy.”

Doubted the Link

He pointed out in an interview last Wednesday that there appeared to be no evidence directly linking Tirado to the killing.

“Where’s the fingerprints?” he asked. “There’s no confession. Where’s the murder weapon? How about a witness that saw something? They don’t have anything. It’s all circumstantial.”

Middleton said during the trial last week that the prosecution would show that Tirado was angry at Ramirez because he wanted to date her best friend. Tirado dated the friend once, Middleton said, but she then refused to go out with him again because of Tirado’s relationship with Ramirez and her friendship with the girl.

During the opening day of the trial, Fernando Flores, 16, a friend of Tirado, testified that Tirado had phoned him and urged him not to tell police that Tirado had seen Ramirez the day before she was murdered.

Flores testified that Tirado tried to get Ramirez to have sex with Tirado’s cousin, Jose Sotelo, the day before she was killed. When she refused, Tirado pushed her and told her to walk home, Flores testified.

‘Tremendous Interrogation’

But Miller countered that Flores had been intimidated by police. “He was asked by police if he ever heard Tirado say he wanted to kill Norma,” Miller said. “Flores said ‘no’ 118 times.”

Miller added: “For someone 13 (at the time), he went through a tremendous interrogation.”

The Ramirez murder became a case of major concern to much of Santa Ana’s large Latino community. Six months after the killing, her family and friends protested the lack of an arrest with a silent candlelight vigil outside the Santa Ana Police Department.

Middleton said Monday night he had not yet spoken to the Ramirez family and didn’t know how they would react to the dismissal.

Asked what would now happen with the case, Middleton replied: “The case is closed. Carlos Tirado was the prime suspect.”