Ventura Woman Dies After Beating in Store

The manager of a Radio Shack store in Newbury Park, who was beaten on the head with a stepladder, has died of her injuries, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department reported Wednesday.

Stephanie Ann Ramos, 27, of Ventura died Tuesday night while connected to a life-support system at Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks, where she was taken after the attack at 11:30 a.m. Monday, Sgt. Bruce Hansen said.

Rossano Barin Santonil, 27, of San Diego was arrested shortly after he allegedly struck Ramos in an apparently unprovoked attack, authorities said. Investigators remained unable to determine a motive for the attack at the store in the 700 block of Wendy Drive.

Lt. Joe Harwell of the department’s Major Crimes Unit said Santonil had apparently been hitchhiking from San Diego to San Francisco and stopped in Newbury Park on Monday morning.

He was arrested while hitchhiking on a freeway on-ramp not far from the store, based on a description given by a customer who was in the store before the attack.

“It appears the suspect was a transient just passing through,” Harwell said.

Harwell said Santonil has denied responsibility. He said investigators have found no evidence indicating that an argument preceded the attack or that robbery was a motive.

Santonil was charged Wednesday with first-degree murder and is to be arraigned Oct. 11 in Ventura County Municipal Court.