A 78-year-old Hawaiian man has been sentenced to life in prison for the brutal and long-unsolved murder of a teenage Palo Alto girl more than four decades ago, according to the Santa Clara County DA’s office.
Gary Ramirez was sentenced today (May 12) to life in prison with the possiblity of parole in 25 years. Ramirez, a Maui resident, pleaded no contest on Feb. 24 to the 1982 slaying of 15-year-old Karen Stitt.
Stitt was last seen by her boyfriend walking at night toward a Sunnyvale bus stop. The next morning her naked body was found concealed behind a blood-stained cinderblock wall. The Palo Alto girl had been sexually assaulted and stabbed 59 times.
District Attorney Jeff Rosen said that from 1982 until 2022, a continuous line of detectives at Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety put their heart and soul into investigating this infamous crime.
“Over 40 years ago, Karen Stitt lost her life, but she was not forgotten,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said. “Today, thanks to a dedicated detective, a persistent prosecutor, and our Crime Lab, the person responsible is behind bars.”
On the evening of Sept. 2, 1982, Stitt took a bus from her home in Palo Alto to Sunnyvale to visit her boyfriend. Around midnight, Stitt’s boyfriend walked her to the area of El Camino Real and Wolfe Road to take the bus back home. Her boyfriend, worried he would get grounded for being out after his curfew, ran home after watching Stitt walk toward the bus stop.
Her body was found about 100 yards from the bus stop the next morning. The killer left both his blood and bodily fluid on Stitt.
Beginning in early 2019, Sunnyvale Detective Matt Hutchison used a tip to determine that Ms. Stitt’s killer was likely one of four brothers from Fresno. In late April 2022, Ramirez was identified as the likely source of blood and bodily fluid left at the crime scene. The Santa Clara County DA’s Crime Lab confirmed the identification.