The Maui News

WAILUKU –î A Makawao man agreed to be extradited to California to face a charge of murder in the 1982 rape and stabbing of a 15-year-old girl.

Gary Ramirez, 75, waived his right to an extradition hearing when he appeared by videoconference Wednesday from the Maui Community Correctional Center for the hearing in 2nd Circuit Court.

He was arrested the afternoon of Aug. 2 in the driveway of his residence on Makalani Place on a warrant issued a day earlier in Santa Clara County Superior Court, according to documents filed in court.

The warrant calls for his arrest on a charge of murdering Karen Stitt, whose nude body was found 100 yards from a bus stop in Sunnyvale, Calif., the morning of Sept. 3, 1982. Her wrists were bound behind her back with her shirt, and there were 59 stab wounds to her neck, chest, abdomen and back, according to the complaint.

She was last seen the night before when she was walking to the bus stop to return home to Palo Alto after visiting her boyfriend.

The killer left his blood and bodily fluid on the girl, according to a news release from the Santa Clara District Attorney’s Office.

Beginning in early 2019, Detective Matt Hutchison of the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety used a tip to determine that the girl’s killer was likely one of four brothers from Fresno, Calif., the news release said. In late April, Gary Ramirez was identified as the likely source of the blood and bodily fluid left at the crime scene, according to the release. The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Crime Lab confirmed that identification last week, the office said.

According to information in the felony complaint, analysis of DNA from the girl’s body, her jacket that was tied around her ankle and a blood stain above her on a cinderblock wall eventually led to Ramirez.

During the 2nd Circuit Court hearing Wednesday, Ramirez said he attended college at Fresno State University.

Asked by Judge Adrianne Heely if his mind was clear, Ramirez replied, “If you want to call it that.”

Deputy Prosecutor Anthony Herndon said he was in contact with California prosecutors and law enforcement about the case.

“They’re going to make arrangements as quickly as they can to come and take Mr. Ramirez,” Herndon said.

The Santa Clara District Attorney’s Officer reported that Ramirez grew up and attended high school in Fresno and served in the U.S. Air Force in the early 1970s. After leaving the military, Ramirez frequented or resided in the Bay Area Peninsula, San Francisco, San Diego, Colorado and Hawaii.