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Hartford Police Need Help From the Public in Solving 33-Year-Old Murder

Hartford police have a plea for the public to help track down a mother’s killer more than three decades after the crime.

“My biggest frustration is the lack of information we’re getting through tips,” Hartford Police Detective Drew Jacobson told NBC Connecticut.

Thirty-three years ago a Hartford woman was strangled in a wooded area and left to die. The unsolved case has haunted Hartford police for years and tore a family apart.

In June of 1985, the body of 29-year-old Raquel Ramirez was found below Interstate 91 by the Whitehead Highway. On Tuesday Hartford police and the woman’s daughter asked for the public’s help in getting information about her killer who is still out there.

“I’m going to keep trying to fight to get justice for her, so I hope someone has the heart to speak up,” Brenda Perez, Ramirez’s daughter.

Perez was just 10 years old when her mother was strangled in the woods. The petite-framed mother of three that many called “Tiny” was described as having a huge heart.

“She was a down to earth humble person, and she loved everyone. She believed she had it in her power to help every homeless person on the street,” Perez said about her mother.

“This is where my mom begged. She asked for them to stop and they murdered her so it’s not easy.”

Ramirez was last seen near her home on Ward Street, by Wolcott and Park with friends.

“I don’t think Raquel was injured or killed anywhere else and then brought here. Though it’s possible. I think it’d be very difficult to do. I think she was brought down here,” Detective Jacobson said.

“When I walked into the house I see the whole family crying and see whole bunch of detectives in suits and that’s when we were told my mom was found murdered,” Perez added.

Over the years, the case was investigated by Hartford police, the state police, the cold case unit of the state’s attorney’s office and even the FBI. Hartford police said one tip was documented and followed up on a number of different times.

“From a female who calls in identifies a potential suspect or person of interest last seen with her somewhere in 1-3 am on June 30,” Jacobson said.

Jacobson has been working the case hard since 2005, trying desperately to find the murderer. He’s interviewed people he won’t name in recent weeks and said nobody’s been cleared, and admitted difficulty in locating Raquel’s boyfriend at the time.

“I’m not ruling out anything. Whether it’s a person who is a boyfriend, an ex-husband or someone who just knows her. I don’t think Raquel is coming down here without knowing them,” Jacobson said.

Police are hoping the forensic lab can help. They are starting to use new technology on old evidence.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Hartford police at 860.722.TIPS.

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