When a family from Pittsburgh, PA moves across the country for an employment opportunity in 1982 the last thing they worried about was their daughter Karen fitting in. Pittsburgh was a world away from Palo Alto, CA but 15 year oldl Karen was a spitifire. She was athletic and creative, made new friends easily and even had a high school crush on a boy named Michael who was crushing back on her. She had learned the bus system to get the ten miles to Michael's house in Sunnyvale since neither were old enough to drive. They had plans on September 3, 1982 to have some food, play video games and get to know each other better. Around midnight, Michael walked her to the bustop and ran home to not miss his own curfew.
The following morning a delivery driver found a scene no one should ever have to see. Karen had been sexually assaulted and mutilated.
Decades went by with no closure until 2022 when Gary Ramirez was tied to Karen's murder and denied knowing anything. He was arrested then and convicted just a few weeks ago. Hear Karen's story here.
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