at large
Detectives say the suspect could be living in the local area, but is not viewed as a serial criminal or a threat to Malibu residents.
By Hans Laetz / Special to The Malibu Times
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s homicide detectives have released an artist’s rendering of the man who may have killed another on June 15 on Morning View.
The man is wanted for questioning in connection with the shooting death of Guillermo Ramazini, 43, a Guatemala native and Malibu resident who was left dying in the landscape shrubbery next to a multimillion-dollar mansion.
Sheriff’s deputies said the killer could still be in the local area, but have said the suspect is not viewed as a serial criminal or threat to Malibu residents.
“This was a dispute, and these two men did know each other,” said homicide detective Sgt. Michael Rodriguez.
Although investigators do not want to release details, witnesses said Ramazini and another laborer had gotten into an argument of some sort near the HOWS Trancas Market at about 8:15 p.m. that Wednesday night, which was uncharacteristically rainy and foggy.
“There was some sort of confrontation at the market,” Rodriguez said. “And there may have been a history between these two men.”
Witnesses said several dozen Malibu High School parents leaving a choral concert may have passed Ramazini as he walked east on Morning View Drive. But a thick fog and heavy drizzle might have prevented their view of any activity on the roadside.
As Ramazini was walking down Morning View Drive toward the unknown place at which he was staying, the assailant shot him, Sheriff’s detectives say. Ramazini collapsed and died about 10 feet north of the sidewalk in a strip of bushes just west of Harvester Avenue.
The fog and rain persisted overnight, and Ramazini was not spotted until after 8 a.m., when a laborer found him in the bushes.
Detectives said the nature of the transient pool of possible witnesses at Trancas is making things difficult for the murder investigation.
“We’ve got a lot of information that we can’t verify because of the nature of the people we are talking to,” Rodriguez said. “A lot of these laborers are in the country without documentation or identification and they are using the names of where they are from instead of their legal names.”
Rodriguez, an investigator in the Sheriff’s homicide bureau in Carson, said he has been surprised to learn that Malibu residents generally form close ties with the laborers they hire. “The people of Malibu are really nice people, I’ve discovered, and they don’t just hire these day laborers, they take an interest in them, give them places to stay and get to know their employees more than I would have thought.”
And the investigator said he is counting on this situation to help his murder probe. “I don’t want to scare anybody off, but this suspect may not have necessarily left the area,” he said. “It would be easy for this guy to just change to a different part of the country, but it would be just as easy for him to stay local.”
Martinez said he is hoping the drawing may strike a response with a Malibu resident who may have hired the suspect. Detectives noted that Ramazini was in the United States legally and had a driver’s license with a Malibu address, but no longer lived there.Anybody with information should call 323.890.5500 and speak with Rodriguez or Lt. Dan Rosenberg.