The man was found dead early morning last week on Morning View Drive by another day laborer who was walking to work.
By Hans Laetz/Special to The Malibu Times
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s homicide detectives believe an acquaintance of a 43-year-old Guatemala native is responsible for shooting the man several times and leaving him to die on the grounds of a Malibu mansion last week.
Guillermo Ramazini’s body was sprawled in ornamental landscaping along Morning View Drive west of Philip Avenue for 11 hours, until another laborer walking to work spotted him in the early morning June 15, Los Angeles County deputies said.
Ramazini “has lived in the area for some time, and we believe he is a local maintenance worker or groundskeeper,” said Sheriff’s homicide Lt. Dan Rosenberg.
But the chief homicide lieutenant said information is needed about Ramazini’s last workplaces and activities.
“There are people out there who know details about the victim’s last few days, and we need to hear from them,” Rosenberg said.
“This man was well-liked and well known in the community,” he said.
“We think that this was personal, that someone who knew him is responsible. We don’t think there is some kind of predator or serial killer out there,” he added.
Ramazini, whose next of kin in Guatemala cannot be found, was apparently shot to death June 14 between 9 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.
“Residents of the community say they heard gunshots at that time, but for some reason they did not elect to call the Sheriff’s office then,” Rosenberg said.
Ramazini’s body was found sprawled over a bush in roadside landscaping, his cowboy hat atop a nearby shrub. Dozens of cars had passed the body en route to nearby schools in the drizzling June fog last week on a Wednesday morning, but the body was not spotted until another worker saw it while walking to work at about 8 a.m.
Witnesses say the man ran up a hill to his worksite to report the situation. Paramedics who arrived at the scene pronounced the man dead, and told deputies that rigor mortis had set in, indicating the death had happened hours earlier.
Deputies closed Morning View Drive to traffic between Philip and Guernsey avenues for much of the day while they collected evidence. Students at Malibu High School were told to take a different route home.
One detective said investigators have had significant help from the day laborers who arrive by bus at Trancas daily and walk to their nearby jobs. Rosenberg said “this is rather surprising for us, we don’t usually get this level of support from both the local community and the day laborers.”
Nevertheless, Rosenberg said, detectives need to hear from anyone “who has any information whatsoever, no matter how insignificant that may appear to be. We need them to call us.”
Rosenberg gave his personal number-323.890.5580-for those with information and said people may call him anonymously if so desired.
Sheriff’s deputies said this was the first murder in Malibu since 1999. The only other nearby recent homicide was last year on May 24, when the body of a Los Angeles man was found in his car 10 miles outside the city on an isolated stretch of Mulholland Highway west of Decker Canyon Road.
Deputies said that man’s throat had been slashed about a week before he was found in the isolated area.