Oklahoma Woman Arrested In 1993 Cold Case Murder of Popular San Carlos Neighborhood Store Owner
SAN CARLOS (CBS SF) -- A San Carlos cold case murder nearly three decades old has been solved with the arrest of a woman in Oklahoma, police announced Thursday.
On April 26, 1993, Shu Ming Tang was shot and killed while working at his popular neighborhood store, the Devonshire Little Store on Devonshire Boulevard, in what police believe was a robbery gone wrong.
On Thursday, the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office identified the suspect as 61-year-old Rayna Hoffman-Ramos. Sheriff's detectives arrested her last week in Washington County.
At the time of the murder, the suspect was described as a woman in her 20s with brown shoulder-length hair seen leaving the store in a blue 70s station wagon. A lengthy investigation followed and the case gained national recognition, including a feature on the TV show America's Most Wanted.
Despite the various leads followed and the national attention gained, the case remained unsolved for nearly 29 years.
In 2010, the City of San Carlos began contracting police services through the sheriff's office including the services of the Sheriff's Investigations Bureau. In 2018, investigators assigned to the sheriff's Cold Case Unit revisited the murder case and eventually, detectives identified a person of interest in Washington County, Oklahoma.
On March 16, sheriff's detectives served warrants in both Sacramento and Washington County, Oklahoma. After obtaining additional supporting evidence, detectives arrested Hoffman-Ramos in the city of Dewey for Tang's murder.
"The San Mateo County Sheriff's Office would like to thank the Tang family for support. I hope that your family will finally get the justice and closure that you deserve," said San Mateo County Sheriff Carlos Bolaños.
It was not immediately known if Hoffman-Ramos has retained an attorney. Officials with the San Mateo Washington county sheriff's offices said they did not know if she has legal representation.
She is in Washington County Jail awaiting extradition to California to face charges in the April 26, 1993, fatal shooting of Shu Ming Tang, said San Mateo County Sheriff's Office Lt. Jacob Trickett at a Thursday news conference.
It was not immediately known if Hoffman-Ramos has retained an attorney. Officials with the San Mateo Washington county sheriff's offices said they did not know if she has legal representation.
At a Thursday news conference, San Mateo County Sheriff's Lt. Jacob Trickett credited "the advancement in forensic technology" with helping identify Hoffman-Ramos as a suspect and said she lived in San Mateo County at the time of Tang's killing.
Trickett declined to specify how detectives connected Hoffman-Ramos to the homicide. He said she was the sole suspect in the case.
It was not immediately known if Hoffman-Ramos has retained an attorney. Officials with the San Mateo Washington county sheriff's offices said they did not know if she has legal representation.
"Mr. Tang was a husband, a father and a friend who came to the United States to provide a better life for his family," San Carlos Mayor Sara McDowell said Thursday. "His death shook the community of San Carlos and has remained a topic of discussion over the years."
© Copyright 2022 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.