On the morning of October 3, 2002, 34-year-old Sarah Ramos, a babysitter and housekeeper from El Salvador, was sitting on a bench reading at the Leisure World Shopping Center in Norbeck, Maryland, waiting for her ride to work when a single, high-velocity rifle shot struck her and killed her instantly. Witnesses reported hearing a loud explosion and seeing Ramos slump over; another witness saw a dark blue Chevrolet Caprice in the parking lot shortly before the shooting and later identified that vehicle as belonging to the suspects.

Investigators linked Ramos’s killing to a series of random sniper-style shootings across the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. A Bushmaster rifle recovered from the suspects’ vehicle was ballistically matched to a bullet fragment from Ramos’s body and to other scenes in the string of attacks. By October 24, 2002, authorities had arrested John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo in connection with the shootings, and both were later convicted in relation to the attacks, with Muhammad convicted of six murders in Maryland, including Ramos’s.

If anyone remembers seeing Sarah at Leisure World that morning or has information about the dark blue Chevrolet Caprice, please come forward.