Nearly 30 years after Shu Ming Tang was fatally shot inside his landmark San Carlos store, authorities say they have found his killer, more than 1,700 miles away in Oklahoma.
Tang’s killing rocked the small San Mateo County city and was featured on “America’s Most Wanted,” without leading to a suspect.
But on Thursday, the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office announced 61-year-old Oklahoma resident Rayna Elizabeth Hoffman-Ramos, who lived in San Mateo at the time of the shooting, has been arrested for the killing.
“Mr. Tang was a husband, a father and a friend who came to the United States to provide a better life for his family,” said San Carlos Mayor Sara McDowell at the news conference. “His death shook the community of San Carlos and has remained a topic of discussion over the years.”
Authorities wouldn’t say what led them to arrest Hoffman-Ramos.
Tang was shot inside the store just before 1 p.m. on April 26, 1993 in what investigators believed was a “robbery gone wrong,” according to San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Jacob Trickett at the news conference.
Police arrived at the store and found Tang unresponsive and suffering from a single gunshot wound. Tang was taken to a hospital, where he later died.
Investigators discovered a woman was seen leaving the store shortly after the shooting, Trickett said. Detectives conducted an investigation and followed up on leads, but the case went cold for about 29 years, attracting national attention and was featured on a segment on “America’s Most Wanted.” In 2018, San Mateo County Sheriff’s detectives, crime analysts and cold case investigators revisited the investigation and identified a person of interest living in Washington County, Oklahoma.
Detectives went to Oklahoma Mar. 16 and arrested Hoffman-Ramos, according to authorities. Police shared the news of the arrest with Tang’s family. Hoffman-Ramos was booked on a first-degree murder charge and is in custody in Washington County Jail, awaiting extradition to San Mateo County, police said.
The suspect was originally described as a woman in her 20s with medium-brown straight hair past her shoulders, last seen leaving the store in a faded blue 1970s station wagon, according to reporting by this news organization in 1993.
Trickett declined to specify the methods in which police connected Hoffman-Ramos to the homicide but said she is believed to have acted alone. Hoffman-Ramos has a prior criminal record, he said.
“We owe it to the families and victims, however long it takes, to give some measure of justice,” Trickett said.
Cold case unit investigators and crime analysts revisit cold cases and consider advancements in technology, “changes in relationships over time,” new leads and increased public interest and support, according to Trickett.
“The San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office would like to thank the Tang family for their support,” said Sheriff Carlos Bolanos. “I hope that your family will finally get the justice and closure that you deserve.”
Chung Sun, the current owner of Devonshire Little Store, bought the store from Tang’s wife in July 1993. Sun immigrated to the U.S. from Taiwan with his son and daughter and said he was hoping to live in San Carlos to give his children a good education. He runs the store with his wife, Ann.
“We all came from Taiwan, so I heard something bad happened to this store and I came here to tell Mrs. Tang about my feelings and to comfort her,” he said. “She talked to me and said she couldn’t do the store anymore. She understood that I just came from Taiwan and she said this store is good for a beginner to do business to live in this country so I took her advice and took this business.”
Sun said he last spoke with Tang’s wife, who moved to Los Angeles after her husband’s death, five years ago and that his daughter, Stephanie, lives in the North Bay. Sun is the fourth owner of the mom-and-pop store, which sells grocery items, including beer, wine and candy.
“I couldn’t say I’m happy or not. I just say that finally we got justice for this murder happened in my store,” Sun said. “Why did she kill a person who doesn’t even know English? And this store didn’t even have that much money for her to take. This broke the entire family. I want to know more.”
Source: www.mercurynews.com