Arrest made in San Carlos cold case murder

“This was a cold case for nearly three decades. Today, I can announce that we’ve made an arrest, and justice for Mr. Tang’s family is at hand,” San Mateo County Sheriff Carlos Bolanos said. “The San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office would like to thank the Tang family for their support.”

The case received nationwide attention and remained unsolved for almost 29 years before the Sheriff’s Office Cold Case Unit began reinvestigating the murder in 2018 and identified her as a person of interest after following various leads. The Sheriff’s Office arrested Hoffman-Ramos in Oklahoma during March 16 investigation operations in Sacramento and Washington County, Oklahoma. She was a resident of San Mateo at the time of the murder and has lived in Oklahoma in recent years.

The murder took place at the Devonshire Little Store on Devonshire Boulevard in San Carlos on April 26, 1993. San Carlos police officers found Shu Ming Tang with a gunshot wound after reports of a shooting. He later died, with investigators believing he was the victim of a robbery gone wrong after initial reports of a woman leaving the store shortly after the shooting. San Carlos police conducted a lengthy investigation and followed up on leads, but with no arrests made. The San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office began running police services for San Carlos in 2010 and took over investigations.

San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Jacob Trickett said he could not comment on how law enforcement connected her to the crime. She remains the sole suspect in the case and does have a criminal history. Evidence still suggests it was a robbery gone wrong. The national prominence of the case led to many different leads and tips that the Sheriff’s Office had to reinvestigate.

“Part of the purpose of a cold case unit is to have a fresh perspective and utilize more updated information management systems. That’s basically one of the reasons we were led back to Rayna,” Trickett said.

San Carlos Mayor Sara McDowell thanked law enforcement officials for the work to solve the murder of Tang, who was well known in the San Carlos community as the owner of the Devonshire Little Store, a now 87-year-old corner store beloved by neighbors.

“He was a husband, father and friend who came to the United States to provide a better life for his family. His death shook the community of San Carlos and has remained a topic of discussion over the years,” McDowell said.

Tang’s family has been informed of the arrest of a suspect.

Other agencies involved in the case were the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, Washington County Sheriff’s Office, the Washington County District Attorney’s Office, Sacramento Police Department and the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office.

curtis@smdailyjournal.com

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