Victim of 1981 Piru murder identified; Detectives now turn to the public for help solving her case

VENTURA COUNTY, Calif. (KEYT) – A homicide victim from 1981 has been identified as Maria Belmontes Blancas and investigators are turning to the public for help solving her murder.

On Jan. 27, 1981, the body of young woman with multiple gunshot wounds was found in a citrus orchard in the 3000 block of Guiberson Road south of Piru stated a press release Wednesday from the Ventura County Sheriff's Office.

Her death was quickly ruled a homicide and investigators believed at the time that she was between the ages of 20 and 25 and was about 195 pounds with brown eyes and brown hair with a distinctive reddish tint detailed the Ventura County Sheriff's Office.

According to the Ventura County Sheriff's Office, the woman was found wearing a plaid shirt, a turquoise tank top, a skirt, and flip-flop slippers.

Her case went cold until 2023 when the Cold Case Unit reopened the investigation with the intent to use new DNA analysis to solve her case explained the Ventura County Sheriff's Office.

The Ventura County Sheriff's office shared that the DNA analysis suggested that the woman's family was likely from Michoacán, Mexico and investigators, alongside Redgrave Research Forensics Services, were able to trace the woman's DNA to potential family members.

This past summer, the woman's identity was confirmed for the first time and investigators learned that the 24-year-old Maria had come to California from Mexico in 1980 noted the Ventura County Sheriff's Office.

The decades-long search brought some closure to her still-living family members in Mexico and the United States, but the investigation into who took her life remains open.

If you have any information about Maria, her life here in California, or about her death, you are asked to contact the Ventura County Sheriff's Office Cold Case Unit at 805-383-8739 or email them at coldcase@ventura.org.

More information about Maria in both English and Spanish from Redgrave Research Forensics Services can be found here.