Arrest made in killing 6 years ago of girl, 16
Rebecca Ramsay was slain after returning home from church
By Dale Quinn
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Almost six years after someone killed 16-year-old Rebecca Ramsay, her family members expressed relief Thursday that an arrest had been made.
Ramsay was shot Oct. 25, 2000, near East 22nd Street and South Craycroft Road after returning home from a youth group meeting at her church.
A cold-case police investigation resulted in the arrest of Louie T. Machado, 25, in the area of South Camino Seco and East Broadway as he was on his way to work, according to a Tucson police press release.
He has been booked into the Pima County jail on suspicion of one count of first-degree murder and an unrelated probation violation in Yuma.
Officers could not release any information about what led to Machado's arrest or reveal his relationship with the victim, said Sgt. Mark Robinson, a Tucson Police Department spokesman.
He did say Machado had "always been a person we focused on in this investigation."
In an interview from the jail, Machado maintained his innocence and said his arrest stemmed from a lie he told investigators when they spoke with him after Ramsay's death.
He said telling the lie was "the biggest mistake of my life."
Machado said he told detectives he was at the scene of the shooting that night and had witnessed the crime.
He told investigators someone shot Ramsay, then he left her body on the porch of her home and fled.
Machado said he lied to detectives so he could blame the crime on a person he believed had set fire to his room. "When I did decide to tell detectives (the truth), it was either too late or I was more scared of going to jail because I lied to them," he said.
An Arizona Daily Star story from 2001 mentioned an arson fire at a "witness's" home that police were investigating as part of the Ramsay case.
Machado and Ramsay attended the same high school at the same time, he said, but he didn't know her very well. He said he dated her cousin for a while.
Machado, who has a 5-year-old daughter, said the slaying occurred during a period of his life when he was on the street and doing drugs, which led to his lying to detectives.
Machado said he's been interviewed by police several times since the slaying — most recently in 2004 — but he never told them the revised version of his story until Thursday.
Court records show Machado has arrests for shoplifting, theft and drug possession.
Machado said he was on his way to work Thursday and waiting for his boss at a bus stop when a patrol car drove up.
Officers got out and told him to get on the ground, and he was taken into custody. It wasn't long before he knew why he was arrested, he said.
Tucson police declined to comment on Machado's statements. Ramsay's family could not be reached after the police press conference.
The family actively sought the public's help in finding Ramsay's killer.
The Star reported that the family offered a $20,000 reward in February 2001 for information that would lead to the conviction of Ramsay's killer or killers. In 2003, authorities put billboards up in the area around the crime's location in an attempt to gather clues.
Robinson said that in any case the involvement of the community can help detectives solve the case.
Still, this case is far from closed, he said.
"This is the first step in what I know will be a very long and difficult road to bringing a resolution to this case," Robinson said.
He said Pima County Attorney's Office and Tucson Police Department detectives will release more information about the case in about 10 days.
Until then, the Police Department and prosecutors will remain tight-lipped on the case against Machado.
Robinson said he could not reveal any details about the motive for the killing or provide any details of what happened the night Ramsay was murdered.
At a press conference Thursday, Ramsay's mother, Lorie Artery, thanked the media and the Police Department for keeping the case alive.
She said she hoped for justice for her daughter.
● Star photographer Chris Richards contributed to this report. Contact reporter Dale Quinn at 629-9412 or dquinn@azstarnet.com.
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