BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) \u2014 “Here sleeps an unknown mother and her infant son mysteriously murdered April 18, 1923, and sympathetically buried by residents of Kern County.”<\/p>\n
And a century later, that unknown mother slumbers still, undisturbed by 103 relentless San Joaquin Valley summers or the periodic drone of lawn mowers working their way across the potter’s field at Bakersfield’s historic Union Cemetery.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Watch ‘After Sunrise’ on KGET+; Click to learn how to get KGET+ on your smart TV devices\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n A young Latina, 25 to 30, was beaten to death, then tethered to the bank of an irrigation canal\u00a0\u2014 her body discovered two days after a toddler \u2014 assumed to be her baby \u2014 was thrown into that same canal to drown. Despite weeks of outreach and publicity, no one claimed the child or ID’d the woman.<\/p>\n Podcaster Robert Petersen, of Notorious Bakersfield, is determined to fix that.<\/p>\n “Over 100 years later, we still don’t know their identities,” he said.<\/p>\n Petersen has summoned a famous detective to promote the effort.\u00a0<\/p>\n Gil Carrillo, a retired Los Angeles County Sheriff’s investigator who helped bring to justice Richard Ramirez, the Night Stalker, will appear Sunday evening at the Woolworth’s basement venue downtown to talk about how he and his colleagues tracked down Ramirez, who murdered at least 15 people in the mid-80s.\u00a0<\/p>\n “There’s nobody to prosecute, there is no (possible legal finality),” he said. “Other than, you want to know. But, to the families, and my heart goes out to \u2026 any living family members \u2026 just bring some closure to those people that care. If this helps bring closure, I would certainly love to be a part of helping them bring this to fruition.”<\/p>\n Ticket proceeds \u2014 $45 dollars a pop \u2014 will go toward the estimated $15,000 cost per victim of exhuming the bodies of the woman and the baby, and seeing if their DNA is genetically related to someone in a DNA database somewhere. The “Give Them Their Names Back” campaign is a partnership of the Bakersfield Police Department, Kern County Secret Witness and Notorious Bakersfield.<\/p>\n BPD has officially reopened the cold case, but taxpayer money cannot be used for investigative expenses because there’s no chance of finding the long-dead killer. So it’s in the hands of \u2014 to paraphrase that old grave marker \u2014 the “sympathetically” concerned residents of Kern County.<\/p>\n \u00a0Closing arguments resume for Gregory MacDonald in child murder trial\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Carrillo will share his firsthand experiences investigating one of California’s most infamous serial killers, offering audiences a look at the challenges and breakthroughs that brought Ramirez’s 16-month reign of terror to an end.<\/p>\n “This was kind of in the back of my mind \u2014 do a fundraiser,” Petersen said. “And after I heard (Carrillo’s) talk down in Los Angeles, I’m like, I think this would be a good fundraiser for that campaign.”<\/p>\n “An Evening with Gil Carrillo: Inside the Night Stalker Investigation” takes place at 7 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 8, at the historic Woolworth’s building in downtown. To purchase tickets, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n