A blood-stained jersey dropped off at a cleaning service may be linked to the severe beating of Giants fan Bryan Stow, our sister station NBC LA has learned.
After the jersey was dropped off at the cleaners, workers alerted authorities, who submitted it for DNA analysis. The results came back a match to Stow, NBC LA has learned.
Over the weekend, the LA Times refuted that the DNA matched Stow. It reported, although the jersey exists - it did not match Stow or the man police have in custody in the case, Giovanni Ramirez.
The evening Stow was beaten nearly to death by two assailants outside Dodger Stadium, two suspects were identified.
Suspect Number One was described as wearing a white Dodgers jersey. Police identified parolee Giovanni Ramirez as Suspect Number One when they arrested him nearly three weeks ago.
Suspect Number Two was described as wearing a black T-shirt.
Ramirez, 31, was taken into custody May 22 as one of three possible suspects in the case. He has not been charged with the attack, but remains jailed for allegedly violating his parole.
Attorneys for Ramirez, who met with their client at Central Jail on Friday afternoon, said Ramirez contends he has never been to a cleaners.
Local
When NBCLA went to the LAPD for an on-the-record comment on the bloodied jersey, a source within the department said specifically that the jersey is not Ramirez's. The source declined to disclose who the jersey belongs to.
Stow remains in a coma. According to his doctors he shows signs of brain injury and dysfunction.
NBC LA has learned that police have delayed asking the district attorney to file against Ramirez as part of a strategy to pressure him to reveal information about two other suspects still at large.
Ramirez's attorney, Jose Romero, said he has heard police believe they have physical evidence but declined to elaborate.
Romero has maintained Ramirez's innocence and said he was nowhere near Dodger Stadium at the time of the attack on Stow.
Ramirez's 9-year-old daughter has stated he was with her, not at Dodger Stadium when Stow was brutally beaten in the parking lot after the game.
In addition, Romero said his client had a full head of hair on that day. Police sketches released April 1 showed two subjects with shaved heads.
Earlier this week, a judge ordered that the LAPD maintain all video connected to the case.
Ramirez has gone before a suspect line-up and taken two polygraph tests but no results have been released.
Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck has said he is confident police have the right man in custody. The investigation into the assault of Stow was reassigned to the LAPD Robbery-Homicide Division this week.
The division typically handles high-profile cases, such as the death of Michael Jackson, the Black Dahlia murder, the O.J. Simpson case and the Grim Sleeper slayings.
The LAPD said it is not unusual for RHD to take over investigative responsibilities of high-profile, prolonged and complex cases.
Officers and detectives at the Northeast Station coordinated the investigation and put in hundreds of hours of overtime leading up to Ramirez's arrest.
