A 63-year-old Oklahoma woman has pleaded no contest to second-degree murder for fatally shooting a store owner in San Carlos 30 years ago, San Mateo County prosecutors said Thursday.
Rayna Hoffman-Ramos was arrested last year for the fatal shooting of Shu Ming Tang, who owned the Devonshire Little Store, on April 26, 1993.
According to the county District Attorney's Office, investigators obtained a journal in which Hoffman-Ramos expressed regret for the killing, which led to her arrest in Oklahoma in March 2022.
Prosecutors said Hoffman-Ramos' husband instructed her on how to use a handgun to commit a robbery at the store, but Tang resisted and was fatally shot during a struggle. Hoffman-Ramos then ran out of the store and fled with her husband and remained at large until last year.
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The case garnered national attention and was eventually featured on the TV show "America's Most Wanted."
Hoffman-Ramos on Wednesday entered the no contest plea to second-degree murder with an enhancement for use of a firearm in exchange for a sentence of no more than 18 years to life in state prison, prosecutors said.
She is expected to return to court on Nov. 16 for the sentencing. Her defense attorney was not immediately available for comment on the case.
