Blood-Stained Jersey Linked to Stow Case

A blood-stained jersey dropped off at a cleaning establishment  may be linked to the severe beating of Giants fan Bryan Stow, NBC LA has learned.

The jersey triggered suspicion at the cleaners, which notified law enforcement.  Los Angeles Police took possession of the jersey and submitted it for DNA analysis.  The results came back a match to Stow, NBC LA has learned. 

Investigators believe Stow was attacked by two assailants, who were then driven away by a woman.  Police have revealed she was wearing a Dodgers jersey, and so was the first assailant.

Feature Page: The Bryan Stow Investigation | Case Timeline

Police identified parolee Giovanni Ramirez as that Suspect Number One when they arrested him May 22.  He has yet to be charged with the attack, but remains jailed for allegedly violating his parole.  Suspect Number Two and the getaway driver have yet to be publicly identified, and no further arrests since Ramirez have been revealed.

The source who first informed NBCLA of the bloodied jersey said it's believed Ramirez is the individual who took the jersey to the cleaners.  A second source, who is with LAPD, did not contradict this,  but said the jersey is not Ramirez's.  Whether investigators believe it was the getaway driver's or someone else's, the source declined to say.

Prior to Ramirez's arrest, Chief Charlie Beck of the Los Angeles Police Department had said the getaway driver was wearing a Dodgers jersey with the number 16 of Andre Ethier. 

In cases with multiple perpetrators, authorities sometimes attempt to leverage information about the others from the first to be arrested.  

Ramirez's attorneys said they've seen no indication detectives are doing this with Ramirez.  "If they're trying to squeeze him, they're doing it by remote control." said attorney Anthony Brooklier. "Because they've never come to us, or him, and ask him to give anything up."

Brooklier and a second Ramirez attorney, Jose Romero, met with him again Friday in Men's Central Jail.  The attorneys have repeatedly asserted that Ramirez has an ironclad alibi, that he was with his 9-year-old at his aunt's East Hollywood apartment the evening of the attack.  The attorneys say Ramirez told them he has never been to Dodger Stadium.  Further, the attorneys contend that Ramirez had let his hair grow out, and on the March 31 date of the attack, his head was not shaved, unlike the descriptions of the two assailants.  The attorneys have said they are seeking photographic or video proof of this.

Stow was brutally beaten at the taxi stand in the Stadium parking lot shortly after the conclusion of the season opening game.  Stow suffered severe head injuries and remains hospitalized.  Doctors say there is evidence of brain dysfunction, and he has yet to regain full consciousness.

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.   

Ordinarily, arrested suspects must be released within a few days if authorities are not prepared to file charges.  In Ramirez's case, he can be held at least until a parole revocation hearing scheduled for June 20th.  The alleged violation stems from the recovery of a gun and ammunition at the apartment where Ramirez was staying when he was arrested.  Parolees are not allowed to have firearms. 

If the alleged violation is upheld, Ramirez could be returned to prison.