A 36-year-old California State Fullerton student who served for nearly a decade in the Army has been missing since Thursday in a disappearance that authorities described as suspicious.
"Her sister said she would never just not show up," said Sgt. Fred Lopez of the Orange Police Department. "The family said it's highly unusual that she would not keep her personal and professional commitments."
Maribel Manriquez Ramos, 36, was reported missing by her immediate family Friday. She was last seen Thursday evening at her apartment in the city of Orange.
Ramos served eight years in the Army in South Korea and Iraq, according to the university’s student newspaper, the Daily Titan.
Ramos was described by police as 5 feet 2 inches tall, weighing approximately 130 pounds, with brown medium-length hair. Police said Ramos has a star tattoo on her left shoulder, and an Aztec or tribal symbol tattooed on her lower back.
Police have no information on suspects in connection with Ramos' disappearance, Lopez said.
Ramos was set to graduate later this month, according to the university.
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California State University Fullerton’s Student Veterans Association Facebook page asked the public to distribute flyers in search of Ramos Tuesday.
"May we all keep Maribel and her family in our thoughts and prayers and may we remain hopeful that she is found safe from harm," the group wrote on the Facebook page.
Ramos spoke at a Chicago conference May 1 about transitioning to college life after nearly a decade as an Army officer, and described her struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the university.
"I was uncomfortable at first," she said. "The other students were not my age, they didn’t understand my journey, and one professor, who knew I was a veteran, seemed hostile when the topic of war came up in class," the university reported on the its media relations page.
Police asked that anyone with information about Ramos’ whereabouts should call Detective Joey Ramirez at 714-744-7403.
