The family of Sharon Santos, kidnapped and murdered twenty years ago, is calling for the cold case to be reopened

COVINA, Calif. (KABC) — Twenty years after the kidnapping and murder of a Burbank woman, her family still holds out hope for justice and remains determined to reopen her case and find her killer.

On Saturday, family and friends gathered at the Lincoln Room in Covina to celebrate Sharon Santos’ 51st birthday.

“Sharon was just a light that came into a room, she was happy, she brought people together,” said Sharon’s friend Nina Haynes.

This group has been meeting every year for twenty years to celebrate her birthday – without her.

“Twenty years later, we still haven’t had justice in her name,” said Sharon’s sister Sandra Santos.

Sharon disappeared 20 years ago after quitting her job at Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank. She was later found dead in the trunk of her car in Chinatown.

Her sister says no one has been arrested in connection with her death.

“It was devastating. We were hoping for a better outcome. She went missing and we just thought, ‘Okay, she’s out there somewhere,’ a lot of us were just angry. And so far we haven’t been able to get justice of the police. person who did this,” Haynes said.

Family and friends now hope Burbank police can reopen the case and take action to find the person who killed Sharon.

“In the 20 years that have passed, there have been a lot of new developments, technological and forensic, that we hope can be applied and will hopefully provide new clues to the case,” Santos said.

As Sharon’s group of loved ones gathers for another year – on the twentieth anniversary of her death – they now plan to launch a grassroots campaign to get her case reopened, and they hope it can spread to the community to finally get justice for to get her. .

Sharon’s sister said she spoke with Burbank police a few days ago and they said there have been no new developments in the case, but they open the case periodically.