America's Most Wanted

I'm John Walsh,

and I've dedicated my entire life

to locking up the worst criminals.

Since 1988, we've caught

1,191 fugitives.

We're tracking down

one of the most ruthless gangs of lawbreakers

we've ever gone after.

Including several of the FBI's Most Wanted.

And we've reunited dozens

of missing children with their families.

Do miracles still exist?

Yes. And we have Elizabeth back.

But the job continues,

and this time,

my son Callahan joins the fight.

With your help,

we're gonna put more lowlife criminals behind bars,

including these that you'll see tonight.

First, Luis and Vanessa Ramirez.

Both convicted of sexually exploiting a minor.

They're now wanted for violently attacking

a social worker,

and kidnapping their two children

after losing custody.

We're also on the lookout for the man

accused of murdering his wife on their wedding night:

FBI Top 10 fugitive

Arnoldo Jimenez.

And finally, Tyler Wilkinson

is accused of possessing hundreds

of fentanyl-laced pills,

and selling the ones that killed 17-year-old Brooke Badger.

America's Most Wanted.

The original true crime series is back.

You can run, but you can't hide.

Hello, everyone. I'm John Walsh,

and this is America's Most Wanted.

You know, I gotta say that I'm thrilled to be back.

After my six-year-old son Adam

was abducted and murdered in 1981,

I dedicated my life to giving a voice to the voiceless,

helping victims of senseless crimes

get the justice that they and their families so deserve.

Well, today, we need this show more than ever.

And lucky for us, we now have more tools

at our disposal to catch these criminals.

Like age-progression technology, GPS tracking,

advanced DNA profiling, and ever-expanding social media.

So follow along {FoxTV and spread the word

about all the fugitives you've seen tonight.

As always, we have a great team of expert investigators

working alongside with us,

with local and state police and the FBI.

They're all standing by to take your tips,

because you are our partner in this.

It's you that can make a difference,

whether you call 1-866-AMW-TIPS,

I guarantee you can remain anonymous.

We don't need to know who you are or where you live.

We need your tips.

Joining me in this fight

is someone who shares my passion for justice,

my son Callahan.

He grew up on the set of this show,

and is now an executive director

at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children,

and one hell of an advocate for children.

Thanks, Dad. Being part of a family

where someone had been taken from us, like Adam was,

we always said that we want to make sure

that he didn't die in vain.

So I'm honored to follow you in your footsteps

and continue this legacy you started nearly 40 years ago.

Well, I'm glad to have you on board.

So let's get right to work.

Our first case is about a terrible Tucson couple,

Luis and Andrea-- AKA Vanessa-- Ramirez,

who in May of 2018 had just been arraigned

on an alarming 20 counts

of sexual exploitation of a minor,

and were days away from standing trial

for these alleged horrendous crimes.

Because of their charges,

they lost custody of their two small children,

Luis Jr. and Kahmila.

Luis and Vanessa never showed up to their trial.

Instead, they vanished into thin air,

but not before police say they violently assaulted

a child protective services worker in broad daylight

in order to abduct the two innocent children.

Well, they're still on the run,

and we really need your help

to find them as soon as possible.

Take a good look.

I've been married for 20 years,

and when I first came into the family,

my husband's family was very welcoming.

All his brothers and his sisters, his parents,

and, of course, my brother-in-law Luis.

He had aspirations of being an artist.

Luis did go to church with his parents.

There, he met Vanessa.

That's when everything changed.

We just started seeing Luis go downhill.

The path that we thought he was going,

he was deviating from.

And then Vanessa gives birth to Luisito.

We were excited to have a new family member.

But at the same time, it was a worry

of how they were gonna support this new baby.

Things got worse.

Luis and Vanessa and Luisito

move in with my in-laws.

There's certain things that toddlers do,

and Luisito wasn't doing.

He was three years old and not talking,

and not potty trained,

which are really crucial for development.

And it was a real worry.

But we had no idea the extent of what was going on.

In 2016, I learned that Luis

was being sexually inappropriate with a minor.

The victim, she was 13 years old.

Luis Ramirez was engaging in

sexually motivated activities with her.

Vanessa Ramirez was involved in those activities.

They would touch her, paint her body,

photograph her, put her in sexually explicit positions.

This had been going back several years.

In 2016, based on the allegations,

detectives searched the home.

They did locate three firearms.

One was an AR-15, one was a pump-action shotgun,

and the other was a 9-millimeter handgun.

They were actually in the reach of their young child.

During the search, along with the firearms,

they also located several pieces of electronic devices.

Detectives were able to locate

several images of the victim

that corroborated her statements

about the sexual exploitation she faced.

Because we found evidence of sexual abuse of a minor

and the fact those loaded weapons

were in such easy access to the child,

we used those as charges,

and we also used that as justification

to remove Luis Jr. from the home for his safety.

To know that this was going on behind the scenes,

that my brother-in-law and my sister-in-law

was capable of doing these disgusting things

with a minor...

it's shameful.

Because Luisito wasn't able to talk, it's hard to know

if he witnessed the abuse going on.

But we jumped into action

and decided to bring Luisito into our home.

Luisito came to us in November 2016.

He was full of love. He wanted to be loved.

Luisito was very much a part of our family.

He just fit in like a missing puzzle piece.

- No way! - Thank you.

We were able to get Luis potty trained,

and he started learning how to speak.

The changes that we saw with him,

they were good changes.

He was a completely different child.

And then we learned that Vanessa was pregnant again.

When Kahmila was born, Child Protective Services

immediately removed her from their care for her safety.

They asked the aunt and uncle

if they would be open to fostering her as well.

Almost all of us have kids, um...

and dealing with these crimes, unfortunately,

you see your child in some of these investigations.

Thinking, dear God, you'd never want them to go through anything

like what these children have gone through.

So when we take steps to remove a child from a home,

it is not taken lightly.

We're doing it for the absolute benefit of the child,

to keep them safe.

April of 2018,

Luis and Vanessa were both indicted

with 20 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor

and one count of child abuse.

Following the arraignment,

because the victim for the sexual exploitation

was not their child,

both Luis and Vanessa were released,

believing that they had no access to the victim.

Before the trial, the court allowed Luis and Vanessa

supervised visits with their two children.

The morning of May 4th, 2018,

we sent Luisito and Kahmila

out the door with the caseworker,

and that's where we saw them for the very last time.

Luis and Vanessa kidnapped the kids.

Joining us in studio to tell us more about this case

is the victims' aunt, Erika Ramirez.

Thank you so much for having me here.