Dateline: The Long Road — 5 harrowing details about the Norma Patricia Esparza case, revisited

NBC’s Dateline episode titled "The Long Road" recounts the tale of the gruesome murder of Gonzalo Ramirez and the years of effort it took for the culprits, including a psychology professor, Norma Patricia Esparza, to eventually be sentenced for the crimes.

The synopsis of the Dateline episode reads:

"A chance meeting at a nightclub ends in murder; those involved in the gruesome crime thought they had buried the secrets of the past, but a relentless team of investigators will stop at nothing to unearth the truth."

Here are five shocking details about Dateline: The Long Road.

Dateline: The Long Road - 5 details about the Norma Patricia Esparza case

1) Gonzalo Ramirez’s kidnapping and death

While studying at Pomona College and living a quiet life, Norma Patricia Esparza met Gonzalo Ramirez in 1995 at a nightclub called El Cortez and exchanged phone numbers. Three weeks later, Ramirez was found dead with no leads on who might have committed the murder.

Ramirez was driving back home with a friend at night when their car was hit by a white van from the back. As Ramirez got out of the car to talk to the people in the white van, he was dragged inside and kidnapped as the van drove away. Although his friends and family reported the incident, the police were unable to find him until his body was reported to have been recovered from a road near the 405 freeway.

As per Dateline, Ramirez’s body was covered with brutal injuries and was described by the investigators as a gruesome sight.

2) Norma Patricia Esparza was questioned by the police

While investigating to find who tortured and killed Ramirez in such a brutal manner, the Santa Ana Police Department called in many people close to Ramirez for questioning, but failed to find the main culprit. They were finally closing in on a suspect when they found two phone numbers with a name, Patty, in Ramirez’s room.

The police found that Patty was none other than Patricia Esparza, who met Ramirez in the nightclub weeks ago. As she was called for questioning, she detailed her harrowing experience with Ramirez. She told the police that Ramirez called her the next day after exchanging phone numbers the night before.

As per Dateline, Esparza said that Ramirez had allegedly s*xually assaulted her in her dorm room. However, she did not report the crime, but told her former boyfriend, Gianni Van, about the incident. This shifted the investigators' focus on Gianni Van.

3) Esparza’s former boyfriend, Gianni Van, becomes the prime suspect

After denying having any links to Ramirez’s murder, even after owning a white van, similar to the one with which Ramirez was kidnapped, the police had acquired a search warrant for the Accurate Transmission shop, which Van told the police about. Van’s white van was found in the shop, with some other evidence.

Other than finding the blue towel dispensers that were also found in Ramirez’s body, the police also found a drop of blood in the office of the Accurate Transmission Shop, but it could not be used for DNA testing at that time.

However, the police still had evidence to arrest Van, which they did in 1996, but shockingly had to let him go after discovering his marriage to Esparza, which took place in Las Vegas. This halted the case as they could not use Esparza’s testimony to prosecute Gianni.

4) With new evidence, Patricia Esparza is arrested

In the following years, Esparza left the US and lived in France with her husband, Jorge Mancillas, who had also become a psychology professor. By being so far away from the US, Esparza did not know that detective Dean Fulcher had not given up and was still trying to acquire new evidence in the Ramirez murder case.

After almost 15 years, Fulcher found new evidence, such as the re-test of the drop of blood, hinting that it could be Ramirez’s and also Nancy Luna’s interview, who told them that Esparza pointed at Ramirez to Van in the nightclub. This proved that Esparza had lied to them, and they waited for her to come back to the US.

In October 2012, the time finally came when Esparza landed in the US and was arrested by the police. She denied being involved in the torture and murder of Gonzalo Ramirez. She told the police that she was forced to witness the torture that Gianni and the others inflicted on Ramirez.

5) Patricia, Gianni, and others face trials for their crimes

As per Dateline, Patricia went on to refuse plea deals and testify against Gianni as she didn’t want to plead guilty to the murder, which, according to her, she was not part of. However, the case took a turn when Diane Tran, one of the accused and the co-owner of the Auto repair shop, took the plea deal and testified against the others.

She detailed that Esparza was lying and that she was an active participant and witnessed the torture that Ramirez was going through willingly. This new information forced Esparza to take the plea deal, and she was sentenced to six years in prison in 2016 and was released in 2018.

As per Dateline, Gianni Van was charged with Ramirez’s torture and murder and was sent to prison for life with the help of Esparza’s testimony.