REWARD OFFERED IN JUNE SLAYING OF 15-YEAR-OLD.

Byline: Josh Kleinbaum Staff Writer

Rocio Rodriguez wasn't afraid to discipline her son, Ramiro Guardado, grounding the 15-year-old if he did something wrong.

On June 29, Ramiro didn't do anything wrong.

``That day was a good day,'' Rodriguez said Tuesday. ``He took the whole day painting his bike. He told me, 'Mom, can I go show Larry the bike?' I told him yes. I didn't have reason to tell him no.

``I never saw him again.''

Ramiro was gunned down at 7:30 p.m., in front of his friend's house. For more than two months, police have been searching for the man suspected of being the killer, Manuel Virgen, 23, of Sylmar. On Tuesday, police announced a $50,000 reward for information leading to Virgen's arrest and conviction in hopes that word of the reward offer would reach Mexico and lead to the suspect's arrest.

``I am so desperate and so upset and so mad,'' Rodriguez said. ``I know my son is not coming back. I know that, we know that. But we want to make sure he's not going to kill other children, another innocent kid like my son was.''

Police identified Virgen as a suspect soon after Ramiro's murder, but have been unable to track him down. He may have been seen in San Fernando about a month ago, and he has family in Michoacan, Mexico, Mission Area homicide Detective Mike Oppelt said.

``We had some clues generated from that first press conference that we exhausted,'' Oppelt said. ``Needless to say, he has not been captured as a result of those efforts. In an attempt to rejuvenate interest, Councilman (Alex) Padilla came across with the reward offer.''

Police believe Virgen approached Ramiro, an acquaintance, in front of his friend's house. The two had a brief conversation, and then Virgen shot Ramiro and drove off in his green 1994 Volkswagen Jetta.

A witness told Rodriguez that her son had asked one question during the brief exchange - if it was true that Virgen had broken up with his girlfriend.

``The level of callousness is at a much higher level in this case'' than other murders, Oppelt said. ``So many of the ones we handle, there's involvement on the part of the victim that may have contributed to his demise. By our estimation, you just don't have that here.''

Padilla said he pushed for the reward because the Los Angeles Police Department is so close to solving the case.

``It's not just about putting information of what happened together, it's not just getting information on the identity of a suspect with confidence,'' Padilla said. ``We know what happened, we know who it is, we just need to find him and put him behind bars.''

Police are trying to spread the word of the reward offer to Mexico, hoping that someone may have seen Virgen there.

Virgen has black hair, brown eyes and weighs 165 pounds. He is missing a front upper tooth, police said.

``We have a 15-year-old kid who was gunned down for no reason before he had a chance to live his life,'' Mission Area Capt. Kirk Albanese said. ``We want to bring justice to the family.''

Josh Kleinbaum, [phone]

josh.kleinbaum(at)dailynews.com

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Anyone with information about murder suspect Manuel Virgen is asked to call homicide detectives at [phone]; or [phone] during nights and weekends.