COVINA, Calif. (KABC) — Two decades after the kidnapping and murder of a Burbank woman, her family is still hoping for justice, and they are more determined than ever to reopen their case and find her killer.

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

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

This group has met every year for 20 years to celebrate her birthday – without her.

“Twenty years later, we still haven’t gotten justice on his behalf,” said Sandra Santos, Sharon’s sister.

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

His sister says no one has been arrested in connection with his death.

“It was devastating. We had hoped for a better outcome. She disappeared and we just thought ‘OK, she’s somewhere’, a lot of us were just angry. And so far we haven’t couldn’t get justice from the court who did this,” Haynes said.

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

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

As Sharon’s group of relatives gathers for another year – on the 20th anniversary of her death – they now plan to launch a grassroots campaign to have her case reopened, and they hope this can spread throughout the world. the community to finally obtain justice for them. .

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