Highlights
- Renata Bateman's remains were found February 13, 1993, in the desert off N. Pima Road in Scottsdale, a case still open after three decades.
- Bateman died from blunt-force trauma to the head; she was last heard from January 13, 1993, one month before her body was discovered.
- Her daughter, writing in Phoenix New Times, says Scottsdale PD has done little to advance the investigation.
- Scottsdale PD maintains a public cold-case and persons-of-interest page, but Bateman's case does not appear among the listed entries.
Renata Bateman's remains were found on February 13, 1993, in the desert off N. Pima Road in Scottsdale, roughly a month after she was last heard from on January 13 of that year. She was killed by blunt-force trauma to the head from an unidentified object, according to Project: Cold Case, a nonprofit that documents unsolved homicides.
Bateman was born in Phoenix and raised in Arizona. She was the mother of five daughters, who were placed in foster care at the time of her death. Her daughter Jalonda was 8 years old when Bateman was killed.
In an opinion piece published Monday by Phoenix New Times, a daughter of Bateman's writes that Scottsdale police have not done much to advance the investigation in the decades since the murder. The piece calls on Scottsdale PD to take more active steps toward solving the case.
The Scottsdale Police Department's public-facing cold-case page lists wanted persons, missing persons, and persons of interest, including cases dating to 1990. The Bateman homicide does not appear among the entries currently listed.
The case is documented in the Project: Cold Case database and was included in an AZCentral photo gallery of Scottsdale cold cases. ABC15 also listed the Bateman case among unsolved February homicides in the Valley.
Who was Renata Bateman?
Bateman was a Phoenix-born Arizona resident and mother of five. She enjoyed bowling and fishing and owned her own bowling ball, according to Project: Cold Case. Her remains were discovered in the Scottsdale desert more than a month after she was last in contact with anyone who knew her.
Scottsdale PD has not publicly announced any arrests or named suspects in the case. The Signal has submitted a public-records inquiry to Scottsdale PD regarding the current investigative status of the Bateman homicide; a response is pending.
Sources
Every factual claim in this article traces to one of the sources below. See how we work for the editorial process.
- projectcoldcase.org retrieved 13/07/2026 13:35
- Phoenix New Times retrieved 13/07/2026 13:35
- City of Scottsdale retrieved 13/07/2026 13:35
Authored by The Scottsdale Signal. Drafted by AI from primary-source material under our beat-specific editorial guides; reviewed by humans before publish under our five-gate process. Sources retrieved at 13/07/2026 13:35. Every claim traces to a source.
