In the quiet, pre-dawn hours of Wednesday, May 11, 2016, deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department responded to an emergency call reporting an unresponsive person who was not breathing at a residential property in Lakewood. The location was in the 6200 block of Carpintero Avenue, a modest residential street situated just north of Long Beach and west of the San Gabriel River. When deputies arrived at the residence around 3:35 a.m., they discovered 24-year-old Erick David Maturano Borja, a Hispanic male resident of nearby Hawaiian Gardens, unconscious and showing no signs of life. Medical personnel were unable to revive him, and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
The sudden and violent nature of the incident immediately drew homicide investigators from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau. Initial coroner records categorized the death under general or pending classifications while an autopsy was scheduled to determine the precise physical mechanics of his death. However, responding investigators quickly learned from a witness at the scene that Maturano Borja had been attacked and subjected to apparent strangulation. Detectives Ralph Hernandez and John Carlin took charge of the investigation into what had transpired inside the apartment during the early morning hours.
According to investigators, another man was present at the residence when the fatal encounter occurred. This witness provided detectives with critical firsthand details, stating that he saw a third person physically strangle Maturano Borja inside the residence. After the assault was carried out, the assailant immediately fled the premises into the darkness before law enforcement could be summoned.
The day after the killing, the Sheriff's Department issued a public bulletin asking for help locating a person of interest believed to have been at the residence when Maturano Borja was killed. Detectives described the individual as a white adult male, approximately 5 feet 11 inches tall with a medium build, brown eyes, and light brown or short blonde hair. At the time of the homicide, he was seen wearing a green U.S. Marines sweatshirt and blue jeans. Authorities released this description to regional news outlets across Southern California in hopes that neighbors, acquaintances, or anyone who saw someone matching that description running from the Carpintero Avenue area would come forward.
Despite the presence of an eyewitness and the release of a detailed description of the person seen at the apartment, no suspect was ever formally identified, arrested, or charged in connection with the homicide. The motive behind the dispute that turned fatal remains completely undisclosed to the public. In 2016, Los Angeles County witnessed hundreds of violent homicides handled across various sheriff and municipal jurisdictions, leaving detectives stretched thin as leads steadily went cold.
Years have passed since Erick David Maturano Borja was killed, and the case remains an active, unsolved murder. Detectives continue to believe that someone in the Hawaiian Gardens or Lakewood communities holds crucial details about the identity of the person who wore the green military sweatshirt that morning. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Homicide Bureau and Crime Stoppers have repeatedly maintained calls for tips, urging anyone who may know something about the crime or the suspect's whereabouts to come forward and finally bring answers to Maturano Borja's family.
