Gina Marie Abila was 46 years old when she died on Friday, July 30, 2021, in Bellflower, a city in southeast Los Angeles County. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, she died after sustaining blunt force trauma near 14317 Clark Avenue. Her death was ruled a homicide and assigned to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau.
She was a Latina woman in the middle of her life, and her family name, Abila, is an old one in Southern California. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for this story, and no news outlet reported on her death. The Sheriff's Department, which provides police services to Bellflower under contract, did not issue a press release about her case that could be found, and no public appeal for information connected to her name was located.
That leaves the circumstances of her death unknown to the public. The record gives a street address on Clark Avenue, one of Bellflower's main north-south streets, but it does not say whether she was attacked in a home, on the sidewalk or in a parking lot, whether she was struck by a person or by a vehicle, whether she knew the person responsible, or whether she died at the scene or later at a hospital. Nothing published says whether detectives identified a suspect, or whether anyone was ever questioned. Even the time of day she was hurt has not been made public.
Bellflower, a city of about 80,000 people, sits between Downey, Paramount, Lakewood and Norwalk. It began as a farming community known for its dairies and orchards and grew into a dense suburb of modest homes and apartment complexes after World War II. Clark Avenue runs through the center of the city, past schools, churches and small shopping centers. The city has no police department of its own, so homicides there are handled by the Sheriff's Homicide Bureau.
Killings rose sharply that year in the areas the Sheriff's Department patrols. Sheriff Alex Villanueva said in January 2022 that homicides in those areas were up 94 percent from 2019 to 2021, from 145 in 2019, according to ABC7. In the city of Los Angeles, 2021 brought 397 homicides, the most since 2006, the Los Angeles Times reported. Women killed by blunt force made up a small share of those deaths, and many of their cases, like hers, drew no press attention at all.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Gina Marie Abila could be found in news archives or public records. More than four years later, as far as the public record shows, no one has been held responsible. People who knew her, or who were on Clark Avenue in Bellflower around July 30, 2021, may hold information that could help detectives. Even a small detail, such as a name overheard, a vehicle seen nearby or a conversation remembered, can help detectives move a case forward. Anyone with information can contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
