Rosendo Ramirez Jr. was 51 years old when he died on Monday, June 1, 2020, in Downey, a city in southeast Los Angeles County. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma near 12603 Izetta Avenue. His death was ruled a homicide, and it was investigated by the Downey Police Department.
The Medical Examiner's record lists him as an Asian man in his early 50s. Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Rosendo Ramirez Jr. has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for this story, and no news outlet appears to have reported on the death. He surely had family, friends or neighbors who remember who he was, but none of that has entered the public record. His name is shared by many people, and searches turned up only obituaries of others.
Because so little has been released, even the basic circumstances remain unknown to the public. The record does not say whether he was beaten in a fight, attacked by a stranger, assaulted indoors or on the street, or struck by a vehicle, all of which can lead to a finding of blunt force trauma. It does not say what time of day he was hurt, whether he died at the scene or later at a hospital, whether anyone saw what happened, or whether investigators ever identified a suspect. Izetta Avenue is a residential street, and the record does not say whether the address was his home.
Downey is a city of about 110,000 people between the 605 and 710 freeways, known as a solidly middle-class community with tree-lined streets of single-family homes. It is the home of the oldest operating McDonald's restaurant, and for decades it was a center of the aerospace industry, where parts of the Apollo spacecraft and the space shuttle were built. The city has its own police department, and homicides there are relatively rare compared with neighboring communities. A beating death on a quiet residential street is unusual for Downey.
His death came on June 1, 2020, during a turbulent week in Southern California, as protests over the police killing of George Floyd spread across the region and many cities, including Downey's neighbors, imposed curfews. Homicides rose sharply across Los Angeles County in 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, after years of relatively low numbers, and detectives were stretched across a growing caseload. Many of those killings were shootings that drew at least brief coverage on local television.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Rosendo Ramirez Jr. could be found in news archives or public records. More than six years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Neighbors near the 12600 block of Izetta Avenue may remember an argument, a fight or a police response in late May or early June 2020, and anyone who knew him 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 Downey Police Department, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
