Jose Samuel Hernandez was 58 years old when he died on Thursday, April 18, 2019, in Sun Valley, in the northeast San Fernando Valley. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at the intersection of San Fernando Road and Olinda Street. His death was ruled a homicide.
He was a Latino man in his late 50s. Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Jose Samuel Hernandez 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 one of the most common in Southern California, and searches turned up only other men who share it.
The case is listed with the Los Angeles Police Department's Valley Traffic Division, the unit that investigates serious and fatal collisions in the San Fernando Valley. That strongly suggests that he was struck by a vehicle, possibly in a hit-and-run, rather than beaten. A death caused by a driver can be ruled a homicide when the driver acted with gross recklessness, used the vehicle as a weapon or fled the scene. The public record does not say which of these, if any, applies to his case. It does not say whether he was walking, riding a bicycle or in another vehicle, what time it happened, or whether the driver was ever identified.
San Fernando Road is one of the main arteries of the northeast Valley. Through Sun Valley it runs alongside railroad tracks and is lined with auto shops, recycling yards, warehouses, small factories and the occasional home. Trucks and fast-moving traffic share the road with pedestrians, many of whom walk to bus stops or to work, and long stretches have few crosswalks and little lighting at night. Sun Valley itself is a working-class, largely Latino community known for its gravel pits, landfills and industrial yards as well as its residential streets.
Los Angeles has one of the highest rates of hit-and-run crashes in the country, and thousands of them are reported every year. Most are never solved, because the driver leaves the scene before anyone can note a license plate. Los Angeles recorded about 260 homicides in 2019, among the lowest yearly totals in more than half a century, yet many of those killings still went unsolved.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Jose Samuel Hernandez could be found in news archives or public records. More than seven years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was near San Fernando Road and Olinda Street around April 18, 2019, saw a damaged vehicle afterward, or knew him may hold information that could help detectives. Businesses along the road often have security cameras. 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 call the Los Angeles Police Department at 877-527-3247 or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
