Miguel Herrera was 55 years old when he died on Monday, October 15, 2018, in Lennox. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 10805 S. Inglewood Ave. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau case.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Miguel Herrera 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. Miguel Herrera is a very common name across Southern California and Latin America, which makes it hard to trace any one man who carried it, and none of the many public records under that name could be tied to the man who died in Lennox.
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. The address recorded for his death is on Inglewood Avenue, one of the main streets through Lennox, which suggests that he may have been hurt on or near a busy stretch of road rather than in a quiet residential block, though the record does not say so.
Lennox is a small unincorporated community in Los Angeles County, surrounded by the cities of Inglewood and Hawthorne and lying just east of Los Angeles International Airport. Because it is not a city, it has no police department of its own, and law enforcement there is handled by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Planes approaching LAX pass low over the neighborhood throughout the day and night. Lennox is densely populated, with many apartment buildings and small homes.
A man in his mid-50s who died on a commercial street in a crowded neighborhood may have been seen by more people than investigators ever reached. Shop owners, drivers, bus riders and residents of nearby apartments might have noticed an argument, a fight, a vehicle leaving quickly or a man on the ground without realizing that what they saw ended in a death.
Hundreds of people are killed in Los Angeles County every year, and a large share of those killings end without an arrest.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Miguel Herrera 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 the 10800 block of South Inglewood Avenue in Lennox in mid-October 2018, or who knew a 55-year-old man named Miguel Herrera who lived or spent time in the area, 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.
