Osbaldo Treto was 42 years old when he died on Friday, July 13, 2018, in Florence-Firestone, an unincorporated community in South Los Angeles County. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 7410 Marbrisa Avenue. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau case.
The coroner's records describe him as a Latino man in his early 40s. Very little else about him has been made public. An online obituary gives his date of birth as July 29, 1975, which means he died about two weeks before what would have been his 43rd birthday. The obituary notes that his arrangements were handled by Funeraria del Angel in Bellflower, which suggests that relatives arranged his funeral, but it does not include a life story, a list of relatives or details of a service. No news outlet appears to have reported on his death, and no family fundraiser or memorial page could be found.
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 in the record is a house number on a residential street, which suggests that he may have been hurt at or near a home, but that is only an inference.
Florence-Firestone lies between the city of Los Angeles and the cities of Huntington Park, South Gate and Lynwood. Because it is unincorporated, it has no city government or police department of its own, and the Sheriff's Department patrols it. It is one of the most densely populated parts of the county, with small houses, apartments and corner businesses packed onto a tight street grid, and the Metro rail line linking downtown Los Angeles and Long Beach runs through it. Marbrisa Avenue is one of its residential streets, the kind of block where neighbors notice cars and visitors.
Hundreds of people are killed in Los Angeles County every year, and a large share of those killings end without an arrest. The death of Osbaldo Treto appears to be one of those cases.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Osbaldo Treto 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 knew Osbaldo, who lived near Marbrisa Avenue in Florence-Firestone, or who remembers a fight, a disturbance or an injured man in that area in mid-July 2018 may hold information that could help. 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.
