Maria Helena Salibian was 71 years old when she died on Wednesday, October 18, 2017, in Chatsworth. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, she died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 21001 Devonshire St. Her death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department Valley Bureau Homicide case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report, which draws on coroner's records, lists her as a 71-year-old white woman and gives no other details about how she was hurt. No news story about her death could be found.
The only public account of what happened to her comes from a civil court record. A lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, titled Sevag Salibian et al. vs. Bank of America Corporation et al., names Maria Salibian as the decedent. An excerpt of the court record states: "The robbery included an assault, which tragically resulted in the death of Decedent, Maria Salibian." That one sentence suggests that she was attacked during a robbery and died of her injuries. The fact that Bank of America was named as a defendant suggests that the plaintiffs connected the robbery to the bank in some way, but the available excerpt does not explain that connection, and it is not publicly known how the civil case ended.
No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found. She surely had family and friends who remember who she was, and the lawsuit shows that relatives pursued answers through the courts, but the details of her life have not entered the public record.
The record does not say what time of day she was hurt, whether she died at the scene or later at a hospital, whether anyone saw the attack, or whether investigators ever identified a suspect. If the robbery was carried out by a stranger, the attacker may have had no other connection to her at all, which can make such cases especially hard to solve.
Chatsworth sits in the far northwest corner of the San Fernando Valley, inside the city of Los Angeles. It is known for its rocky hills and boulder formations, its horse properties and ranch-style homes, and the wide commercial boulevards that serve its residents. Devonshire Street is one of the area's main east-west roads, lined in places with shopping centers and offices. For many longtime residents, it is a quiet, suburban corner of the city where violent crime against an older woman would come as a shock.
By the mid-2010s Los Angeles was recording roughly 250 to 300 homicides a year, among the lowest totals in decades, yet many of those killings still went unsolved.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Maria Helena Salibian could be found in news archives or public records. More than eight years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was near Devonshire Street in Chatsworth in mid-October 2017, or who saw a robbery or a struggle involving an older woman there, 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 call the Los Angeles Police Department at 877-527-3247 or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
