Axel Gavin Herrera was a baby, only seven months old, when he died on Thursday, September 28, 2017. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Huntington Park Police Department case. The public record does not give an address for where he was hurt.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report, which draws on coroner's records, lists him as a Latino boy and gives no other details. No news story about his death could be found.
An online obituary listing posted through a Long Beach funeral home gives his full name, Axel Gavin Herrera, and his dates: February 12, 2017, to September 28, 2017. He lived for seven and a half months. The listing also notes a date of October 17, 2017, in Los Angeles, which may have been the date of a service, and carries a short line of remembrance: "Haven gained another angel." No written obituary, photograph caption or family names appear in the saved excerpt.
Because so little has been released, even the basic circumstances of his death remain unknown to the public. The record does not say where he was when he was hurt, who was caring for him, whether he died at home or at a hospital, or whether investigators ever identified anyone responsible. When an infant dies of blunt force trauma, detectives typically examine the child's medical history and the accounts of every adult who cared for him, and such cases can take months to build. None of those steps in this case have been made public.
Huntington Park is a small, densely populated city in southeast Los Angeles County, south of downtown Los Angeles. It has its own police department and is known for Pacific Boulevard, a long commercial street of shops and restaurants that draws shoppers from across the region. Much of the city is made up of older single-family homes and apartment buildings, many of them home to large working families.
A baby's life of seven months leaves few records behind: a birth certificate, perhaps a few doctor's visits, photographs kept by the people who loved him. Axel Gavin Herrera had no chance to build a life of his own, and his death has passed almost without public notice.
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 Axel Gavin Herrera 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 knew Axel Gavin Herrera or the people caring for him in September 2017, or who saw or heard something that worried them at the time, may hold information that could help investigators. 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 Huntington Park Police Department, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
