Rafael Martinez Lucca was 45 years old when he died on Wednesday, April 12, 2017, in Paramount. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 6500 San Juan St. 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 mid-40s. Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Rafael Martinez Lucca 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 full name is unusual, and the few search results that come close to it concern other people, including a historian in Venezuela and people named in Brazilian court records.
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 record gives a specific address on San Juan Street, which suggests that he may have been hurt at or near a home rather than on a commercial boulevard.
Paramount is a small, densely populated city in southeast Los Angeles County, between Compton, Downey, Bellflower and Long Beach. It was formed in 1948 from two farm towns, Hynes and Clearwater, and for years was a center of dairy farming and hay markets. Today it is a city of working families, with small houses and apartment buildings on residential streets, industrial businesses along its edges, and the Los Angeles River and two freeways nearby. Paramount contracts with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department for police services, which is why the Sheriff's Homicide Bureau took this case.
On a residential street like San Juan Street, neighbors often notice what happens around them: a fight in a driveway, a car speeding away, a man who did not come home. Someone who lived near the 6500 block in April 2017 may remember something about that day that seemed small at the time. 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 Rafael Martinez Lucca 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 lived near the 6500 block of San Juan Street in Paramount in April 2017, or who knew Rafael and saw him in the days before he died, 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.
