Neftaly Chavez was 53 years old when he died on Monday, April 10, 2017, in Arleta, a neighborhood in the northeast San Fernando Valley. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at Bartee Avenue and Van Nuys Boulevard. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department case assigned to its Mission Hills division.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report listed him as a Latino man. Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Neftaly Chavez 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. Chavez is one of the most common surnames in Southern California, and while Neftaly is a less common first name, public records turn up several other men called Neftaly Chavez, none of whom can be tied to the man who died in Arleta.
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 location itself is the clearest detail in the record. The coroner placed the death at an intersection rather than a house number, which suggests that he may have been found outdoors, on or near the street. That is an inference only; the record does not say where he was when he was hurt.
Arleta is a mostly residential community of single-family homes, small apartment buildings and local businesses, sitting near Pacoima and Panorama City. Van Nuys Boulevard, one of the longest commercial streets in the San Fernando Valley, runs through the area and carries steady traffic and bus riders at most hours of the day. Shops, auto businesses, restaurants and bus stops line the boulevard, and smaller residential streets branch off on either side. A busy corridor like this one sees many people pass through every day, and some of them may have noticed something on the day Neftaly Chavez was hurt without realizing what it meant.
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 Neftaly Chavez 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 Bartee Avenue and Van Nuys Boulevard in Arleta in April 2017, or who knew Neftaly Chavez 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 call the Los Angeles Police Department at 877-527-3247 or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
