Jose Avelar Salado was 58 years old when he died on Wednesday, April 6, 2016, in downtown Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma in front of 527 East 6th Street. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department case handled by the department's Central Division.
He was a man in his late 50s, listed in the coroner's records as white. Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Jose Avelar Salado 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. Searches for his name turned up only other men named Jose Salado elsewhere in the country and abroad.
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 does say that he was hurt in front of an address on East 6th Street, which places the attack on the sidewalk or in the street rather than inside a home.
The 500 block of East 6th Street lies in the eastern part of downtown Los Angeles, in the area widely known as Skid Row. For decades Skid Row has had one of the largest concentrations of homeless people in the United States. Its blocks hold missions, shelters, single-room-occupancy hotels and social service agencies, and on many sidewalks tents and makeshift shelters stretch from corner to corner. Violence is a constant danger, and people who live outdoors are especially vulnerable to robberies, fights and attacks while they sleep. Yet residents often know who sleeps where and who was around on a given night.
The record does not say whether he lived on Skid Row, stayed in one of the nearby hotels or shelters, or was only passing through. Witnesses on these blocks may be reluctant to speak with police or may move away, which makes it all the more important that anyone who remembers comes forward.
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. The death of a 58-year-old man from blunt force injuries on a downtown sidewalk does not appear to have been reported by any news outlet.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Jose Avelar Salado could be found in news archives or public records. More than nine years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was on East 6th Street in early April 2016, including people who lived in the area's shelters, hotels or encampments, 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.
