Zaruhi Pilikyan was 53 years old when she died on Friday, October 2, 2015, in Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, she died after sustaining blunt force trauma. The coroner's record as published by the Los Angeles Times does not give an address. Her death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department case assigned to its West Valley division.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report listed her as a woman of 53, and it gave no race or ethnicity and no neighborhood. Beyond her name, her age and the place where she died, almost nothing about Zaruhi Pilikyan 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. She surely had family, friends or neighbors who remember who she was, but none of that has entered the public record. Her name is uncommon, and a search of public records turns up almost nothing under it beyond a single people-search listing that cannot be tied with confidence to the woman who died.
Because so little has been released, even the basic circumstances remain unknown to the public. The record does not say whether she 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 she was hurt, whether she died at the scene or later at a hospital, whether anyone saw what happened, or whether investigators ever identified a suspect.
The absence of an address is unusual in itself. Most entries in the Homicide Report give at least a block number or an intersection. Without one, the public cannot say whether she died at home, on a street, in a business or in a hospital after being hurt somewhere else. The only geographic clue is the name of the police division assigned to the case.
The LAPD's West Valley division serves a stretch of the western and central San Fernando Valley that includes communities such as Reseda, Tarzana and Encino. It is a large and varied area. Quiet residential streets of single-family homes sit beside apartment complexes, strip malls and busy boulevards such as Ventura Boulevard and Sherman Way. Many families have lived in these neighborhoods for decades, and the area is home to people from many backgrounds. The division assignment suggests that Zaruhi Pilikyan was hurt or found somewhere within those boundaries, though the record does not say where.
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 Zaruhi Pilikyan could be found in news archives or public records. More than ten years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who knew Zaruhi Pilikyan, or who lived or worked near her in the West Valley in late September or early October 2015, 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.
