Jose Miguel Valencia was 54 years old when he was found dead on Monday, July 27, 2015, in Highland Park. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma in the 4700 block of North Figueroa Street. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department Northeast Area case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report gave a few details drawn from police and coroner's records. "Shortly before 3:30 p.m., a person found Valencia, who suffered multiple blunt-force head injuries, in a stairwell leading up to a pedestrian bridge," the report said. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 3:30 p.m. The report did not say who found him, how long he had been there, or whether anyone had seen him earlier that day.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he was found, almost nothing about Jose Miguel Valencia has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for this story, and no news outlet other than the Times appears to have reported on the death. Jose Miguel Valencia is a common name in Mexico, Colombia, Spain and the United States, and the public records found under it belong to other men, including an athlete, a man arrested in Massachusetts and people with criminal cases elsewhere. None of them can be tied to the 54-year-old who died in Highland Park.
Much remains unknown. The record does not say whether he lived nearby, whether he was walking to or from the bridge, whether he was robbed, or whether he knew the person who attacked him. "Multiple blunt-force head injuries" suggests that he was struck more than once, possibly with an object, but police have not said what was used.
Highland Park is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Los Angeles, lying northeast of downtown along the Arroyo Seco. It is known for its Craftsman houses, its historic buildings and the Metro Gold Line, and in the 2010s it became one of the most talked-about examples of gentrification in the city, as new cafes, bars and shops opened along York Boulevard and Figueroa Street. North Figueroa Street is the neighborhood's main commercial street, lined with small businesses, churches and apartment buildings.
A man found in the middle of the afternoon on a busy commercial street may have been seen by people who never realized that what they witnessed mattered. Pedestrians who used the bridge, shopkeepers, bus riders and neighbors might have noticed him earlier that day, or noticed someone leaving the stairwell in a hurry.
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 Jose Miguel Valencia 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 was near the 4700 block of North Figueroa Street in Highland Park in late July 2015, or who knew a 54-year-old man named Jose Miguel Valencia, may hold information that could help detectives. The Times report asked anyone with information to call the LAPD's Northeast Division homicide detectives at 344-5731. 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.
