Jesse Anthony Calderon was 56 years old when he died on Tuesday, December 2, 2014, in the Castaic area of northern Los Angeles County. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma near 29340 The Old Road. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department case handled by the department's Homicide Bureau.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report listed him as a white man and placed his death in the area it calls Castaic Canyons. Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Jesse Anthony Calderon 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. Jesse Calderon is a common name in California and the Southwest, and searches for it turn up many other men, among them a World War II veteran from Claremont who died in 2009, a 90-year-old from Texas and a father in Arizona, none of whom can be tied to the man who died near Castaic.
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 places his death near a numbered address rather than at it, which suggests that he may have been found outdoors or along the road, though the record does not say so.
The Old Road is a long frontage road that runs beside Interstate 5 through the Santa Clarita Valley, carrying local traffic past homes, businesses and open hillsides. Castaic is an unincorporated community at the north end of the valley, best known for Castaic Lake and its recreation area, and for its rugged canyons, ranch land and scattered neighborhoods along the freeway corridor leading north toward the Grapevine. Because Castaic is not a city, law enforcement there is handled by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, and the investigation of his death fell to the department's homicide detectives.
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 Jesse Anthony Calderon could be found in news archives or public records. More than 11 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was on or near The Old Road in Castaic in early December 2014, or who knew Jesse Anthony Calderon and why he might have been in that area, may hold information that could help investigators. 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.
