Ramon Adrian Estrada was 36 years old when he died on Monday, Aug. 4, 2014, almost four weeks after he was beaten on a Hollywood street. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma in front of 1159 N. Citrus Ave. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department West Bureau Homicide case. A Forest Lawn obituary under the name Ramon Adrian Estrada-Perez says he was born on Aug. 15, 1977, in Guerrero, Chihuahua, Mexico.
In the early morning of July 7, 2014, Estrada left the Gold Coast, a bar on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood where he was a regular. He called his partner of 13 years, Michael Shutt, to say he was on his way home and to ask him to leave the door unlocked because he had forgotten his keys. "He called at about 1:45 in the morning and said, 'Can you open the door?' It just sounded normal to me," Shutt told ABC7. Estrada never made it to the apartment, two blocks away near Lexington and Citrus avenues. According to FOX 11, he was walking north on Citrus Avenue toward Lexington Avenue at about 2 a.m. when three men attacked him and apparently took his cash and wallet, and security cameras showed them getting into what may have been a Lexus RX-350 driven by a fourth man. Other reports said he was found unconscious between parked cars near Santa Monica Boulevard and Mansfield Avenue.
His phone and identification were gone, and his hands were too swollen to fingerprint, so Cedars-Sinai Medical Center admitted him as a John Doe. Shutt filed a missing persons report, and about a week later an officer at Hollywood Division recognized his photo. Estrada never regained consciousness. "Justice needs to be paid," Shutt said. Friends described him as compassionate and extremely kind. Police examined whether the attack was a hate crime, and Det. Scott Masterson said investigators "lost a lot of valuable time" because Estrada could not be identified. The LAPD offered a $50,000 reward, and the Los Angeles LGBT Center held a remembrance gathering.
The blocks where Estrada was attacked lie in Hollywood, not far from West Hollywood, where apartment buildings stand near the bars, clubs and restaurants of Santa Monica Boulevard. Late at night many people walk home through these streets from the nightlife district.
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. In this case detectives had video, a possible vehicle model and descriptions of three young men seen running from the area, yet no arrest was ever reported.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Ramon Adrian Estrada 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. Someone who was on Citrus Avenue or Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood around 2 a.m. on July 7, 2014, or who knows of a light-colored Lexus SUV and four men out that night, may be able to help. Even a small detail, such as a name overheard, a vehicle seen nearby or a conversation remembered, can help detectives move a case forward. Detectives have asked anyone with information to call West Bureau Homicide at 213-382-9470. 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.
