Buenaventura Ramos Nolasco was 62 years old when he died on Sunday, December 8, 2013, in Palmdale. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 37850 20th St. East. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report recorded his death with only the basic facts drawn from coroner's records: his name, his age, the date, the address and the cause. It did not describe what happened to him, and no sheriff's statement or news story about the case could be found. The few other web pages that mention his name simply repeat the Times record.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Buenaventura Ramos Nolasco 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. His full name is distinctive, and searches for it lead almost nowhere. A government list from Honduras names a much younger man called Buenaventura Nolasco Amaya, who cannot be him.
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 gives a specific street address rather than an intersection, which suggests that he may have been hurt or found at a home or other property on 20th Street East, but it does not say whether he lived there.
Palmdale is the largest city in the Antelope Valley, in the high desert of northern Los Angeles County, on the far side of the San Gabriel Mountains from the Los Angeles basin. It grew quickly from the 1980s onward as families came looking for more affordable housing, and many residents commute long distances over the Antelope Valley Freeway to jobs in the San Fernando Valley and beyond. The city is closely tied to the aerospace industry through Air Force Plant 42, where some of the country's best-known military aircraft have been built and tested. Palmdale contracts with the Sheriff's Department for its police services, and homicides there are investigated by the department's Homicide Bureau.
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 Buenaventura Ramos Nolasco could be found in news archives or public records. More than 12 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who lived near 20th Street East in Palmdale in December 2013, or who knew a 62-year-old man named Buenaventura Ramos Nolasco, 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.
