Alrelio Parra Asanaza was 44 years old when he died on Monday, July 15, 2013, eight days after he was attacked in South Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma near 460 E. 110th St., in the Broadway-Manchester area also known as Green Meadows. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department case handled by the Criminal Gang Homicide Division.
Unlike many short entries in the Los Angeles Times Homicide Report, his case came with some detail from detectives. "Asanaza, a street vendor, was pushing a fruit cart at 9:30 p.m. July 7 when he was attacked by three " LAPD Detective Supervisor Sal LaBarbera told the Times. "The men struck Asanaza in the head with a blunt object and robbed him," LaBarbera said. He was taken to a hospital, where he died on July 15 at 4:20 p.m., according to coroner's records.
That brief account is all that has been made public. Detectives did not say how much money was taken, whether anyone saw the attack, or whether investigators had identified any of the three men. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for this story, and no other news outlet appears to have reported on his death. He surely had family, friends or regular customers who remember him, but none of that has entered the public record.
Street vendors are a familiar part of life in Los Angeles. Men and women pushing carts of cut fruit, ice cream or corn work long hours on neighborhood sidewalks, often late into the evening, and many carry their day's earnings in cash. That makes them vulnerable to robbery, and attacks on vendors have long been a concern in the city. Alrelio was still working at 9:30 at night when he was attacked, which suggests the long days that many vendors keep.
Green Meadows and Broadway-Manchester lie in South Los Angeles, south of Manchester Avenue and east of the Harbor Freeway. The area is mostly made up of single-family homes and small apartment buildings on residential streets, crossed by commercial corridors such as Broadway and Main Street. Once a largely Black community, it has become home to a large Latino population over the past several decades, and street vending is part of daily life there.
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 Alrelio Parra Asanaza 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 was near East 110th Street on the night of July 7, 2013, who bought fruit from him, or who heard talk of a robbery of a vendor in the neighborhood that summer, may hold information that could help. The Times listed the number for the LAPD's Criminal Gang Homicide Division as 485-1381. 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.
