Abel Herrera Morales was 59 years old when he died on Tuesday, November 20, 2012, ten days after he was found badly hurt in Bell Gardens. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 7701 S. Garfield Avenue. 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, which identified him as Abel Morales, gave a brief account based on coroner's records. On Saturday, November 10, paramedics discovered him "laying face-down on a driveway around 7 p.m." He had sustained blunt head and face trauma. He was taken to a local hospital and placed on life support, and he never recovered. He died ten days later. The report does not say who called for help, whether anyone saw him being hurt, or whether detectives believed he had been beaten, struck with an object or knocked to the ground.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he was found, almost nothing about Abel Herrera Morales 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 beyond the Times. He surely had family, friends or neighbors who remember who he was, but none of that has entered the public record. His name is a fairly common one, and searches turned up only other men who share it, in other states and other years.
The ten days between the attack and his death matter. In cases like this one, detectives often do not learn that an assault has become a homicide until the victim dies, and by then the scene may have changed, surveillance video may have been recorded over and witnesses may have scattered. A driveway on a major street is a place where someone may have seen or heard something without realizing how serious it was.
Bell Gardens is a small, densely populated city in southeast Los Angeles County. It is a working-class community of modest homes, apartment buildings and small businesses, and it is perhaps best known as the home of the Bicycle Hotel and Casino. Garfield Avenue is one of the city's main north-south streets, lined with shops, restaurants and homes, and it carries steady traffic through the evening.
At 7 p.m. on a Saturday in November it would have been dark, but the avenue would still have been busy with drivers, pedestrians and people heading home or going out for the night.
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 Abel Herrera Morales could be found in news archives or public records. More than 13 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was on South Garfield Avenue in Bell Gardens on the evening of November 10, 2012, or who knew Abel, may hold information that could help detectives. 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.
