Esquivel Castillo was 51 years old when he died on Tuesday, January 25, 2011, in the Central-Alameda neighborhood of South Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma near 55th Street and Hooper Avenue. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department Newton Division case.
He was a Latino man in his early 50s. According to the Los Angeles Times Homicide Report, he was assaulted near that intersection eight days before he died. He was injured shortly after midnight on January 17, said LAPD Newton Det. Dan Gershna, who was handling the case. He was taken to County-USC Medical Center, where he remained until his death on January 25. According to coroner's records, he died from blunt head trauma.
That is nearly everything that has been made public about the attack. "There have been no arrests made in connection with the case, officials said," the Times reported, and Gershna declined to provide additional details, citing the ongoing investigation. The record does not say what he was struck with, whether he was attacked by one person or several, whether anything was taken from him, or whether he knew whoever hurt him. The hour of the attack and the fact that it happened at a street corner suggest that he may have been outdoors, walking or waiting nearby, when he was hurt, but the Times did not describe the scene.
Beyond that, almost nothing about him has entered the public record. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for this story, and no other news report appears to have covered his death. Esquivel and Castillo are both common Spanish surnames, and searches for the combination turned up many other people, among them a man convicted of murder in Colorado, defendants in federal cases in Florida, Texas and Iowa, and people remembered in obituaries in Arizona and Texas. None of them is the man who died in Los Angeles.
Central-Alameda takes its name from two of the long avenues that run through it, Central Avenue and Alameda Street. Alameda Street has long been an industrial and rail corridor carrying freight between the ports and downtown, and the neighborhood mixes warehouses, factories and rail yards with blocks of small houses and apartment buildings. Many of the people who live there are working families, and the streets near Hooper Avenue are a mix of homes, small businesses and industrial lots. The Newton Division handles crime in this part of the city.
Homicides in Los Angeles fell steeply in the late 2000s and early 2010s, yet many killings from those years were never solved.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Esquivel Castillo could be found in news archives or public records. More than 14 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was near 55th Street and Hooper Avenue in Central-Alameda shortly after midnight on January 17, 2011, or who knew him and has heard talk about what happened that night, may hold information that could help detectives. At the time, the Times asked tipsters to contact Det. Gershna at 846-6556. 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.
