Martin Govea Mendez was 32 years old when he died on Sunday, September 13, 2009, in the Winnetka neighborhood of the San Fernando Valley. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at Saticoy Street and Winnetka Avenue. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department case handled by the department's Topanga Division.
According to the Los Angeles Times Homicide Report, Martin was assaulted and suffered head trauma at the intersection of Saticoy Street and Winnetka Avenue. Ed Winter, a spokesman for the coroner's office, told the Times that Martin "was attacked outside a bar about 12:40 a.m." He was taken to a hospital, where he died at 1:25 a.m., less than an hour after the attack.
That is nearly all that has been released. The record does not name the bar, and it does not say whether Martin had been inside it that night, whether there had been an argument, or whether the attack involved one person or several. It does not say whether he was punched, kicked or struck with an object, or whether anyone stayed with him until help arrived. The timing of the attack, shortly after midnight on a Saturday night, suggests there may have been other people leaving bars and restaurants in the area, but no witness accounts were ever made public.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Martin Govea Mendez has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for this story, and no news outlet other than the Times appears to have reported on the death. Martin Mendez is a common name, and searches turned up only obituaries and news stories about namesakes in other states and countries. He surely had family, friends or coworkers who remember who he was, but none of that has entered the public record.
Winnetka is a neighborhood in the west San Fernando Valley, part of the city of Los Angeles. It is largely made up of single-family homes and apartment complexes laid out on the Valley's flat street grid, with shopping centers, restaurants, bars and auto shops along its main boulevards. Saticoy Street and Winnetka Avenue are both busy commercial corridors, and their intersection sees traffic well into the night. The neighborhood falls under the LAPD's Topanga Division, which covers much of the west Valley.
Homicides in Los Angeles fell steeply in the late 2000s and early 2010s, yet many killings from those years were never solved.
A fatal beating outside a bar is the kind of killing that often has witnesses, which makes the silence around this case all the more striking. Someone who was at the bar that night, or in the parking lot outside, may have seen how the confrontation began.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Martin Govea Mendez could be found in news archives or public records. More than 16 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was near Saticoy Street and Winnetka Avenue in Winnetka late on Saturday, September 12, 2009, or in the first hour of September 13, 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 call the Los Angeles Police Department at 877-527-3247 or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
