Richard Cruz was 50 years old when he died on Wednesday, August 12, 2009, in Rosemead, in the San Gabriel Valley. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 3333 San Gabriel Ave. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department case handled by the Homicide Bureau.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report recorded only the most basic facts: that Richard, a 50-year-old white man, died on August 12 after sustaining blunt force trauma in Rosemead, according to coroner's records. No news story about his death could be found, and no detail of what happened has been released.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Richard Cruz 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. Richard Cruz is one of the most common name combinations in California and across the country, and searches turned up hundreds of namesakes, including obituaries, court cases and public listings for other men, none of which could be tied to this death.
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.
Rosemead is a city of roughly 50,000 people in the western San Gabriel Valley, east of downtown Los Angeles. It is mostly residential, with neighborhoods of modest single-family homes and apartment buildings and busy commercial strips along its main boulevards. The city is home to the headquarters of Southern California Edison. Like many smaller cities in the county, Rosemead 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. A killing that is recorded only by name, age and address can be one of the hardest to solve, because the public never learns enough to know whether it might have seen something important.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Richard Cruz 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 knew Richard, or who was near San Gabriel Avenue in Rosemead in August 2009 and remembers an assault, a fight or police activity there, 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.
