Manuel Ajtzalamsoho was 36 years old when he died on Sunday, June 28, 2009, in the Westlake neighborhood west of downtown Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 718 South Alvarado Street. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department case handled by the department's Rampart Division.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report gave only the most basic facts about his death: his name, his age, the date, the address and the cause. It described him as a Latino man of 36. It did not say how he was hurt, whether the address was his home, a business or a spot on the street, or whether he died at the scene or later at a hospital.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Manuel Ajtzalamsoho 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. His surname is unusual, and searches for it turned up nothing at all beyond the Homicide Report entry. It is possible that the name was recorded with a spelling that differs from the one his family uses, which may be one reason no other trace of him could be found.
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.
Westlake is one of the most densely populated neighborhoods in Los Angeles. It surrounds MacArthur Park, one of the city's oldest parks, and it has long been home to working families, many of them immigrants from Mexico and Central America, living in older apartment buildings. Alvarado Street is one of the neighborhood's main commercial corridors, running past MacArthur Park and lined with small shops, restaurants, street vendors and apartment buildings. Bus lines and the Westlake/MacArthur Park subway station bring a steady flow of people through the area at all hours.
Homicides in Los Angeles fell steeply in the late 2000s and early 2010s, yet many killings from those years were never solved. The death of a 36-year-old man on one of Westlake's busiest streets drew only a single line in the Homicide Report, and no other outlet appears to have reported it.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Manuel Ajtzalamsoho 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 on South Alvarado Street in Westlake in late June 2009, or who knew Manuel from the neighborhood, from work or from home, 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.
