Teresa Gale Briseno was 55 years old when she died on Friday, March 27, 2009, in Lancaster, in the Antelope Valley of northern Los Angeles County. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, she died after sustaining blunt force trauma in the 45000 block of 60th Street West. Her death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department case, handled through the department's Lancaster Station.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report said only that Teresa, a white woman of 55, "died March 27, 2009 after she was beaten, according to the Los Angeles County coroner's office. The incident took place in the 45000 block of 60th Street West in Lancaster." It did not say who attacked her, whether she knew the person, whether she died at the scene or later at a hospital, or who found her.
The web address of her Homicide Report entry uses the name "Teresa Baumann," which suggests that she was also known by another surname, perhaps from a marriage, at some point in her life. The record does not explain the difference, and no public document could be found that ties the two names together.
Beyond her name, her age and the place where she died, almost nothing about Teresa has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for this story, and no news outlet other than the Homicide Report appears to have reported on the death. Searches for Teresa Briseno turn up obituaries for other women of that name in California, Texas and Illinois, none of them the woman who died in Lancaster. She surely had family, friends or neighbors who remember who she was, but none of that has entered the public record.
Because so little has been released, even the basic circumstances remain unknown to the public. The report says she was beaten, but it does not say whether she was attacked inside a home or outdoors, with a weapon or by hand, during an argument or by a stranger. It does not say what time of day she was hurt, whether anyone saw what happened, or whether investigators ever identified a suspect.
Lancaster is one of the largest cities in the Antelope Valley, a high desert region at the western edge of the Mojave Desert, about 70 miles north of downtown Los Angeles. Like many cities in the county, it contracts with the Sheriff's Department for police services. The western part of the city along 60th Street West is thinly built, with long stretches of open desert. California State Prison, Los Angeles County, also stands along 60th Street West, but the public record does not say whether her death had any connection to it.
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 Teresa Gale Briseno 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 Teresa, under either name, or who was on 60th Street West in Lancaster in late March 2009, may hold information that matters. 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.
