Virginia Refai was 50 years old when she died on Thursday, October 9, 2008, more than three weeks after she was found badly hurt beside the train tracks in Lawndale. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, she died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 4627 West 173rd Street. Her death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report said she died "of blunt head trauma and right eye hematoma." She had been hospitalized since she was found near the 4600 block of 173rd Street, and authorities said they believed she "had been attacked." Refai, who was homeless, "frequented Lawndale, Redondo Beach and adjacent beach areas," sheriff's officials said.
The Daily Breeze reported that she was found on September 14 "next to the train tracks behind the 4600 block of West 173rd Street," and that she died at County Harbor-UCLA Medical Center from her head injuries. Coroner's officials ruled her death a homicide, "saying she was assaulted by another person." Sheriff's Detective Teri Bernstein said investigators did not know whether the injury happened on September 14 or earlier, which suggests she may have lain hurt for some time before anyone found her. Refai was reportedly homeless, "although she had family in the area, detectives said." A public genealogy listing gives her birth date as March 18, 1958.
In November 2008 the Lawndale City Council approved a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever was responsible. "We'll take any information," Bernstein told the paper. "We know there were probably some witnesses out there." In June 2009 the reward was announced again in a series of notices in Southern California newspapers asking the public to help find "the killer of 50-year-old Virginia Refai."
Lawndale is a small, densely populated city in the South Bay, next to Hawthorne and Redondo Beach, and it contracts with the Sheriff's Department for police services. It is a mostly residential community of modest homes and apartment buildings. People who live outdoors in the area often move between the inland cities and the beaches, as detectives said Refai did, and a stretch of railroad track behind a residential block is the kind of place where an attack could go unseen.
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 Virginia Refai could be found in news archives or public records. More than 17 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who knew her from the streets of Lawndale or Redondo Beach, who saw her with someone in early or mid-September 2008, or who heard talk of a woman hurt near the tracks behind 173rd Street, may hold information that matters. The Times asked people with information to call Sgt. W. Marsh at 890-5555 or Det. T. Bernstein at 890-5610. 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.
