Ricardo Hernandez was 38 years old when he died on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2008, more than three months after he was attacked in South Gate. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma near Independence and Quartz avenues. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report, drawing on coroner's records, said he "was beaten with a wooden stick near Independence and Quartz avenues in South Gate." The attack happened on Monday, May 19, 2008. Hernandez, "described in coroner records as homeless, was taken to a hospital after the May 19 assault and died while an inpatient." The report did not name the hospital. It added one more detail: "His alleged assailant also was homeless, according to the record." It described Hernandez as a Latino man of 38.
That line suggests that investigators had at least a description of the person believed to have attacked him, and perhaps an identity. But the report did not name anyone, and it did not say whether the attacker was ever found, questioned or arrested. It also did not say what led to the beating, whether the two men knew each other, or whether anyone else saw it happen.
Beyond his name, his age and the circumstances of his death, almost nothing about Ricardo Hernandez has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for this story, and no other news outlet appears to have reported on the death. His name is among the most common Spanish names in Southern California, and searches turned up only namesakes, among them men charged with crimes in North Carolina, Texas and Sacramento County and many people whose obituaries were published far from Los Angeles. None of those pages concerns the man who died in 2008.
South Gate is a city of about 90,000 people in southeast Los Angeles County, along the Los Angeles River. It was long known as an industrial town, once home to large auto and tire plants, and today it is a largely working-class community of modest single-family homes, apartment buildings and busy commercial streets. Like other cities in the area, it has a visible population of people living on the streets, along the river channel and in other open spaces. Although South Gate has its own police department, the case is listed with the Sheriff'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. The death of a homeless man, beaten with a stick and dying months later in a hospital bed, received only a single paragraph in the Homicide Report.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Ricardo Hernandez 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 was near Independence and Quartz avenues in South Gate in mid-May 2008, or who knew Ricardo, or the man said to have attacked him, among the people living on the streets there, may hold information that could help investigators. 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.
