Francisco Martinez was 47 years old when he died on Sunday, March 16, 2008, eight days after he was beaten in Van Nuys. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 14903 Victory Boulevard in Van Nuys. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department Van Nuys Division case.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Martinez was a fruit vendor. He was beaten in the parking lot of an Arco gas station at 14903 Victory Boulevard at about 10 p.m. on Saturday, March 8. A passerby found him and called 911. He was taken to Providence Holy Cross Medical Center, where he had been in intensive care and critical care. He died there from severe head injuries at 3:35 a.m. on March 16.
"The motive for the beating is still unknown," the Times reported, citing Det. James Nuttall of the LAPD's Van Nuys Division. No suspect description was released, and the Times post did not say whether anything was taken from him or whether anyone saw the attack.
Beyond those facts, little about Francisco Martinez has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found. His name is one of the most common in Southern California, and searches for it return hundreds of unrelated people, including teachers, professors, construction workers and men named in court cases in other states. None of them could be tied to the fruit vendor who was beaten in Van Nuys. Street vendors often work long hours and carry cash, which may have made him a target, but no motive has ever been confirmed.
Van Nuys is one of the oldest communities in the San Fernando Valley and serves as a center of government for the Valley, with a civic center that holds city, county and federal offices and courts. It is also home to Van Nuys Airport, one of the busiest general aviation airports in the country. Victory Boulevard is one of the long east-west boulevards that cross the Valley, lined with gas stations, auto shops, strip malls and apartment buildings. A gas station parking lot on a busy boulevard at 10 p.m. on a Saturday is a place where drivers and customers may well have come and gone.
Homicides in Los Angeles fell steeply in the late 2000s and early 2010s, yet many killings from those years were never solved.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Francisco Martinez 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.
Someone who stopped at the Arco station on Victory Boulevard in Van Nuys on the night of March 8, 2008, or who knew Francisco Martinez as a vendor in the area, may remember a person, a vehicle or an argument that matters. At the time, detectives asked anyone with information to call the Van Nuys homicide unit at 374-0040. 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.
