Martine Perez was 42 years old when he died on Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2007, somewhere in Los Angeles County. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma to the head at a location that was never made public. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report published a short entry about him on Dec. 20, 2007, eight days after his death. It said that Martine Perez, "a 42-year-old Latino man, suffered blunt force trauma to the head at an undisclosed location in Los Angeles County, and died at 2:05 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 12." It added, "Sheriff's homicide detectives are investigating," and ended with the promise "More information to come." No later entry appears to have been published, and that promise seems never to have been kept.
The phrase "undisclosed location" is unusual. It means that even the place where he was hurt was kept from the public, which may reflect a decision by investigators or simply a gap in the records given to reporters.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Martine Perez 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.
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.
Searches for the name return a college football player in Ohio, a French author and many others, none of them connected to the 42-year-old man who died in December 2007.
The Sheriff's Department serves the unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County and the many cities that contract with it for police services, from the Antelope Valley to the coast. Its Homicide Bureau investigates every killing in that territory. Without an address, it is not possible to say whether Martine Perez died in a quiet suburb, a busy unincorporated neighborhood or somewhere else entirely.
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 Martine Perez could be found in news archives or public records. More than 18 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Someone who knew a 42-year-old man named Martine Perez, or who remembers a man suffering a serious head injury in Los Angeles County in mid-December 2007, may hold information that still matters. Family members, coworkers and friends may know where he had been and who he was with. 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.
