Rodrigo Hernandez was 55 years old when he died on Tuesday, October 2, 2007, in North Hollywood. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at the intersection of Sherman Way and Lankershim Boulevard. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department case handled by the North Hollywood Division.
According to the Los Angeles Times Homicide Report, Rodrigo was "hit on the head during a robbery" at that intersection. He did not die right away. He "lingered for two weeks in a hospital before dying at 4:10 p.m." on October 2, LAPD North Hollywood detectives told the Times. That timeline means the attack happened in the middle of September 2007, though the exact day was not published. Detectives also told the Times that he was a day laborer.
That one detail says a good deal about the kind of life he may have led. Day laborers in Los Angeles often gather early in the morning on street corners, outside hardware stores and near busy intersections, waiting for contractors or homeowners to offer a day of work. Many are paid in cash, which can make them targets for robbers who assume they are carrying their wages. The record does not say whether that is what happened to Rodrigo, what was taken from him, or how many people attacked him.
Beyond those facts, almost nothing about Rodrigo Hernandez has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for this story, and no news outlet appears to have followed up on the case. His name is a very common one, and searches turned up only other men who share it, among them a man executed in Texas in 2012 for a killing in San Antonio and a Compton man convicted in the death of a toddler. None of them has any connection to this case.
North Hollywood sits in the eastern San Fernando Valley. Lankershim Boulevard is one of its oldest and busiest streets, running north from the Universal City area through the NoHo Arts District, with its small theaters and galleries, and on toward Sun Valley. Sherman Way is a long east-west commercial corridor crossing much of the Valley. The blocks around their intersection are lined with small businesses, auto shops, restaurants and apartment buildings, and the area is home to many working families. A robbery at a crossing like this one is the kind of event that drivers, bus riders, shop workers and other laborers might have noticed.
Homicides in Los Angeles fell steeply in the late 2000s and early 2010s, yet many killings from those years were never solved. A day laborer who died two weeks after a street robbery received only a few lines in the Homicide Report.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Rodrigo Hernandez 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. Anyone who was near Sherman Way and Lankershim Boulevard in mid-September 2007, or anyone who worked alongside him or knew him, may hold information that could help detectives. 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.
