Miguel Angel Balderaz was 6 years old when he died on Thursday, August 2, 2007, in the Vermont Square area of South Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma near Figueroa Street and West 52nd Place. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department case assigned to the department's Abused Child Unit.
That assignment is the most telling detail in the public record. The Abused Child Unit is the LAPD team that investigates serious abuse and deaths of children, which suggests that investigators may have suspected the boy was harmed by someone responsible for his care rather than by a stranger. The record does not say so directly, and it does not say who, if anyone, was suspected.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Miguel 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 his death. A genealogy listing records only that a Miguel A. Balderaz died at age 6 on August 2, 2007. He surely had family, classmates, teachers and neighbors who remember him, but none of that has entered the public record. At 6, he would have been about to start first grade.
Because so little has been released, even the basic circumstances remain unknown to the public. The record does not say whether he was hurt at home or somewhere else, whether he died at the scene or later at a hospital, whether there were earlier signs of abuse, or whether anyone was ever questioned. Blunt force trauma in a young child can come from a beating, a fall or a blow, and only a full investigation could say which.
Vermont Square is a residential neighborhood in South Los Angeles, a few miles south of downtown and a short distance south of Exposition Park and the University of Southern California. It is made up mostly of older single-family homes and small apartment buildings on grid streets. The area is home to many working families, and children walk to nearby schools and parks. In neighborhoods like this, relatives often live close by and neighbors notice when a child stops appearing on the block.
Homicides in Los Angeles fell steeply in the late 2000s and early 2010s, yet many killings from those years were never solved. The death of a 6-year-old boy appears in the public record only as a single line from coroner's files.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Miguel Angel Balderaz 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 knew Miguel or his family near Figueroa Street and 52nd Place in the summer of 2007 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 call the Los Angeles Police Department at 877-527-3247 or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
