Roberta Shuey was 39 years old when she died on Wednesday, January 3, 2007, in Glendora. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, she died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 325 N. Washington Avenue. Her death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department case, handled by its Homicide Bureau.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report described her as a white woman of 39. Its database entry gave only the address and date, but a roundup posted on the Homicide Report blog later that month gave a different account. It said that Roberta Shuey, "a 39-year-old white woman, was shot in the head at 325 N. Washington Ave. in Glendora and died at 12:20 a.m. Jan. 3."
The two accounts do not agree on how she died. The database lists the cause as blunt force, while the blog roundup describes a gunshot wound to the head. The record does not explain the difference, and it is possible that one of the entries contains an error. Both agree on the address and the date, and the blog adds that she died just after midnight, in the first minutes of January 3.
Beyond that, nothing about the circumstances has been made public. The record does not say whether she lived at the address, whether she was alone, whether anyone else was hurt or present, or whether investigators ever identified a suspect. It does not say whether she died at the scene or was taken to a hospital.
Almost nothing about her life has entered the public record either. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for this story, and no news outlet appears to have reported on the death. Her name is uncommon, but searches for it return only women of the same name in Pennsylvania, Iowa and elsewhere, mostly much older, none of whom can be connected to her death. She surely had family, friends or neighbors who remember who she was, but none of that has been made public.
Glendora is a city of about 50,000 people at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains in the eastern San Gabriel Valley, about 25 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. It calls itself the Pride of the Foothills and is known for its quiet residential neighborhoods, its tree-lined Village shopping district and its location along the historic Route 66. Violent deaths are uncommon there, which means a killing in the middle of the night would have stood out in the community.
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 Roberta Shuey 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 lived near North Washington Avenue in Glendora in January 2007, who heard a gunshot or other trouble around midnight on January 2 and 3, or who knew Roberta Shuey, 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.
