Alex Paul Valdez was 43 years old when he died on Monday, December 4, 2006, after he was beaten inside a Los Angeles County jail. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 29320 The Old Road, in the unincorporated Santa Susana Mountains area near Castaic. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau case.
The address is that of the North County Correctional Facility, part of the Sheriff's Department's Pitchess Detention Center complex. Alex Valdez was being held there, "jailed for a suspected parole violation," the Los Angeles Times reported. He was housed in Dormitory 728, a unit that held 64 inmates, all of them Latino gang members who had been separated from the general jail population in an effort to stop the race-related violence that had erupted in the county jails earlier that year.
At first, sheriff's officials did not treat his death as a killing. Sheriff's Capt. Ray Peavy told the Times that officials "had initially speculated that Valdez could have died from natural causes because he had a history of seizures and no visible injuries." An autopsy changed that. It found that he "had died from blows to his abdomen, injuries probably resulting from punching or kicking." Peavy said that Valdez "had been in frail health and his medical problems probably contributed to his death."
The six deputies assigned to the wing "did not hear or see anything unusual until other inmates cried out 'man down' and asked them to assist Valdez," authorities said. He died later at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital in Valencia. The Times described Dormitory 728 as "a two-level room filled with rows of bunk beds, showers and toilets," and reported that there were no video cameras.
A week after his death, Peavy said that no one had been arrested or charged but that detectives were "making some progress" in the investigation. Michael Gennaco, chief attorney for the sheriff's Office of Independent Review, questioned whether violent gang members should be housed in open dormitories. "You have a whole bunch of people with violent pasts put into one setting where they can have free access to each other," he said.
The Pitchess Detention Center sits off Interstate 5 in the hills near Castaic, at the northern edge of Los Angeles County. Its dormitory units hold large numbers of inmates in shared open rooms rather than individual cells. The fact that Alex Valdez was killed in a crowded dormitory suggests that other inmates may have seen or heard the beating, even if none of them came forward.
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 Alex Paul Valdez could be found in news archives or public records. More than 19 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was held in Dormitory 728 at the North County Correctional Facility in early December 2006, or who later heard talk about how Alex Valdez was hurt, 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 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.
