Ruben Anthony Roberts was a baby boy, less than a year old, when he died on Tuesday, September 19, 2006, in Norwalk. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 11871 Firestone Blvd. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau case.
The coroner's record lists him as a Latino boy and gives his age as zero, which means that he had not yet reached his first birthday. Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Ruben 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. Searches for his name turned up only adult men named Ruben Roberts in other states and genealogy records from other centuries.
Because so little has been released, even the basic circumstances remain unknown to the public. The record does not say who was caring for the baby when he was hurt, whether he was injured at the address listed or somewhere else, whether he died at the scene or later at a hospital, or whether investigators ever identified a suspect. The address on Firestone Boulevard is the only fact that places his death on the map, and the record does not explain what kind of building stood there or how he came to be there.
The deaths of infants from blunt force trauma are among the most painful cases that detectives handle. A baby cannot say what happened, and the people who know are often a small circle of adults who were present. Some of those cases end in charges within weeks; others stall for lack of evidence about who caused the injuries and when. Nothing in the public record says which of those paths this case took.
Norwalk is a city in southeast Los Angeles County, crossed by the Santa Ana Freeway and the San Gabriel River Freeway. It is home to Cerritos College, a county courthouse and the headquarters of the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, where many residents of the county have filed for marriage licenses and birth records. The eastern end of the Metro Green Line, now the C Line, stops in Norwalk. Firestone Boulevard is one of the city's main commercial streets. Norwalk contracts with the Sheriff's Department for police services.
Hundreds of people are killed in Los Angeles County every year, and a large share of those killings end without an arrest. A child who never had the chance to grow up deserves to have the circumstances of his death known.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Ruben Anthony Roberts 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 knew Ruben or his family, or who was near the 11800 block of Firestone Boulevard in Norwalk in September 2006, 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.
