Glendis Y. Mejia was 15 years old when she died on Sunday, July 30, 2006, in South Gate. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, she died after sustaining blunt force trauma on the northbound Long Beach Freeway, the 710, north of Firestone Boulevard. Her death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report recorded her death in a single sentence drawn from coroner's records. It described her as a Latina girl, gave her age, and placed her death in South Gate. The Times did not say how she was hurt, whether she was in a vehicle, or whether investigators had identified anyone responsible.
Beyond her name, her age and the place where she died, almost nothing about Glendis Y. Mejia 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 the death. She surely had family, friends or neighbors who remember who she was, but none of that has entered the public record. The only other person with her name who turned up in searches is a woman in Cerritos who organized a family fundraiser years later, and nothing connects her to this case.
Because so little has been released, even the basic circumstances remain unknown to the public. The record does not say whether she was beaten in a fight, attacked by a stranger, assaulted indoors or on the street, or struck by a vehicle, all of which can lead to a finding of blunt force trauma. It does not say what time of day she was hurt, whether she died at the scene or later at a hospital, whether anyone saw what happened, or whether investigators ever identified a suspect.
The location stands out. Most homicides are recorded at a home, a street corner or a business, not on a freeway. A death on the northbound 710 suggests that a vehicle may have been involved, whether she was struck, thrown from a car or hurt in some other way, but the record does not say.
South Gate is a city in southeast Los Angeles County, along the Los Angeles River and the Long Beach Freeway. It grew up as a working-class factory town, home for decades to large plants such as a Firestone tire factory and a General Motors assembly plant. Firestone Boulevard is one of its main east-west streets. The 710 is one of the busiest freight corridors in the region, carrying heavy truck traffic between the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and the rail yards and warehouses farther north.
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 Glendis Y. Mejia 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 driving the northbound 710 near Firestone Boulevard on July 30, 2006, or who knew Glendis and saw her in the hours before she died, may hold information that could help. 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.
