Jose Danilo Hernandez was 47 years old when he died on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2006, in Pico-Union. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 11th and Arapahoe streets. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department Wilshire Division case.
The Homicide Report lists him as a Latino man and places his death at a street corner. That suggests he may have been hurt outdoors, though the record does not say so, and no account of the circumstances has been made public.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Jose Danilo Hernandez 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. He surely had family, friends or neighbors who remember who he was, but none of that has entered the public record. Jose Hernandez is among the most common names in Los Angeles, and even with his middle name added, searches turn up only other men, including people in Central America who share it.
Because so little has been released, even the basic circumstances remain unknown to the public. The record does not say whether he 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 he was hurt, whether he died at the scene or later at a hospital, whether anyone saw what happened, or whether investigators ever identified a suspect.
Pico-Union is one of the most densely populated neighborhoods in Los Angeles, lying just west of downtown and named for the intersection of Pico Boulevard and Union Avenue. Its streets hold a mix of aging apartment buildings, older houses, small shops and churches. Since the 1980s the neighborhood has been known as a center of Central American immigrant life in the city, with many families from El Salvador and Guatemala. It is a busy, working-class area where people walk to work, to bus stops and to corner markets at all hours, and street corners like the one at 11th and Arapahoe see steady foot traffic.
Los Angeles still recorded roughly 480 to 520 homicides a year in the mid-2000s, and many of those killings were never solved.
In a neighborhood as crowded as Pico-Union, a man of 47 would have been known to neighbors, coworkers, shopkeepers and the people who shared his building or his block. Someone who walked past 11th and Arapahoe in mid-January 2006, or who knew Jose Danilo Hernandez, may have heard what happened in the days that followed.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Jose Danilo Hernandez 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 lived or worked near 11th and Arapahoe streets in Pico-Union in January 2006, or who knew a 47-year-old man named Jose Danilo Hernandez, may hold information that could still 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 call the Los Angeles Police Department at 877-527-3247 or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
