Agustin Juarez was 44 years old when he died on Thursday, Dec. 16, 2004, in Lancaster. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 849 W. Avenue I. His 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 his death in a single sentence drawn from coroner's records. It gave his age, listed him as a Latino man, and placed his death in Lancaster. It did not say how he was hurt, who found him, whether he lived at or near the address, or whether investigators had any idea who was responsible. No follow-up story appears to have been published.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Agustin Juarez 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. Agustin Juarez is a common name in Mexican and Central American families, and searches turned up many men who share it, in Ohio, Texas, Colorado, Florida and elsewhere, none of them connected to his death in Lancaster.
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.
The timing places his death about a week before Christmas, in the middle of the high desert winter, when nights in the Antelope Valley are often near or below freezing.
Lancaster is the largest city in the Antelope Valley, in the high desert of northern Los Angeles County, about 70 miles north of downtown Los Angeles. It grew quickly in the 1990s and 2000s as families moved there for more affordable homes. The area is known for its ties to aerospace, with Edwards Air Force Base nearby, and for a grid of lettered avenues. Avenue I is one of the main east-west avenues that cross the city. Lancaster does not have its own police force and contracts with the Sheriff's Department, which is why this death became a Sheriff's Homicide Bureau case.
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 Agustin Juarez could be found in news archives or public records. More than 21 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who lived, worked or spent time near the 800 block of West Avenue I in Lancaster in December 2004, or who knew a 44-year-old man named Agustin Juarez, 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.
