Fariba Vassei was 40 years old when she died on Thursday, Sept. 23, 2004, in Montebello. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, she died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 2507 1/2 W. Madison Ave. Her death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report recorded her death in a single sentence drawn from coroner's records. It gave her age, listed her as a white woman, and placed her death in Montebello. It did not say how she was hurt, who found her or whether investigators had identified anyone they wanted to question.
A local website that republished coroner's notices at the time identified her as "Fariba Vassei of Montebello, California," and listed her under the heading "Fariba Vassei, 40, Died at a Residence," with coroner's case number 2004-07215. That listing suggests she was hurt inside a home rather than on the street. The "1/2" in the address usually marks a second or rear unit on a lot, which may mean she was found in a back house or small apartment, though the record does not say whether it was her own home.
Beyond those few lines, almost nothing about Fariba Vassei has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found, and no news outlet appears to have reported on her death. She surely had family and friends who remember her, but none of that has entered the public record.
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 death of a woman from blunt force trauma inside a residence can sometimes point to someone she knew, but nothing in the public record says whether that was true here, and no suspect has ever been named.
Montebello is a city of about 60,000 people a few miles east of downtown Los Angeles, at the southwestern edge of the San Gabriel Valley. It is largely a community of single-family homes and small apartment buildings, with shopping along Whittier Boulevard and a long history as home to Latino and Armenian families.
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 Fariba Vassei 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 on or near the 2500 block of West Madison Avenue in Montebello in September 2004, or who knew a 40-year-old woman named Fariba Vassei, 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.
