Patricia Mary Romo was 45 years old when she died on Thursday, Sept. 9, 2004, in Pomona. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, she died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 702 E. Columbia Ave. Her death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Pomona Police Department.
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 Latina woman, and placed her death in Pomona. It did not say how she was hurt, who found her or whether investigators had identified anyone they wanted to question. A community list of Pomona homicides later recorded her as the city's 19th killing of 2004, giving the same address and the cause as blunt force trauma.
Her family's obituary, published in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin a week after her death, gives a fuller picture. It called her "Patricia Mary Romo 45 of Pomona," and said she "passed away September 9, 2004 at Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center," which means she was taken from the address where she was hurt to the hospital before she died. She "was born February 9, 1959, in Los Angeles, and has been a Pomona resident all of her life."
The obituary listed four surviving children, all of Pomona, along with three grandchildren, four sisters and five brothers. Her nickname, Mama Pat, suggests she was a mother figure to more than her own children. A prayer service was held at Todd Memorial Chapel in Pomona, followed by services in the chapel, and she was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Pomona. The obituary did not mention how she died.
The record does not say whether the Columbia Avenue address was her home, the home of someone she knew or a place she was only visiting, and no suspect has ever been publicly named.
Pomona is one of the largest cities in eastern Los Angeles County, about 30 miles east of downtown Los Angeles near the San Bernardino County line. Founded as a citrus town, it is home to the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds, where the county fair has been held for a century, and to Cal Poly Pomona. Its neighborhoods range from older downtown blocks and historic homes to working-class streets of small houses and apartments. The city has its own police department.
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 Patricia Mary Romo 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 700 block of East Columbia Avenue in Pomona in September 2004, or who knew the woman her family called Mama Pat, 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 Pomona Police Department, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
