Pedro Pablo Ullegue was 79 years old when he died on Sunday, Aug. 8, 2004, in Panorama City. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 14700 Roscoe Blvd. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles Police Department's Devonshire Division.
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 an Asian man, and placed his death in Panorama City. It did not say how he was hurt, who found him, whether the address was a home, a business or a spot along the boulevard, or whether investigators had identified anyone they wanted to question. No follow-up story appears to have been published.
Ullegue is a rare surname, and only one record turned up that may refer to him. A genealogy database lists a Pedro D. Ullegue of Sun Valley, in the San Fernando Valley, who was born on June 29, 1925, and died at age 79 in August 2004. The age and the area fit, but that record gives a different middle initial and a date of death a week later, Aug. 15, so it cannot be confirmed as the same man.
Beyond that, almost nothing about Pedro Pablo Ullegue has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found, and no news outlet appears to have reported on his death. He surely had family and friends who remember him, 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 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.
Panorama City lies in the central San Fernando Valley. It was built after World War II as one of the first planned communities in the valley, laid out with tract homes for workers at nearby factories, including the General Motors assembly plant in Van Nuys. Roscoe Boulevard is one of its main east-west streets, lined with shopping centers, apartment buildings and medical offices. Over the decades it became one of the most densely populated parts of the valley.
Los Angeles still recorded roughly 480 to 520 homicides a year in the mid-2000s, and many of those killings were never solved.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Pedro Pablo Ullegue 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 or spent time near the 14700 block of Roscoe Boulevard in Panorama City in August 2004, or who knew a 79-year-old man named Pedro Ullegue, 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 call the Los Angeles Police Department at 877-527-3247 or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
