Justo Marcel Zeledon was 30 years old when he died on Friday, July 2, 2004, in Huntington Park. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at Mountain View and Saturn avenues. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Huntington Park Police Department.
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 at a street intersection in Huntington Park. It did not say how he was hurt, who found him 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 Justo Marcel Zeledon 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. Zeledon is a surname found in many Spanish-speaking families, but searches for his full name turned up no other trace of him.
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 location is one small clue. Because the coroner's record gives an intersection rather than a house number, he may have been hurt outdoors, on or near the street, though the record does not say so directly. His death came on the Friday before the Fourth of July holiday weekend, when many people in the neighborhood would have been outside or out late.
Huntington Park is a small, densely populated city in the southeastern part of Los Angeles County, a few miles south of downtown Los Angeles. It is largely a community of working families living in modest houses and apartment buildings, with many residents who trace their roots to Mexico and Central America. Its best-known landmark is Pacific Boulevard, a long shopping street lined with stores, restaurants and bridal and quinceañera shops that draws shoppers from across the region. 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 Justo Marcel Zeledon 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 Mountain View and Saturn avenues in Huntington Park in July 2004, or who knew a 30-year-old man named Justo Marcel Zeledon, 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 Huntington Park Police Department, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
