Victor Moreno Jr. was 45 years old when he died on Monday, January 5, 2004, in the El Monte area of the San Gabriel Valley. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 11140 Kauffman St. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report gave only the most basic facts. It described him as "a 45-year-old Latino male" who "died Monday, Jan. 5, after sustaining blunt force trauma in El Monte, according to Los Angeles County coroner's records."
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Victor Moreno Jr. 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. Victor Moreno is a very common name, and searches turn up many other men who share it, including a man of the same name who died in Arizona in 2017 and others in Texas, Florida and overseas, none of whom can be tied to the man who died on Kauffman Street.
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 case went to the Sheriff's Department rather than to the El Monte Police Department, which handles homicides inside the city limits. That suggests the address may lie in one of the unincorporated neighborhoods that border El Monte, where the Sheriff's Department provides police services, although the record describes the location only as El Monte. The record gives a street address on a residential street, which may mean that he was hurt at or near a home, but it does not say whether he lived there.
The El Monte area is one of the older and more densely settled parts of the San Gabriel Valley, a working-class region of modest houses, apartment buildings and small businesses crossed by the 10 Freeway and by long commercial streets.
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 Victor Moreno Jr. 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 11100 block of Kauffman Street in early January 2004, or who knew Victor and saw him in the days after the New Year holiday, may hold information that could help investigators. 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.
