Marcos Herman Levario was 35 years old when he died on Monday, November 3, 2003, in Santa Fe Springs. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 9051 Telegraph Road. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report, which draws on coroner's records, describes him as a Latino man and records the date, the address on Telegraph Road and the cause of death. Nothing more about the circumstances was published there.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Marcos Herman Levario 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. The surname Levario is not common, and searches turned up a few other people with the name in Whittier and in Texas, but none of those records refer to this man or to his death.
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 address on a major road rather than a quiet residential street may mean that he was hurt at or near a business, but the record does not identify the property.
Santa Fe Springs is a small city in southeast Los Angeles County, between Whittier, Norwalk and Downey. It grew up around one of the richest oil fields in Southern California, discovered in the early 1920s, and today it is known mainly as an industrial and commercial center, with factories, warehouses and distribution yards along many of its streets. Its residential population is small compared with the number of people who come there each day to work. Telegraph Road is one of the main east-west roads through the city, carrying heavy truck and commuter traffic.
In an industrial area, many of the people who might have seen something are workers, drivers or passers-by rather than neighbors, and they may have moved on long ago. Some may still remember a night in early November 2003 when the Sheriff's Department arrived on Telegraph Road. 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 Marcos Herman Levario could be found in news archives or public records. More than 22 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who worked or lived near the 9000 block of Telegraph Road in Santa Fe Springs in November 2003, or who knew Marcos Levario, 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.
