Selbin Berela was 24 years old when he died on Sunday, September 14, 2003, in Harbor City, a neighborhood in the harbor area of Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma at Anaheim Street and Vermont Avenue. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department case handled by the department's Harbor Division.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report gave only the most basic facts. It described him as "a 24-year-old Latino male" who "died Sunday, Sept. 14, after sustaining blunt force trauma in Harbor City, according to Los Angeles County coroner's records."
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Selbin Berela 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. His name is unusual, and searches for it return nothing beyond the Times entry itself.
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 given in the record is an intersection rather than a street address, which suggests that he may have been found outdoors, on a sidewalk, at a corner or near the roadway, though the record does not say so. Anaheim Street and Vermont Avenue are both major roads, and an intersection where they meet would have drawn drivers, bus riders and people walking to nearby shops and homes.
Harbor City lies in the narrow strip of the city of Los Angeles that runs south toward the port, near Torrance, Lomita and Wilmington. It is a mix of apartment buildings, small houses, strip malls and light industry. The neighborhood is home to Ken Malloy Harbor Regional Park, with Machado Lake at its center, and to a large Kaiser Permanente medical center. Anaheim Street is one of the main east-west routes through the harbor area, and Vermont Avenue is one of the longest north-south streets in Los Angeles, reaching all the way from Griffith Park.
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 Selbin Berela 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 was near Anaheim Street and Vermont Avenue in Harbor City in mid-September 2003, or who knew Selbin Berela and saw him in the days before he died, may hold information that could help detectives. 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.
