Laura Lazaro Espinoza was 33 years old when she died on Sunday, Sept. 7, 2003, in Exposition Park, a neighborhood just south of downtown Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, she died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 1336 W. 39th St. Her death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department case handled by the department's Southwest Division.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report gave only the most basic facts. It described her as "a 33-year-old Latino female" who "died Sunday, Sept. 7, after sustaining blunt force trauma in Exposition Park, according to Los Angeles County coroner's records."
Beyond her name, her age and the place where she died, almost nothing about Laura Lazaro Espinoza 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. She surely had family, friends or neighbors who remember who she was, but none of that has entered the public record. Laura Espinoza is a common name in Southern California and across the Southwest, and searches turn up only other women who share it, among them a high school student, a cancer patient and women memorialized in Texas, Colorado and Canada, none of whom can be tied to the woman who died on West 39th Street.
Because so little has been released, even the basic circumstances remain unknown to the public. The record does not say whether she 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 she was hurt, whether she died at the scene or later at a hospital, whether anyone saw what happened, or whether investigators ever identified a suspect.
The address in the record is a numbered street address rather than an intersection, which suggests that she may have been found at or near a home or other building, though the record does not say whether she lived there or was visiting.
Exposition Park takes its name from the large park and civic complex at its center, home to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and the California Science Center. The University of Southern California sits beside it. Around those landmarks lie blocks of older houses and apartment buildings where many working families live.
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 Laura Lazaro Espinoza 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 lived on or near West 39th Street in Exposition Park in September 2003, or who knew Laura Espinoza and saw her in the days before she 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.
