Paola Estela Lopez was 3 years old when she died on Saturday, May 24, 2003, in Azusa. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, she died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 212 N. Dalton Ave. Her death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Azusa Police Department.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report recorded her death in a single sentence drawn from coroner's records. It gave her age, listed her as a Latina girl, named the address on Dalton Avenue and noted the cause of death. It did not say how she was hurt, who was caring for her that day, or whether investigators had identified anyone responsible. No follow-up news story appears to have been published.
One public trace of her life does survive. Rose Hills Memorial Park and Mortuary in Whittier posted an obituary page for "Paola Estela Lopez," with the dates "August 23, 1999 - May 24, 2003." The page states that she "was born on August 23, 1999," which means she was only a few months short of her fourth birthday when she died. The obituary page confirms that someone made arrangements to remember her, most likely her family, but the portion saved for this story gives no further details about her life, her relatives or the services held for her.
Because so little has been released, even the basic circumstances remain unknown to the public. The record does not say whether she was hurt inside a home or outside, what time of day it happened, whether she died at the scene or later at a hospital, or whether anyone saw what happened. Blunt force trauma in a child so young can result from a deliberate beating, from violent shaking or striking, or from other causes, and only investigators and the coroner know which applied here. The coroner's finding of homicide means only that her death was caused by another person.
At 3, Paola's world would have been made up almost entirely of her family, her home and the adults who looked after her. The death of a child that young is among the most painful kinds of cases detectives handle.
Azusa is a city in the San Gabriel Valley, at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains where the San Gabriel River comes out of its canyon. It is home to Azusa Pacific University, and old Route 66 once passed through it along Foothill Boulevard. Much of the city is made up of older neighborhoods of small houses and apartment buildings, and it has long had a large Latino community. The Azusa Police Department handles crimes within the city limits.
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 Paola Lopez 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 Dalton Avenue in Azusa in May 2003, or who knew a little girl named Paola Estela Lopez, including relatives, neighbors or child care workers, 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 Azusa Police Department, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
