Teresa Luna was 2 years old when she died on Friday, June 14, 2002, in Cudahy, in southeast Los Angeles County. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, she died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 4620 1/2 Live Oak Street in Cudahy. Her death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau case.
The coroner's record describes her as a Latina girl. Beyond her name, her age and the address where she died, almost nothing about Teresa 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 her death. She was a toddler, just beginning to walk and talk, and somewhere there are surely relatives and neighbors who remember her.
The public record does not say how she was hurt. It does not say who was caring for her that day, whether she died at the home on Live Oak Street or later at a hospital, whether anyone was questioned, or whether investigators ever identified a suspect. A finding of blunt force trauma in a young child can result from several kinds of injury, and nothing in the record explains which applied to her. The "1/2" in the address usually marks a rear house or second unit on a lot, which suggests she may have been found at a home.
Teresa Luna is a common name, and searches turned up only adult women who share it, among them women in other states with obituaries, fundraisers and business listings. None of them has any connection to the little girl who died in Cudahy in 2002.
Cudahy is one of the smallest cities in Los Angeles County by area, covering little more than a square mile along the Los Angeles River, between Bell, Huntington Park and South Gate. It is also one of the most densely populated, with many families living in small houses and apartments, often several to a lot, on narrow residential streets. Most residents are Latino, many of them immigrant families. Cudahy contracts with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department for police services, and homicides there are investigated by the department's Homicide Bureau.
Hundreds of people are killed in Los Angeles County every year, and a large share of those killings end without an arrest. The deaths of very young children are among the hardest cases detectives handle, and among the ones families and neighbors find hardest to forget.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Teresa Luna could be found in news archives or public records. More than 23 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who knew Teresa or her family, or who lived near Live Oak Street in Cudahy in June 2002, 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 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.
