Henry Aguilera was 51 years old when he died on Thursday, April 11, 2002, in Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after sustaining blunt force trauma. The coroner's record released to the public does not give an address. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department North Hollywood Division case.
The coroner's record describes him as a Latino man of 51. Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Henry Aguilera 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. Henry Aguilera is a common name in Southern California and across the Spanish-speaking world, and searches turned up only other men who share it, among them a man interviewed by a Spanish-language television station years later, a ballplayer, and men whose obituaries were published in Riverside, Nevada and Texas. None of them is connected to the man who died in 2002.
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.
At 51, he likely had family and friends who noticed when he was suddenly gone in the spring of 2002, and who may know what happened in the days before he died.
The North Hollywood Division covers a broad stretch of the eastern San Fernando Valley, including North Hollywood itself, Studio City, Valley Village, Sun Valley and parts of Toluca Lake. North Hollywood grew up around the old town of Lankershim and became a working and middle class community of small homes, apartment buildings and busy commercial streets such as Lankershim and Magnolia boulevards. By the early 2000s it was home to a large Latino population, and its arts district around the Metro Red Line station, which opened in 2000, was beginning to draw theaters and new development.
Homicides in Los Angeles rose sharply in the early 2000s, climbing past 600 in 2002, and detectives carried heavy caseloads. Many killings from those years were never solved.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Henry Aguilera 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 a 51-year-old man named Henry Aguilera in the North Hollywood area in April 2002, or who heard talk at the time about a man who was beaten or badly hurt there, 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 call the Los Angeles Police Department at 877-527-3247 or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
