Oakha Lee was 51 years old when she died on Sunday, September 10, 2000, in Santa Fe Springs, in southeast Los Angeles County. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, she died after sustaining blunt force trauma at 11100 Greenstone Ave. Her death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Whittier Police Department, which provides police services to the city of Santa Fe Springs.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report recorded her death in a single sentence drawn from coroner's records. It described her as "a 51-year-old Asian female" who "died Sunday, Sept. 10, after sustaining blunt force trauma in Santa Fe Springs." The entry gave a street address, but it did not say whether that address was her home, a workplace or simply the place where she was found. It did not describe what happened, and no follow-up news story appears to have been published.
Beyond her name, her age and the place where she died, almost nothing about Oakha Lee 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. Searches for her name turned up a few people-search listings for a living woman with a similar name in a nearby city, along with property websites that simply copy the coroner's sentence.
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.
Santa Fe Springs is a small city in southeast Los Angeles County, bordered by Whittier, Norwalk, Downey and Pico Rivera. It has far fewer residents than most of its neighbors, and much of its land is given over to industry, warehouses and business parks. The city grew out of an early oil field, and the Santa Fe Springs oil boom of the 1920s made it one of the best known oil towns in Southern California. Because Santa Fe Springs contracts with the neighboring city of Whittier for police services, a killing there is investigated by Whittier police detectives rather than by the Sheriff's Department.
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 Oakha Lee could be found in news archives or public records. More than 25 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who lived or worked near the 11100 block of Greenstone Avenue in Santa Fe Springs in September 2000, or who knew a 51-year-old woman named Oakha Lee, 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 Whittier Police Department, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
