Gary Alexander Godinez was 22 years old when he died on Saturday, January 22, 2022, in Gardena. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after being stabbed near 15103 S. Western Ave. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Gardena Police Department case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report described him as "a 22-year-old Latino male" who "died Saturday, Jan. 22, after being stabbed near 15103 S. Western Ave. in Gardena." A few local news reports filled in some of what happened that morning. According to CBS Los Angeles, officers "were dispatched at about 2:30 a.m. to the 15100 block of Western Avenue, regarding a call of a stabbing victim in need of help," said Lt. Christopher Cuff of the Gardena Police Department. MyNewsLA.com reported that "arriving paramedics pronounced Godinez dead in an alley," and CBS Los Angeles reported that first responders "found Godinez deceased in an alley on Western Avenue."
He was not named right away. The coroner's office released his identity on Wednesday, January 26, four days after his death. In its report, CBS Los Angeles wrote that investigators were "still searching for a suspect wanted in the stabbing." Neither outlet described a suspect, a motive or what led up to the attack, and no later story about the case could be found. The reports did not say whether he lived in Gardena, whether he was alone in the alley, or whether anyone saw what happened. Those questions remain open in the public record.
No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser for him could be found for this story. Gary Godinez is not a rare name, and searches turn up other people who share it, including a man in Sacramento who died in an accident in 2002, none of whom can be connected to this death. A young man of 22 almost certainly left behind parents, siblings or friends who remember him, but none of their words have entered the public record.
Gardena is a city in the South Bay area of Los Angeles County, a mostly working- and middle-class community of small homes, apartment buildings and busy commercial streets. It has long been known for its card clubs and for one of the largest Japanese American communities in Southern California. Western Avenue is one of the long north-south arteries that cross the Los Angeles area, and in Gardena it is lined with shops, restaurants, motels and strip malls that stay busy late into the night. An early morning stabbing in an alley off such a street may have been heard or seen by people who never came forward.
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 Gary Alexander Godinez could be found in news archives or public records. More than three years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was on or near Western Avenue in Gardena in the early hours of January 22, 2022, or who knew Gary Godinez and spent time with him in the days before his death, 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 Gardena Police Department's Detective Bureau at 310-217-9692, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
