Ismael Trujillo was 40 years old when he died on Sunday, January 2, 2022, in Long Beach. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after being stabbed near Atlantic Avenue and East 6th Street. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Long Beach Police Department case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report recorded his death in a single sentence drawn from coroner's records. It described him as "a 40-year-old Latino male" who "died Sunday, Jan. 2, after being stabbed near Atlantic Avenue & East 6th Street in Long Beach." The entry gave only an intersection, not a street address, which suggests he may have been found outdoors, on or near the street, though the record does not say so. No follow-up story appears to have been written.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Ismael Trujillo 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. Ismael Trujillo is also a fairly common name in the United States and across Latin America, and searches turn up many other men who share it, including people in Texas, New Mexico and Florida, none of whom can be connected to this death.
Because so little has been released, even the basic circumstances remain unknown to the public. The record does not say whether he was stabbed during a fight or a robbery, attacked by a stranger or by someone he knew, or hurt indoors or on the street. 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.
Long Beach is the second-largest city in Los Angeles County, a port city of more than 450,000 people on the coast south of Los Angeles, with its own police department. It is known for its busy harbor, one of the largest in the country, for the Queen Mary ocean liner docked across the water from downtown, and for its long beachfront. Atlantic Avenue is one of the city's main north-south streets, running from the downtown area up through the central and northern parts of the city. The blocks around Atlantic Avenue and 6th Street lie in the older, densely built center of Long Beach, a mix of apartment buildings, small businesses and older homes.
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 Ismael Trujillo 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 knew a 40-year-old man named Ismael Trujillo, or who was near Atlantic Avenue and East 6th Street in Long Beach in early January 2022, 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 Long Beach Police Department's Homicide Detail at 562-570-7244, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
