Josue Jariel Zavala-Venegas

Josue Jariel Zavala-Venegas was 21 years old when he died on Sunday, December 5, 2021, in the Vermont Square area of South Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 4222 S. Figueroa St. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles Police Department's South Bureau Homicide unit.

The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report recorded his death in a single sentence drawn from coroner's records. It described him as "a 21-year-old Latino male" who "died Sunday, Dec. 5, after being stabbed near 4222 S. Figueroa St. in Vermont Square." The entry gave a street address on Figueroa Street, but it did not say whether that was his home, a business or simply the place where he was found. No follow-up story appears to have been written.

Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Josue Jariel Zavala-Venegas 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. His full name, with its double surname joining the family names Zavala and Venegas, is distinctive, and anyone who knew him would likely recognize it at once. He may also have been known simply as Josue Zavala or Josue Venegas.

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.

Figueroa Street is one of the longest streets in Los Angeles, running from the hills north of downtown through the downtown core, past the University of Southern California and Exposition Park, and on south through South Los Angeles. South of Exposition Park, it becomes a busy commercial corridor lined with motels, auto shops, fast food restaurants, small markets and apartment buildings, with the Harbor Freeway running close alongside. Vermont Square, to the west, is a residential neighborhood of older homes and small apartment buildings where working families have lived for generations.

Los Angeles recorded about 260 homicides a year in 2018 and 2019, among the lowest yearly totals in more than half a century, yet many of those killings still went unsolved.

No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Josue Jariel Zavala-Venegas could be found in news archives or public records. More than four years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was on or near the 4200 block of South Figueroa Street in early December 2021, or who knew a 21-year-old man named Josue Zavala-Venegas, 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.