Richard Dale Torres was 70 years old when he died on Tuesday, May 18, 2021, in East Hollywood. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 1080 N. Western Ave. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles Police Department's West 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 70-year-old white male" who "died Tuesday, May 18, after being stabbed near 1080 N. Western Ave. in East Hollywood." The entry gave no further detail. It did not say whether the address was his home, a business or simply the place where he was found, and no follow-up story appears to have been written.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Richard Dale Torres 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. Richard Torres is a very common name in Southern California and across the United States, and searches turn up many other men who share it, including a man charged in an unrelated 2025 case and several people memorialized in obituaries in other states, 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.
East Hollywood is a dense, largely working-class neighborhood just east of Hollywood proper. Western Avenue is one of the long north-south boulevards that run across the city, and in this part of town it is lined with apartment buildings, small shops, restaurants and auto businesses. The neighborhood is home to Los Angeles City College and Barnsdall Art Park, and it includes the areas known as Thai Town and Little Armenia. Busy bus lines and a Metro subway line serve the area, and foot traffic is heavy at most hours of the day.
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 Richard Dale Torres 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 knew a 70-year-old man named Richard Dale Torres, or who was near the 1000 block of North Western Avenue in East Hollywood in May 2021, may hold information that could help investigators understand what happened to him. 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.
