Daniel G. Gomez

Daniel G. Gomez was 59 years old when he died on Sunday, October 11, 2020, in the Southeast Antelope Valley. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds near the 37000 block of Tovey Avenue. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report described him only as "a 59-year-old white male" who "died Sunday, Oct. 11, after being stabbed near the 37000 block of Tovey Avenue in Southeast Antelope Valley." That brief entry, drawn from coroner's records, is nearly all that has been made public about his death.

Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Daniel G. Gomez 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.

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.

Daniel Gomez is one of the most common names in the United States. Searches turn up scientists, a tribal leader, men named in police blotters in Indiana and Illinois, a wedding notice in Texas and more than a hundred obituaries for other men who carried it, none of whom can be connected to this death. That commonness has made it even harder for any trace of this particular man to surface in public records.

The Southeast Antelope Valley is a wide, thinly populated stretch of high desert in the far north of Los Angeles County, east and southeast of Palmdale and Lancaster. It is an unincorporated area of scattered small communities, ranch properties, mobile homes and long dirt roads, where houses can sit far apart. Because there is no city government, law enforcement comes from the Sheriff's Department, and homicides are investigated by its Homicide Bureau.

In a place this open and quiet, an unfamiliar car, a late-night argument or a stranger on a dirt road can stand out. Someone who lived near Tovey Avenue in October 2020 may remember something that did not seem important at the time.

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 Daniel G. Gomez could be found in news archives or public records. More than five years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who lived on or near Tovey Avenue in the Southeast Antelope Valley in October 2020, or who knew a 59-year-old man named Daniel Gomez who lived or spent time there, 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 Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.