Jose Arreola Herrera Sr. was 70 years old when he died on Thursday, Sept. 24, 2020, in Encino, in the San Fernando Valley. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds near 15451 Ventura Blvd. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department Valley Bureau Homicide case.
The coroner's record describes him as a Latino man. Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Jose Arreola Herrera Sr. 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. The "Sr." in his name shows that a son carries the same name, which means there is at least one family member who shares his story.
Yet Jose Herrera is one of the most common name combinations in the Spanish-speaking world, and searches turned up only other men named Jose Herrera whose records have no connection to this case.
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.
His age stands out. The death of a 70-year-old man on a commercial boulevard raises questions that the public record does not answer, such as whether he lived or worked nearby, whether he was out walking, or whether he knew the person who hurt him. The address on Ventura Boulevard suggests he may have been attacked on or near the street, among businesses rather than in a home, but the record does not say so directly, and that remains an inference.
Encino is one of the older communities of the southern San Fernando Valley, set between the Santa Monica Mountains and the Sepulveda Basin. Ventura Boulevard is its main street and one of the best known commercial corridors in Los Angeles, lined with restaurants, offices, medical buildings, shops and strip malls, with quiet residential streets rising into the hills to the south. The boulevard carries heavy traffic through the day and stays busy into the evening.
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 Jose Arreola Herrera Sr. 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 was near the 15400 block of Ventura Boulevard in Encino in late September 2020, who worked in the businesses along that stretch, or who knew Jose and his family, may hold information that could help detectives. 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.
