James Phillip Salazar was 55 years old when he died on Wednesday, July 29, 2020, in downtown Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died after being stabbed near Alameda Street and East Olympic Boulevard. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles Police Department's Central 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 55-year-old Latino male" who "died Wednesday, July 29, after being stabbed near Alameda Street & East Olympic Boulevard in Downtown." The entry gave an intersection rather than a street address, which suggests that he was found outdoors, on or near the street, though the record does not say so. It did not say whether he lived in the area, was passing through or had come there to work.
No follow-up story appears to have been written about his death.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about James Phillip Salazar 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. James Salazar is a common name, and searches turn up many other men who share it, including a man of the same full name who was listed years later in state prison records, a sportswriter, a doctor and people in Texas and other states. None of them 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.
The corner of Alameda Street and Olympic Boulevard lies on the eastern side of downtown Los Angeles, in a part of the city filled with warehouses, wholesale businesses, garment shops and industrial buildings. Skid Row, the downtown district with one of the largest concentrations of homeless people in the country, lies not far to the north.
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 James Phillip Salazar 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 knew a 55-year-old man named James Phillip Salazar, or who worked, lived or spent time near Alameda Street and Olympic Boulevard in late July 2020, 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.
