Jesus De La Torre-Ramirez was 51 years old when he died on Wednesday, July 22, 2020, in Van Nuys, in the San Fernando Valley. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds near 15025 Vanowen St. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department Valley Bureau Homicide case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report described him as "a 51-year-old Latino male" who "died Wednesday, July 22, after being stabbed near 15025 Vanowen St. in Van Nuys." The Times also carries a second, nearly identical entry under the spelling Jesus Delatorre-Ramirez, with the same age and date and an address in the 15000 block of Vanowen Street. Both entries almost certainly describe the same man.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Jesus De La Torre-Ramirez 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.
The name Jesus De La Torre, with or without a second surname, is shared by many men in California, Mexico and elsewhere, and searches turn up no obituary, fundraiser or news story that can be tied to this death.
Van Nuys is one of the oldest communities in the San Fernando Valley and serves as a civic hub, with a cluster of city, county and federal buildings and courts, and it is home to Van Nuys Airport, one of the busiest general aviation airports in the country. Vanowen Street is one of the long east-west boulevards that cross the Valley, lined with apartment buildings, small shopping centers, auto shops, restaurants and single-family streets branching off on either side.
The killing came in the summer of 2020, during the first months of the coronavirus pandemic, when many businesses were closed or working reduced hours and fewer people than usual were out on some streets. 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 Jesus De La Torre-Ramirez 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 on or near Vanowen Street in Van Nuys in late July 2020, who knew Jesus De La Torre-Ramirez or saw him in the days before his death, or who heard later talk about what happened to him, 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.
