Jesus Delatorre-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 in the 15000 block of Vanowen Street. His death was ruled a homicide. This listing does not name an investigating agency, but Van Nuys lies inside the city of Los Angeles, and a second Times entry for what appears to be the same death lists it 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 the 15000 block of Vanowen St. in Van Nuys." That second entry spells his name Jesus De La Torre-Ramirez and gives the address as 15025 Vanowen St.
The age, the date and the street are the same, so the two entries almost certainly describe one man whose family name was recorded in two ways.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Jesus Delatorre-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.
Both spellings of his name are shared by many men in California and in Mexico, and searches under either one turn up no obituary, fundraiser or news story that can be connected to this death.
Van Nuys sits near the middle of the San Fernando Valley and has long served as one of its civic centers, with government offices and courthouses, and it is the home of Van Nuys Airport, a large general aviation field. Vanowen Street runs east and west for miles across the Valley. Along much of its length it is lined with apartment buildings, strip malls, repair shops, markets and taco stands, with quieter residential streets just off the boulevard.
The death came in the summer of 2020, a few months into the coronavirus pandemic. 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 Delatorre-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 the 15000 block of Vanowen Street in Van Nuys in late July 2020, or who knew Jesus Delatorre-Ramirez under either spelling of his name and saw him in the days before his death, 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.
