Selvin Reynaldo Matute Rodriguez was 26 years old when he died on Friday, April 3, 2020, in the Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds near 2700 W. Wilshire Blvd. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles Police Department's Newton Division.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report described him only as "a 26-year-old Latino male" who "died Friday, April 3, after being stabbed near 2700 W. Wilshire Blvd. in Westlake." That single sentence, drawn from coroner's records, is nearly all that has been made public about his death. The listing of a Newton Division case for a Westlake address is unusual, and it may mean that the case was handled by detectives from another part of the city, but the public record does not explain it.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Selvin Reynaldo Matute Rodriguez 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.
His full name, with two surnames, follows a naming custom common across Latin America, in which a person carries both a father's and a mother's family name. Searches for the shorter form Selvin Rodriguez turn up many other men, none of whom can be connected to this death.
Westlake is a crowded neighborhood just west of downtown Los Angeles, built around MacArthur Park and its lake. It is one of the most densely populated parts of the city, with older apartment buildings and busy shops and street vendors. Wilshire Boulevard, one of the best-known streets in Los Angeles, runs through the neighborhood and past MacArthur Park on its way west toward Koreatown and the coast.
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.
He died in the first weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, when stay-at-home orders had closed many businesses along Wilshire Boulevard.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Selvin Reynaldo Matute Rodriguez 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 West Wilshire Boulevard in Westlake in early April 2020, or who knew a 26-year-old man named Selvin Matute or Selvin Rodriguez who lived or worked in the area, 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.
