Christine Marie Bianco was 51 years old when she died on Sunday, March 22, 2020, in Lancaster. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, she died of stab wounds near 43920 Rembrandt St. Her death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Lancaster Station.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report described her only as "a 51-year-old white female" who "died Sunday, March 22, after being stabbed near 43920 Rembrandt St. in Lancaster." The Antelope Valley Press, the local newspaper, published a short item under the headline "Stabbing victim ID'd." It said that Christine Bianco, 51, "was a Lancaster resident, according to coroner's Lt. Larry Dietz," and that "her cause of death was listed as 'multiple stab wounds.'" Only that brief passage was available for this story.
Beyond her name, her age and the place where she died, almost nothing about Christine Marie Bianco has been made public.
No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for her. She surely had family, friends or neighbors in the Antelope Valley who remember who she 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 she was attacked inside a home or outside, by a stranger or by someone she knew, or what time of day it happened. It does not say whether she died at the scene or later at a hospital, whether anyone saw what happened, or whether investigators ever identified a suspect.
Christine Bianco is a fairly common name. Searches turn up a mother in Connecticut, a fundraiser organizer in the eastern United States, women in Massachusetts and New York, and others, none of whom can be connected to this death in Lancaster.
Lancaster is a city in the Antelope Valley in the far north of Los Angeles County, in the western Mojave Desert. It grew from a railroad and farming town into one of the larger cities in the county, with tracts of single-family homes spread across the desert floor, and it is closely tied to the aerospace industry around nearby Edwards Air Force Base and Palmdale. Rembrandt Street runs through one of the city's residential neighborhoods. Lancaster contracts with the Sheriff's Department for police services, which is why the case belongs to the department.
Hundreds of people are killed in Los Angeles County every year, and a large share of those killings end without an arrest.
Her death came just days after COVID-19 stay-at-home orders took effect across California, when many families were confined to their homes.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Christine Marie Bianco 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 lived on or near Rembrandt Street in Lancaster in March 2020, or who knew a 51-year-old woman named Christine Bianco, 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 contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
