William Escamilla was 16 years old when he died on Monday, September 11, 2017, in Lynwood. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 11904 Long Beach Blvd. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department case.
William was a student at Marco Antonio Firebaugh High School in Lynwood, according to the Los Angeles Times. That afternoon he had been washing clothes with his mother inside the Free Dry Coin Laundry, Sheriff's Sgt. Marcelo Quintero told the Times. He went outside to get a bottle of water from their car and was confronted by a man on a bicycle in the parking lot behind the laundromat at about 4 p.m. "We think the motive was robbery," Quintero said. "There's no indication these people knew each other. This man confronted him and ended up cutting him on the left side of his neck."
His mother saw part of the attack when she walked out into the parking lot, Quintero said.
"They tried to stem the bleeding by wrapping a T-shirt around his neck," the Times reported, and then she drove him to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 4:39 p.m., according to coroner's records. The attacker rode away on his bicycle along Long Beach Boulevard.
Detectives released a surveillance image. Security camera footage "showed a wiry Latino with a red cap, white polo-style shirt and jeans," Quintero told the Times, and the suspect appeared to be between 25 and 40 years old. CBS Los Angeles reported that he had a thin build and multiple tattoos, and that detectives did not think the killing was gang related. MyNewsLA.com ran the image under the headline "Hunt for bike-riding laundromat killer of teen: Do you know this guy?"
His family grieved in public. At a tearful vigil, his sister told CBS Los Angeles, "I just want justice for him. For him and my mom because my mom was the one that witnessed everything." She added, "I believe that no mother deserves to see their child being murdered in front of her." A cousin told NBC Los Angeles, "For a mother to see their son pass away like that in front of her eyes...she's not going to be well." A GoFundMe page raised money for his funeral, saying he "was taken from us at the age of only 16 years old" and "leaves his beloved mother Iris and sister behind."
Lynwood is a working-class city in southeast Los Angeles County, patrolled by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Long Beach Boulevard is its main commercial corridor, lined with small shops, restaurants and services like the laundromat where William spent his last afternoon.
Hundreds of people are killed in Los Angeles County every year, and a large share of those killings end without an arrest.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of William Escamilla could be found in news archives or public records. More than eight years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. The man in the surveillance image was seen clearly enough to be described down to his cap and shirt, and someone in Lynwood in September 2017 may recognize him or remember a man on a bicycle who returned home that afternoon with blood on his clothes. 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.
