Francisco Castrejon was 37 years old when he died early on Thursday, June 22, 2017, in Westlake. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds suffered in the 2200 block of Wilshire Boulevard. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles Police Department's Rampart Division.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report described the attack. Castrejon "was walking west on Wilshire Boulevard, approaching South Park View Street, when he was stabbed at 12:10 a.m.," Los Angeles Police Det. Ray Martinez said. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 1:49 a.m., according to coroner's records.
Martinez offered two other details. Castrejon "was not a documented gang member," the detective said, and "he may have been on his way home when he was stabbed; his father lived in the area."
Those details suggest that police did not see the killing as part of a gang dispute, and that Castrejon was walking a familiar route in a neighborhood where his family lived.
The Times did not report a description of the attacker, a motive, or whether any witnesses came forward. It did not say whether anything was taken from Castrejon, whether he had been in an argument earlier that night, or whether the person who stabbed him approached on foot or from a vehicle. No later story about the case appears to have been written.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Francisco Castrejon 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. Francisco Castrejon is not a rare name, and searches turn up a physician, a musician, witnesses and defendants in unrelated cases, and obituaries for older men in other cities, none of whom can be tied to this death.
Westlake is one of the most densely populated neighborhoods in Los Angeles, just west of downtown. It is built around MacArthur Park, with its lake and long history, and Wilshire Boulevard runs straight through it on its way west from downtown. The area is crowded with apartment buildings, small shops and street vendors, and many of its residents are working families and recent immigrants.
By the mid-2010s Los Angeles was recording roughly 250 to 300 homicides a year, among the lowest totals in decades, yet many of those killings still went unsolved.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Francisco Castrejon 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. Anyone who was on Wilshire Boulevard near South Park View Street shortly after midnight on June 22, 2017, who saw a man stabbed or someone running from the area, or who knew a 37-year-old man walking home to his father's neighborhood, may hold information that could help. Even a small detail, such as a name overheard, a vehicle seen nearby or a conversation remembered, can help detectives move a case forward. The Times asked anyone with information to call Rampart Division detectives at 484-3650. 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.
