Tomas Hernandez

Tomas Hernandez was 50 years old when he died early on Saturday, May 27, 2017, in the Florence neighborhood of South Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds near Avalon Boulevard and East 81st Street. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles Police Department's South Bureau Homicide unit.

The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report said he was "fatally stabbed and beaten" in the 8100 block of South Avalon Boulevard. About 2:20 a.m., officers responded to a call of an assault with a deadly weapon and "found Hernandez face down in the street in a pool of blood," Los Angeles Police Det. Dave Garrido said. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 2:41 a.m., according to coroner's records.

Someone saw at least part of the attack. According to the Times, a witness told police that "a Latino of an unknown age kicked and punched Hernandez, who was screaming for help, in the face multiple times." After several minutes, the suspect ran away. The report did not say whether the witness saw a knife, whether the attacker was alone, or whether the two men knew each other.

That account suggests the attack lasted for some time on a public street, and that Hernandez called out while it was happening. It is possible that others in nearby homes or passing cars heard him, although the record does not say whether anyone else came forward. The Times did not report a motive, and it did not say whether anything was taken from him.

Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Tomas Hernandez 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. Tomas Hernandez is a very common name, and searches turn up musicians, defendants in unrelated cases and obituaries for many other men in Texas, Florida and elsewhere, none of whom can be tied to this death.

Florence is a neighborhood in South Los Angeles, patrolled by the LAPD's 77th Street Division. It is an area of small houses, apartment buildings, churches and storefront businesses, and Avalon Boulevard is one of its main north-south streets, busy with traffic and buses through the day.

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 Tomas Hernandez 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 near Avalon Boulevard and 81st Street around 2 a.m. on May 27, 2017, who heard a man screaming for help, or who saw a man running from the area that night, 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 the LAPD's 77th Division homicide squad at 786-5113. 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.