Osvaldo Torres was 49 years old when he was fatally stabbed on Sunday, March 5, 2017, in the Exposition Park area of Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds, and the coroner's record lists the location as 1550 W. 35th Place. Police said he was stabbed at Denker Park. 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 described a chaotic evening. "About 7:53 p.m., officers from the LAPD's Southwest Division responded to a call of a shooting about a block away from Denker Park, police said." A 42-year-old man told officers he had been shot while standing near his car, but according to the Times he "was uncooperative with police."
Officers then learned that the shooting was not the only violence that night.
"Police then discovered that two others, Torres and a 37-year-old man, had been stabbed at Denker Park during a gathering with more than 50 people, said Los Angeles Police Det. Dave Garrido." The 37-year-old man was taken to a hospital in a private vehicle. Torres was dropped off at a fire station in the 3000 block of South Hoover Street, and he was pronounced dead at 8:18 p.m. at a hospital. "Police believe all three incidents took place in the southeast corner of the park," the Times reported. With more than 50 people at the gathering, many may have seen at least part of what happened.
His family remembered him in a memorial fundraiser created to help pay for his funeral. It described him as a "special, wonderful and magnificent man" and said, "He leaves behind his wife Sherrie of 25 years and his 5 children." The fund was set up "to help his family cover the funeral expenses," and it closed with a prayer that God would "give Sherrie and their children the strength to persevere through these most trying of times." A memorial listing with Rose Hills gives his dates as April 17, 1967, to March 5, 2017.
Exposition Park is best known for the landmarks that share its name, including the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the Natural History Museum and the California Science Center, next to the University of Southern California. The streets just west and south of those landmarks are a working-class residential area of older homes and apartment buildings. Denker Park, a city park and recreation center, serves families in that part of South Los Angeles.
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 Osvaldo Torres 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 at the gathering in Denker Park on the evening of March 5, 2017, or who drove a wounded man to the fire station on South Hoover Street, may hold information that could help detectives. In 2017, police asked anyone with information to call the Criminal Gang Homicide Division at 786-5111. 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.
