Irma Teresa Cuevas was 62 years old when she was found dead on Sunday, February 19, 2017, on a sidewalk in the Pico-Union area of Los Angeles, near Koreatown. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, she died of stab wounds at 2681 W. Olympic Blvd. Her death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles Police Department's West Bureau Homicide unit.
Cuevas was homeless. About 10:30 a.m., police received a call about a person who was motionless on the sidewalk, Det. Sean Kinchla told the Los Angeles Times. Officers found that she had been stabbed, and she was pronounced dead at the scene at 10:38 a.m. Police at first said she was killed sometime after 10 p.m. the night before. Later, ABC7 reported that police believed she was stabbed around 1:30 a.m., about nine hours before her body was found.
She was a familiar figure on that stretch of Olympic Boulevard. "Everybody described her as harmless, a pleasant lady," LAPD Lt.
John Radtke told ABC7. "She was known to sweep the sidewalk, to keep the sidewalk clean in the immediate area." Det. Steven Katz told the Beverly Press that she had been homeless for a significant period of time and that there was no evidence connecting her killing to any other crime. "We are looking for help," Katz said. "Someone noticed her and called police, but we are looking for someone to help us with why she was stabbed and by whom."
In April 2017 the Los Angeles City Council offered a $50,000 reward, an effort the Beverly Press said was initiated by Councilman Gil Cedillo's office. Detectives released surveillance video of a person of interest who was seen interacting with Cuevas shortly before her death. The LAPD described him as "a male Black with a possible limp" who "was last seen riding a bicycle." ABC7 reported that he rode a beach cruiser with a child seat on the back, wore a hooded jacket and was also believed to be homeless. Cedillo said he worried that some witnesses in the largely immigrant neighborhood were afraid to come forward. "We want to make sure immigrants step forward, if there's witnesses," he said.
Pico-Union and the neighboring blocks of Koreatown form one of the most densely populated parts of Los Angeles, just west of downtown. Olympic Boulevard is a major east-west street lined with shops, apartment buildings and bus stops, and the area is patrolled by the LAPD's Olympic Division, whose station sits on South Vermont Avenue.
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 Irma Teresa Cuevas 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 West Olympic Boulevard near Vermont Avenue on the night of February 18 or the early morning of February 19, 2017, or who recognizes the man described by police, may hold information that could help. Detectives listed West Bureau Homicide at 213-382-9470. 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.
