Joaquin Martinez was 38 years old when he died on Thursday, Sept. 1, 2016, in the Green Meadows neighborhood of South Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds in the 11600 block of South Avalon Boulevard. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department case.
Martinez lived in Bellflower. That night he had been riding a train on the Metro Green Line, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff's Lt. Mike Rosson. He and another man "got off at the 116th Street station around 9:53 p.m.," the Los Angeles Times reported, and the two men stepped into the station elevator together. When the elevator doors opened, Martinez had been stabbed multiple times, Rosson said, and the man who had been with him ran off.
Martinez was pronounced dead at the scene at 10:05 p.m., with multiple stab wounds to the torso, according to coroner's records.
Investigators reviewed footage from the station's security cameras, and Rosson said they believed Martinez knew the man who stabbed him. The Times account did not say who that man was, how the two knew each other, where they had boarded the train, or what might have led to the attack inside the elevator.
A memorial listing with Dignity Memorial records that Joaquin Martinez of Bellflower was born on May 30, 1978, and died on Sept. 1, 2016. Beyond that, little about his life has been made public. No published obituary describing his family, his work or his interests could be found for this story. Joaquin Martinez is also a common name, and searches turn up many other men who share it, including a Florida man freed from death row and several people in other states, none of whom are connected to this death.
The Metro Green Line, now part of the C Line, opened in 1995 and runs for most of its length down the middle of the Glenn Anderson Freeway, the 105, crossing the southern part of Los Angeles County between the South Bay and Norwalk. Its stations are reached by stairs, escalators and elevators from the streets that pass over or under the freeway. Green Meadows is a residential neighborhood of modest homes and apartments in South Los Angeles. At the time, the Sheriff's Department policed the Metro rail system, which is why the case went to the department's Homicide Bureau.
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 Joaquin Martinez could be found in news archives or public records. More than nine years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Detectives said cameras captured the station that night, and that the man who rode the elevator with Martinez was someone he knew. Anyone who rode the Green Line on the evening of Sept. 1, 2016, who was near the station on Avalon Boulevard that night, or who knew Joaquin Martinez in Bellflower and heard talk about who he was with, 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. 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.
