Saul Ivan Rodriguez was 20 years old when he died on Thursday, April 14, 2016, in Sylmar. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds after he was beaten and stabbed near Dronfield Avenue and Astoria Street, in the 14000 block of Astoria Street. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles Police Department's Valley Bureau Homicide unit.
He was attacked in the middle of the afternoon while doing something ordinary and kind. According to the Los Angeles Times Homicide Report, LAPD Det. Dave Peteque said investigators determined that Rodriguez "was walking his cousin home from school when he was confronted by multiple people who jumped out of a vehicle and began to beat and stab him." The attackers then ran back to the vehicle. About 3 p.m., officers responding to a call about an assault found him with several stab wounds.
Paramedics took him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The Los Angeles Daily News, in a City News Service report published the next day, said the attack happened at a location next to Sylmar High School and identified him as a Sylmar resident. It quoted a police statement: "The investigation revealed that Mr. Rodriguez was confronted by several suspects while he was walking on the sidewalk. The suspects beat and stabbed Rodriguez before they ran away from the location into a vehicle." The report added that "No descriptions were available of the vehicle or suspects."
An obituary page from Funeraria del Angel in Panorama City, posted through Dignity Memorial, lists him as Saul Ivan Rodriguez Jr. and gives his dates as October 28, 1995, to April 14, 2016. The "Jr." shows that he shared his name with his father.
Several details stand out. The attack was carried out by a group, it happened near a high school as classes were letting out, and the attackers arrived and left in a vehicle, which suggests that it may not have been a chance encounter. Police did not publicly describe a motive, and the record does not say whether he knew any of the people who attacked him.
Sylmar is the northernmost neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles, at the top of the San Fernando Valley near the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. It is a largely residential, working-class community of single-family homes, apartment complexes and small ranch properties, and Sylmar High School sits at the heart of the neighborhood.
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 Saul Ivan Rodriguez 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. Anyone who was near Dronfield Avenue and Astoria Street around 3 p.m. on April 14, 2016, who saw a group of people get out of a vehicle near Sylmar High School, or who knew Saul Rodriguez, may hold information that could help detectives. In 2016, police asked anyone with information to call Valley Bureau detectives at 374-1934. 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.
