Elvira Zarate was 57 years old when she died on Friday, June 5, 2015, in Sylmar, at the northern edge of the San Fernando Valley. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, she died of stab wounds at 13969 Foothill Blvd. Her death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department case handled in the department's Mission Hills area.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report recorded her death in a single sentence drawn from coroner's records. It described her as "a 57-year-old Latino female" who "died Friday, June 5, after being stabbed in Sylmar."
Her name surfaced in print only once more. A month later, on July 6, 2015, the Times reported on an unrelated case in which police shot a man armed with a knife at a Sylmar home.
Near the end of that story, the paper noted that the earlier killing in the neighborhood had taken place "June 5 in the 13000 block of Foothill Boulevard, where Elvira Zarate, 57, was stabbed to death."
Beyond her name, her age and the place where she died, almost nothing about Elvira Zarate 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. She surely had family, friends or neighbors who remember who she was, but none of that has entered the public record. Zarate is a common surname across Mexico, Central America and the Philippines, and searches for her name turn up obituaries and records for several other women named Elvira Zarate in Texas and elsewhere, none of whom can be tied to this death.
Because so little has been released, even the basic circumstances remain unknown to the public. The record does not say whether she was stabbed during a fight or a robbery, attacked by a stranger or by someone she knew, or hurt indoors or on the street. It does not say what time of day she was hurt, whether she died at the scene or later at a hospital, whether anyone saw what happened, or whether investigators ever identified a suspect.
Sylmar is the northernmost neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles. It sits against the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, and it has long been a mix of suburban streets, older ranch properties, horse-keeping lots and small businesses. Foothill Boulevard is one of its main roads, lined with homes, apartment complexes and shops. The neighborhood is also home to Olive View-UCLA Medical Center, a county hospital. It is patrolled by the LAPD's Mission Division, based in Mission Hills.
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 Elvira Zarate could be found in news archives or public records. More than ten years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who knew a 57-year-old woman named Elvira Zarate, or who lived, worked or shopped near the 13900 block of Foothill Boulevard in Sylmar in early June 2015, may remember something about the day she was hurt. 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.
