Emma DeJesus Serin-Paul was 45 years old when she was killed on Sunday, February 8, 2015, in the Harvard Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, she died of stab wounds in the 1700 block of South Hobart Boulevard. Her death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department West Bureau Homicide case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report described what officers found. Shortly before 6 p.m., police responded to a call of a possible homicide and found her body in the doorway of an apartment, said Lt. John Radtke of the LAPD. "Police followed a trail of blood and found the woman's husband in a bedroom with stab wounds," the Times wrote. Authorities said the couple had been involved in a dispute. She was pronounced dead at the scene at 6:12 p.m. Her husband was taken to a hospital and was expected to survive.
Radtke made clear that investigators had not yet decided what had happened.
"We'll look carefully at the evidence at the scene," he said. "We're trying to determine what happened inside between the two of them." Police were expected to interview the man, and the Times reported that "no charges have been filed." The news site MyNewsLA, which reported the case as a double stabbing, said her husband's name was not released.
That is where the public record stops. No later news report could be found saying whether detectives concluded who stabbed whom, whether anyone else was involved, or whether the case was ever presented to prosecutors. The facts that were published, a dispute between a married couple and both of them wounded inside the same apartment, suggest that investigators were focused on what happened between the two of them, but no outcome was ever announced.
Almost nothing else about her life has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for this story. She surely had relatives, friends and neighbors who remember who she was, but none of that has entered the public record. Her full name is uncommon, and searches for it turn up only a stray listing that cannot be tied to the woman who died on Hobart Boulevard.
Harvard Heights is a small historic neighborhood west of downtown Los Angeles, between Koreatown and the West Adams district. It is known for its early twentieth century houses, including Craftsman homes, many of which now hold apartments alongside newer buildings. It is a dense, working neighborhood where many families rent, and where neighbors often live close enough to hear what happens next door.
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 Emma DeJesus Serin-Paul 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 the couple, lived in the building on South Hobart Boulevard, or heard or saw something there on the afternoon of February 8, 2015, may hold information that matters to this case. Even a small detail, such as a name overheard, a vehicle seen nearby or a conversation remembered, can help detectives move a case forward. West Bureau Homicide detectives can be reached at 382-9470. 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.
