Ian Valway Hoyt was 45 years old when he died on Monday, Jan. 13, 2014, in Pomona, in the eastern part of Los Angeles County. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 129 N. Myrtle Ave. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Pomona Police Department case.
The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin reported that police received a call at about 6:45 a.m. that Monday reporting that a man had been found dead in the 800 block of West Commercial Street. Officers found Ian, a resident of Ontario, in a field in the area of West Commercial Street and Myrtle Avenue, according to Pomona Police Lt. Mike Keltner. A white Mercury registered to him was found nearby.
Police offered a theory of what brought him there. "Investigators believe Hoyt may have been trying to make a drug purchase when he was stabbed," the Daily Bulletin reported, citing Keltner.
From speaking with his family, investigators learned that he had an outstanding warrant and had planned to turn himself in, but he "disappeared over the weekend." According to Keltner, "the family confirmed he had a serious narcotics issue," and investigators thought he "was trying to binge" one last time before surrendering. "We think he met someone there," Keltner said. He added that the area was frequented by gang members and that it was possible whoever Ian met "was a gang member or was a drug dealer with gang ties."
A woman who lived nearby, Rosa Flores, told the paper that she and her husband were in bed when their dogs barked shortly before 4 a.m. When they looked outside, they saw a car drive by but nothing more. In the morning her husband noticed a white car in the area on his way to work, drove past to check on it, and saw a body on the ground near the car. "The truth is nothing like this has happened before," she said in Spanish.
His was the second homicide in Pomona in 2014. Three weeks later, the Daily Bulletin reported that no arrests had been made in his death. No obituary or family fundraiser for him could be found.
Pomona is a city of about 150,000 people at the eastern edge of Los Angeles County, home to Cal Poly Pomona and the Fairplex, where the Los Angeles County Fair is held. Its older neighborhoods near downtown include blocks of homes alongside industrial lots, rail lines and open parcels, the kind of place where a car parked by a field in the early morning hours might go unnoticed.
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 Ian Valway Hoyt could be found in news archives or public records. More than 11 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who saw Ian or his white Mercury over the weekend of Jan. 11 and 12, 2014, who was near West Commercial Street and Myrtle Avenue before dawn on Jan. 13, or who heard talk about who he met there, may hold information that could help detectives. 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 Pomona Police Department, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
