David Beltran was 32 years old when he was fatally stabbed early on Sunday, December 1, 2013, in Mid-City, in central Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds after being attacked in the 2200 block of South Thurman Avenue. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles Police Department's West Bureau Homicide unit.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report, drawing on a police news release, said Beltran "was outside of a house party when a man approached him and stabbed him." The Times added that "Shots were also believed to be fired in Beltran's direction." Officers responded to a call of a stabbing along with shots fired at about 12:19 a.m. and found Beltran "being helped by other people."
He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 1:25 a.m., according to coroner's records.
The account suggests that a number of people were nearby when he was attacked, since there was a party going on and others were tending to him when police arrived. Yet no description of the man who stabbed him was published, and the record does not say who fired the shots, whether the attacker was a guest at the party or a stranger, or what may have led to the attack. The Times asked anyone with information to call the West Bureau Homicide Bureau at 382-9470. No follow-up story appears to have been written.
Very little else about David Beltran has entered the public record. An obituary listing kept by Holy Cross Cemetery and Mortuary records a David Beltran, born in 1981, who died on December 1, 2013, which matches his age and the date of his death and may be his. The listing carries no life story or family details. David Beltran is also a common name, and searches turn up many other men who share it, including a soldier who died earlier in 2013 and men involved in unrelated cases in other states, none of whom can be tied to this death.
Mid-City is a densely populated area in the middle of Los Angeles, made up largely of older single-family homes, duplexes and small apartment buildings on residential side streets. Busy commercial corridors such as Pico Boulevard and Venice Boulevard cross the area, lined with markets, churches, auto shops and small restaurants.
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 David Beltran could be found in news archives or public records. More than 12 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who attended or lived near the house party on Thurman Avenue in the late hours of November 30 or the early morning of December 1, 2013, or who heard talk afterward about the stabbing or the shots, 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 call the Los Angeles Police Department at 877-527-3247 or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
