George Luis Cabada was 41 years old when he was found dead on Friday, November 16, 2012, in Westmont, an unincorporated community in South Los Angeles County. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 1430 W. 98th St. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report gave a short account of how he was found. A mail carrier making rounds on the 1400 block of West 98th Street called 911 after finding Cabada "lying face down on his porch about 1:30 p.m.," said Ed Winter, spokesman for the coroner's office. Cabada was pronounced dead at the scene. According to coroner's reports quoted by the Times, "He had multiple cuts and scrapes to his head and a screwdriver was found next to his body."
The Times asked anyone with details to contact the sheriff's homicide bureau.
Those few lines raise questions that were never answered in public. The record does not say whether the screwdriver was the weapon, whether Cabada lived at the house where he was found, or how long he had been lying on the porch before the mail carrier came by. It does not say whether neighbors heard an argument, whether anything was taken, or whether detectives ever identified anyone they wanted to question. That he was found at a home in the middle of the afternoon suggests that someone may have been nearby when he was attacked, but no witness account was ever published.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about George Luis Cabada has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for this story, and no news outlet other than the Times appears to have reported on the death. Searches for his name turn up mostly an older namesake who died in 2024. Cabada surely had family, friends or neighbors who remember who he was, but none of that has entered the public record.
Westmont is an unincorporated area of Los Angeles County that sits between the city of Los Angeles and the city of Inglewood. Because it is not part of any city, it is policed by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department rather than the LAPD. Its streets are lined mostly with modest single-family houses and small apartment buildings. The block of West 98th Street where Cabada was found is residential, and it was a mail carrier on an ordinary afternoon route who noticed that something was wrong.
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 George Luis Cabada could be found in news archives or public records. More than 13 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who lived on or near the 1400 block of West 98th Street in Westmont in November 2012, who knew George Cabada, or who saw anyone coming or going from the porch where he was found that Friday 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 contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
