Ted Frank Taffolla was 30 years old when he died on Sunday, Sept. 2, 2012, in Reseda, in the San Fernando Valley. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 18333 Strathern St. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department West Valley Division case.
The coroner's records describe him as a white man. The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report gave a short account of how he was found. Ed Winter, a spokesman for the coroner's office, said Ted was discovered by a passerby at about 3:20 p.m. Authorities were called, and he was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 9:40 p.m. His preliminary coroner's report indicated that he had suffered "multiple stab wounds to the chest." The Times asked anyone with information about his death to contact Detectives Price or Doerbecker at the Los Angeles Police Department at 877-527-3247.
The account leaves much unsaid.
It does not say whether he was found outdoors or inside a building, how long he may have been lying there before the passerby came upon him, or whether he was able to speak to anyone. The fact that he was found by someone passing by, rather than reported by a person who saw an attack, suggests that the stabbing itself may not have been witnessed, although the record does not say so. He survived for about six hours after he was found, but nothing has been released about whether he gave investigators any information in that time.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he was found, almost nothing about Ted Frank Taffolla has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for this story, and his name appears online mainly in lists of people killed in Los Angeles County in 2012. Even the spelling of his surname varied in the original report, which used both Taffolla and Tafolla. He surely had family, friends or neighbors who remember who he was, but none of that has entered the public record.
Reseda is a residential neighborhood in the west San Fernando Valley, part of the city of Los Angeles. It is made up largely of single-family homes and apartment buildings, with commercial strips along its main boulevards. Killings in Reseda are investigated by detectives from the LAPD's West Valley Division.
Homicides in Los Angeles fell steeply in the late 2000s and early 2010s, yet many killings from those years were never solved.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Ted Frank Taffolla 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. The passerby who found him, people who live along Strathern Street, and anyone who saw Ted or spoke with him earlier that Sunday, Sept. 2, 2012, may hold information that could help detectives. Anyone who knows where he had been that day, or with whom, may also be able to 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.
