Mario Arellanes was 37 years old when he died on Wednesday, July 11, 2012, at California Hospital Medical Center in the 1400 block of South Grand Avenue, on the southern edge of downtown Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds. The Homicide Report's record lists the address 2361 W. 23rd St. for his case, which may be where he was hurt, although the record does not say so. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department Criminal Gang Homicide case.
The coroner's records describe him as a Latino man. What is known about his death comes from a short Los Angeles Times Homicide Report post based on information from the coroner's office. Ed Winter, a spokesman for the coroner's office, said Mario "was brought into the emergency room at California Hospital Medical Center." The post did not give the date he arrived. "He had stab wounds to the head," the Times wrote. He was placed on a ventilator, and he remained on it "until death on July 11, Winter said."
The most unusual detail in the record is what investigators did not know. According to the Times, "Coroner's investigators do not know when Arellanes was attacked." The fact that he was kept on a ventilator suggests that he survived for some time after he was hurt, perhaps days, but the record does not say how long. It also does not say who brought him to the hospital, where the stabbing took place, whether anyone saw it, or what led to it. The case was assigned to the LAPD's Criminal Gang Homicide unit, but no public statement explained why or said whether investigators believed the attack was connected to a gang.
Beyond these details, almost nothing about Mario's life has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for this story. Mario Arellanes is not a rare name in Southern California, and searches turned up an architect, social media users and a different Mario Arellanes, an East Los Angeles man who was shot to death in 1988, none of whom can be connected to the man who died in 2012. He surely had family or friends who remember him, but none of that has entered the public record.
California Hospital Medical Center is one of the oldest hospitals in Los Angeles and has long served downtown and the dense neighborhoods south of it. Its emergency room receives many of the people hurt in that part of the city.
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 Mario Arellanes 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 knew a 37-year-old man named Mario Arellanes, who saw him hurt or helped bring him to the hospital in the summer of 2012, or who lived near the 2300 block of West 23rd Street at that time, 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 call the Los Angeles Police Department at 877-527-3247 or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
