Jose Estavan Villa was 22 years old when he died on Friday, Nov. 18, 2011, in the Westlake area just west of downtown Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds near Park View Street and Coronado Terrace. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department Rampart Division case.
He was a Latino man. According to the Los Angeles Times and a news release from the LAPD, officers received simultaneous calls about 8 p.m. that Friday reporting stabbing victims in the 2400 block of Temple Street and the adjacent 400 block of Coronado Terrace. The LAPD described the first call as an "ambulance assault with a deadly weapon" on Temple Street and the second as an "ambulance man down" on Coronado Terrace. Officers found a man on each block, each with multiple stab wounds to his torso, and investigators believed the two attacks were related. Paramedics took both men to a hospital.
Villa, the man found on Coronado Terrace, died there about 9:17 p.m. The other man was listed in stable condition and survived.
The LAPD said that both victims "were determined to be gang members" and that the motive was gang related. In its release, Rampart Homicide detectives asked for the public's help in finding "a suspect who killed 22-year-old Jose Villa." The suspects were described only as Hispanic males between 25 and 28 years old. "The suspects and weapon are still outstanding," the department said.
Because a second man was stabbed in the same attack and survived, at least one person besides the attackers saw what happened. Neither the Times nor the LAPD named him, and nothing has been made public about what he told detectives. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser for Jose could be found for this story, and his name is shared by many men, which makes it hard to trace any public record of his life.
Westlake is one of the most densely populated neighborhoods in Los Angeles. It grew up in the early 1900s around the lake at MacArthur Park and later became a crowded district of older apartment buildings, small shops and busy commercial streets, home to many working families and immigrants, especially from Mexico and Central America. Temple Street is a long east-west street that runs out of downtown, and the side streets near it are lined with older apartment buildings and houses set close together, where neighbors often hear and see what happens on the block.
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 Jose Estavan Villa could be found in news archives or public records. More than 14 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was near Temple Street, Coronado Terrace or Park View Street on the evening of Nov. 18, 2011, who saw a group of men leaving the area, or who later heard talk about who was responsible, 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. The LAPD asked anyone with information to contact Rampart Homicide Detective John Motto at 213-484-3641. 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.
