Jesus Martinez was 37 years old when he died on Saturday, Oct. 8, 2011, in Harbor Gateway, in the South Bay area of Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 20340 Harvard Blvd. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department Harbor Division case.
He was a Latino man, and he lived in neighboring Torrance, according to the Los Angeles Times. Citing an LAPD news release, the Times reported that officers responded to a stabbing call at a market about 4:45 p.m. When they arrived, they found Martinez on the ground with stab wounds. Paramedics were called, and he was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. During the investigation, detectives learned that Martinez "had gotten into a fight with an unidentified male and was stabbed." No arrests were made, and the police asked for help with "the identity of the assailant."
The few known details still say something.
The stabbing happened in the late afternoon on a Saturday, at a market, a time and place where shoppers, clerks and passersby are usually around. That suggests that others may have seen the fight or the man who left afterward. The record does not say whether Martinez knew the man he fought with, what the fight was about, whether it started inside the market or outside, or whether a weapon was ever found.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Jesus Martinez has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for this story, and no news outlet appears to have reported on the death. He surely had family, friends or neighbors who remember who he was, but none of that has entered the public record. Jesus Martinez is one of the most common names among Latino men in Southern California, and searches turned up only other men with the same name, none of whom is the man who died in Harbor Gateway.
Harbor Gateway is a long, narrow strip of the city of Los Angeles that connects the rest of the city to the port at San Pedro and Wilmington, a link the city created in the early 1900s so that it could annex the harbor. The strip runs between Torrance, Gardena and Carson, and it is made up mostly of modest homes, apartment complexes, light industry and small shopping centers along busy streets.
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 Jesus Martinez 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 at or near the market in the 20300 block of Harvard Boulevard on the afternoon of Oct. 8, 2011, who saw the fight or the man who stabbed Jesus, or who knew Jesus in Torrance, 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 Times asked anyone with information to call Harbor area homicide Officers Oliva or Rivas at 726-7881 or 726-7880. 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.
