Rogelio Alvarado was 23 years old when he died on Sunday, September 18, 2011, in Wilmington, in the harbor area of Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 1117 W. Anaheim St. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department Harbor Division case.
According to an LAPD news release, Harbor Area patrol officers responded to an assault call in the 1100 block of West Anaheim Street at about 5 a.m. that Sunday. "When they arrived, they found a man on the ground suffering from stab wounds." Firefighters took him to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Homicide detectives pieced together what had happened shortly before. Rogelio "was standing to the rear of the 800 block of Wilmington Avenue with friends when a suspect walked up to him and asked for a beverage," the release said. "When Alvarado declined to provide a beverage, the suspect stabbed him."
He then ran to a courtyard in the 1100 block of Anaheim Street, where he collapsed. The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report added that police "could not say whether it was a man or a woman" who stabbed him, and that "Police are still searching for the suspect." The LAPD said "It is unknown if the stabbing was gang related and the motive is unknown." CBS Los Angeles and the Daily Breeze reported the same account.
The details point to a killing over almost nothing. By the police account, he refused a request for a drink and was stabbed for it. The friends who were with him may have seen the attacker, although the reports do not say whether they could describe that person.
A memorial listing from Funeraria del Angel in Wilmington records a Rogelio Alvarado Rosales, born August 21, 1988, who died September 18, 2011. The dates match his age and the day of the stabbing, which suggests that this was his full name and that his family held his services in the same community where he died. No further obituary text, photographs or family statements could be found, and nothing else about his life, work or family has entered the public record.
Wilmington is a working-class community in the harbor area of Los Angeles, next to the Port of Los Angeles. It grew up around the harbor and its shipping, and today its streets of modest homes and apartment buildings sit near rail lines, truck routes, oil refineries and port terminals. Anaheim Street is one of its main east-west streets, and Wilmington Avenue is a busy north-south road through the area.
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 Rogelio Alvarado 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. The friends who were standing with him behind the building on Wilmington Avenue, and anyone else who was near Anaheim Street and Wilmington Avenue before dawn on September 18, 2011, may hold information that could help. At the time, police asked tipsters to call Harbor Area Homicide Detective Cortez at 310-726-7889 or 310-726-7880. 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.
