Michael Silva was 39 years old when he died on Saturday, June 5, 2010, in Canoga Park, in the western San Fernando Valley. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 7042 Glade Ave. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles Police Department's Topanga Division.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report said Topanga Area patrol officers responded to a 911 call described as "unknown trouble" at a residence about 2 a.m. When officers arrived, "they discovered Silva lying unconscious in the driveway with multiple stab wounds to his body." Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.
The Daily News reported that Silva, a construction worker, lived in Chatsworth. Within two days, detectives had a suspect. At a news conference, LAPD Detective Dave Peteque of the Topanga station identified him as Jerry Wizar, 32, of Canoga Park.
According to detectives, Wizar and Silva were longtime acquaintances who had been drinking for several hours. They got into an argument that turned physical, and Wizar pulled a knife and stabbed Silva, police said, then fled and left him unconscious. The accusation was never tested in court.
"This was not a random act of violence," Peteque told the Daily News. "This was between people that have known each other for several years." He told KPCC, "There is not a psycho killer running around." Police said Wizar was believed to still be in the San Fernando Valley and described him as armed and dangerous. They described him as Latino, with brown hair and brown eyes, about 5 feet 11 inches tall and about 200 pounds. Both men had prior arrest records, police said, but they declined to release details.
LA Weekly, in its first report, noted that police had ruled out any link between Silva's death and a sword attack at a Van Nuys video company a few days earlier, which had drawn heavy news coverage that same week.
After those first reports in June 2010, the trail goes quiet. The saved record contains no report that Wizar was ever found, arrested or charged, and no court case bearing his name in connection with this death. That suggests he may never have been caught, though it is also possible that a later arrest simply went unreported.
Canoga Park is one of the older communities of the western San Fernando Valley, a mix of single-family homes, apartment buildings and commercial strips. Glade Avenue runs through a residential part of the neighborhood. The Topanga Division, whose station sits in Canoga Park, covers much of the west Valley.
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 Michael Silva could be found in news archives or public records. More than 15 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who knew Michael Silva or Jerry Wizar, or who was near Glade Avenue in Canoga Park in June 2010, may hold information that could help. The LA Times asked anyone with information to contact Topanga Area homicide detectives at (818) 756-4869. Anyone with information can call the Los Angeles Police Department at 877-527-3247 (877-LAPD-24-7), or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).
