Javier Chavez Mejia was 43 years old when he was stabbed to death on Saturday, Oct. 31, 2009, in Highland Park. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 119 1/2 E. Avenue 45. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles Police Department's Northeast Division.
He did not die alone. The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report said that "Mejia and Salvador Ayala, a 26-year-old Latino, were drinking with a third person when they got into a dispute. The third person stabbed both men, said LAPD Det. Jose Carrillo." Both men died. "Authorities did not identify the assailant, who they said was still at large," the report said.
A mortuary obituary gives a few more details about his life. It says that Javier Mejia, "43 years old of Los Angeles, California entered into eternal rest on Saturday, October 31, 2009 in Los Angeles," and that he was born on April 14, 1966.
No longer obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser describing his work, his family or his interests could be found.
The detective's account suggests that the three men knew one another well enough to be drinking together, which may mean the killer was a friend, a neighbor or an acquaintance rather than a stranger. The record does not say what the dispute was about, what time of day it happened, whether anyone else was present, or how the attacker got away. It also does not say whether detectives knew the third man's name but could not find him, or whether they never learned who he was.
The case is unusual because it took two lives at once. A person who stabbed two men to death and walked away was described by police as "still at large," and no later report says that changed. Javier Mejia is a common name, and searches turn up many other men who share it, including a teenager killed years later in Lincoln Heights, none of whom is connected to this case.
Highland Park is a hillside neighborhood in northeast Los Angeles, along the Arroyo Seco between downtown and Pasadena. Its numbered avenues climb away from North Figueroa Street, the main commercial corridor, through blocks of Craftsman bungalows, small apartment buildings and older homes. For decades it was a working-class, largely Latino community.
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 Javier Chavez Mejia could be found in news archives or public records. More than 16 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who knew Javier Mejia or Salvador Ayala, or who was near the 100 block of East Avenue 45 in Highland Park on Oct. 31, 2009, may hold information that could help. 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 (877-LAPD-24-7), or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).
