Jorge Montero was 84 years old when he died on Tuesday, April 7, 2009, in the Florence-Firestone area of South Los Angeles County, on the edge of Watts. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 1827 E. 87th St. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report described him as "an 84-year-old Latino" who "died after he was stabbed four times in the abdomen" in the 1800 block of East 87th Street, according to the coroner's office. The entry added one more important detail: "Montero was stabbed inside his home, according to sheriff's records." The incident was reported at about 4:40 p.m.
That is nearly everything the public record holds. The entry did not say who found him, whether anyone else was in the house, whether anything was taken, or whether deputies had any description of a suspect.
It gave no quotes from detectives, relatives or neighbors, and no follow-up story appears to have been published.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Jorge Montero 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. The name Jorge Montero is common across the Spanish-speaking world, and searches for it turn up many other men, among them a government minister in Peru, men arrested in Florida and a man who died in Belize. None of them can be tied to this death.
What can be said is that the attack was reported in the late afternoon and took place inside the home of a man in his eighties. A killing of an elderly man in his own house raises questions that the record does not answer: whether the attacker was someone he knew and let in, whether it began as a robbery or burglary, or whether it grew out of a dispute. Any of those is possible, and none has been confirmed.
Florence-Firestone is an unincorporated community in South Los Angeles County, policed by the Sheriff's Department rather than the Los Angeles Police Department. It is densely populated, with blocks of small single-family homes, duplexes and apartment buildings, and it borders the city neighborhood of Watts. Numbered east-west streets like East 87th Street run through its residential blocks, lined with modest houses.
Hundreds of people are killed in Los Angeles County every year, and a large share of those killings end without an arrest.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Jorge Montero 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 Jorge Montero, or who saw someone coming to or leaving a home in the 1800 block of East 87th Street on the afternoon of April 7, 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 contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).
