Arnen Antonio Becerra Sosa was 35 years old when he died on Friday, Sept. 19, 2008, in South Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds. The public record does not give the address where he was hurt. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles Police Department's 77th Street Division.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report gave only the briefest entry. It said that Becerra Sosa, "a 35-year-old Latino male, died Friday, Sept. 19, after being stabbed." Unlike most entries, it did not name a street, a block or even a neighborhood. The only clue to where the attack happened is the assignment of the case to the 77th Street Division, which covers a large part of South Los Angeles.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Arnen Antonio Becerra Sosa 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. His first name is unusual, and his full name follows the common Spanish-language custom of carrying two surnames, so public records may list him as Arnen Becerra, Arnen Sosa or Antonio Becerra. Searches under each of those forms turned up nothing that could be tied to him. The unusual spelling of his first name may also reflect a transcription in the coroner's files, which would make it even harder to trace him.
Because so little has been released, even the basic circumstances remain unknown to the public. The record does not say whether he was stabbed during a fight or a robbery, attacked by a stranger or by someone he knew, or hurt indoors or on the street. It does not say what time of day he was hurt, whether he died at the scene or later at a hospital, whether anyone saw what happened, or whether investigators ever identified a suspect.
The 77th Street Division takes its name from its station on West 77th Street and serves a wide stretch of South Los Angeles, including neighborhoods such as Hyde Park, Vermont Knolls, Manchester Square and Florence. It is an area of modest single-family homes, small apartment buildings, churches and long commercial corridors such as Vermont Avenue, Western Avenue and Florence Avenue. For decades it has been home to long-established Black families and, increasingly, to Latino families as well, and many neighbors there have known each other for years.
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 Arnen Antonio Becerra Sosa could be found in news archives or public records. More than 17 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who knew a 35-year-old man by that name, who worked or lived with him, or who heard about a stabbing in South Los Angeles around Sept. 19, 2008, may hold information that could help detectives. Relatives who lost contact with him that fall may also be able to fill in the gaps the record leaves. 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).
