Felicitas Vallejo was 51 years old when she died on Monday, May 12, 2008, in Pomona, at the eastern edge of Los Angeles County. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, she died of stab wounds at 2125 Powers St. Her death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Pomona Police Department.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report said that Vallejo, "a 51-year-old Latina woman, was allegedly stabbed to death in a domestic dispute." According to the report, "Vallejo was pronounced dead at the scene in the 2100 block of Powers Street in Pomona at 6:33 a.m." that Monday morning.
The report quoted Pomona police Lt. Ron McDonell, who said that a dispute between Vallejo and her husband, then 61, "may have led to the stabbing." Police said the husband was "wanted for questioning," and they released a short description of him, a Latino man about 5 feet 8 inches tall and 220 pounds.
The report asked anyone with information to call the Pomona Police Department at (909) 620-2085.
No later article about the case could be found. The public record does not say whether the husband was ever located or questioned, whether he was ever arrested, or whether prosecutors ever reviewed the case. Because he was only sought for questioning and was never charged in any record that could be found, he is not named here. Her name appears on community lists of Pomona homicide victims that residents have shared online, with the date, the Powers Street address and the word "Stabbing," but those lists say nothing about an arrest.
Beyond the few lines in the police statement, almost nothing about Felicitas Vallejo has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for her, and no news outlet appears to have followed the case. Felicitas Vallejo is also a name shared by other women, including a Texas woman whose obituary appeared in 2012, none of whom has any connection to this death. She surely had relatives, friends and neighbors who remember her, but their memories have not entered the public record.
Pomona is one of the older cities of the Pomona Valley, about 30 miles east of downtown Los Angeles near the San Bernardino County line. It is home to Cal Poly Pomona and to the Fairplex, where the Los Angeles County Fair is held. Much of the city is made up of working-class neighborhoods of single-family homes, small apartment buildings and commercial boulevards. Powers Street is a residential street, and the early hour of the attack suggests that it may have happened at or near her home, though the report does not say so.
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 Felicitas Vallejo 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 Felicitas Vallejo, who knew her household on Powers Street, or who heard anything about where her husband went after the early morning of May 12, 2008, may hold information that could help detectives close this case. 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 Pomona Police Department at (909) 620-2085, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).
