Ronald Murralles was 23 years old when he died on Sunday, March 30, 2008, hours after he was stabbed in South Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds suffered at South Vermont Avenue and West 107th Street, in the area the coroner listed as Vermont Vista. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report said that Murralles, "a young Latino man, was stabbed to death at 107th Street and Vermont Avenue in an unincorporated area of Athens about 1:26 a.m. Sunday, March 30." He "was taken by ambulance to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 8:10 a.m." The report added only that "L.A. County sheriff's homicide detectives are investigating."
The gap of almost seven hours between the attack and his death suggests that doctors may have tried for some time to save him, but the record does not say.
It also does not say who called for help, whether he was alone, or whether he was able to tell anyone what had happened before he died.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Ronald Murralles 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 surname is uncommon, and a search for it turns up almost nothing beyond the newspaper's brief entry about his death.
Because so little was released, the basic circumstances remain unknown. 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 whether he was indoors or on the street when he was hurt. It does not say whether anyone saw what happened, or whether investigators ever identified a suspect or a motive.
The intersection of Vermont Avenue and 107th Street lies in the unincorporated part of South Los Angeles often called Athens or West Athens, a strip of county territory near the city of Los Angeles along the Vermont corridor. Because the area is not part of any city, it is patrolled by the Sheriff's Department rather than the Los Angeles Police Department. Vermont Avenue there is a wide commercial street with small businesses, churches, gas stations and fast-food restaurants, and the side streets are lined with modest single-family homes and small apartment buildings. At 1:30 on a Sunday morning, the people most likely to be out would have been neighbors, late-night customers and drivers passing through.
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 Ronald Murralles 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 Ronald Murralles, who was near Vermont Avenue and 107th Street in the early hours of March 30, 2008, or who has heard anyone talk about what happened there, may hold information that could help detectives. 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).
