Thomas Ruelas was 48 years old when he died on Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2007, in Azusa. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 923 E. Hollyvale St. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as an Azusa Police Department case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report gave a brief account. It said that Ruelas, "a Latino man, was stabbed twice in the abdomen at 923 East Hollyvale St. in Azusa and died at 5:05 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 15." The entry gave a specific street address and a time of death, but nothing more. It did not say whether the address was his home, whether he was attacked inside a house or outside on the street, or whether he died at the scene or later at a hospital.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Thomas Ruelas 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. Searches for his name turn up a few other men called Thomas Ruelas, including people who signed public petitions and others mentioned in family obituaries, but none of those records can be tied with confidence to the man who died in Azusa in 2007.
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 whether anyone saw what happened. It does not say whether police ever identified a suspect, or whether anyone else was hurt. The fact that he died in the late afternoon, on a weekday, at a residential address suggests that neighbors may have been at home or arriving back from work around the time he was hurt, but the record does not say whether anyone came forward.
Azusa is a city in the San Gabriel Valley at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains, where the San Gabriel River comes out of its canyon. It grew up as a farming town surrounded by citrus groves and later became a mostly working-class suburb along the old Route 66 corridor on Foothill Boulevard. The city is also home to Azusa Pacific University. It has its own police department, which investigates killings within the city limits.
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 Thomas Ruelas could be found in news archives or public records. More than 18 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who lived on or near East Hollyvale Street in Azusa in August 2007, who saw or heard a fight there on the afternoon of Aug. 15, or who knew a 48-year-old man named Thomas Ruelas, 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 Azusa Police Department, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).
