Yaskara Camacho was 13 years old when she died on Saturday, June 16, 2007, in South Gate, in southeast Los Angeles County. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, she died of stab wounds at 9726 Deeble St. Her 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 Yaskara, "a Latina girl, suffered stab wounds and cuts to her extremities in the same attack that killed Yolanda Isabel Franco, a 34-year old Latina and left another person injured." It added: "Authorities described the attacks as domestic violence. Yaskara's time of death was listed as 4:45 p.m. Saturday, June 16."
The Times entry for Yolanda Franco, which gave her age as 36, said she was stabbed more than 30 times at the same address and died at 4:54 p.m., nine minutes after the girl.
That entry said "a third person was wounded," described the case as "a possible domestic-violence case" and promised "More to come." No follow-up appears to have been published. Neither entry explained how Yaskara was related to Franco or to the person who survived, who the attacker was believed to be, or whether anyone was taken into custody. The description of the attack as domestic violence suggests that investigators may have believed the person responsible was known to the household, but no public source names a suspect.
Beyond her name, her age and the place where she died, almost nothing about Yaskara Camacho has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found, and no news story beyond the Times entries appears to have been written. A girl of 13 would have been in middle school, with classmates, teachers and neighbors who knew her. She surely had family and friends who remember who she was, but none of that has entered the public record.
Because so little has been released, many basic questions remain unanswered in public. The record does not say whether she was hurt trying to protect someone else, where in or around the house the attack took place, whether she died at the scene or at a hospital, or who called for help. It also does not say what became of the wounded survivor, who may be the person best placed to explain what happened.
South Gate is a city of about 90,000 people in the southeast part of Los Angeles County, along the Los Angeles River. It grew in the twentieth century as a factory town, once home to large plants that drew thousands of workers, and it remains a dense, working-class community of modest single-family homes and small apartment buildings.
Hundreds of people are killed in Los Angeles County every year, and a large share of those killings end without an arrest. The killing of a child in her own neighborhood is the kind of crime that families, schools and neighbors rarely forget, even many years later.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Yaskara Camacho 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 Deeble Street in South Gate in June 2007, or who knew Yaskara or the adults who shared that address, 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).
