Kedric Entena was 17 years old when he died early on Friday, June 1, 2007, in the unincorporated community of Valinda in the San Gabriel Valley. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 16626 Malvane St. 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 Kedric, "a 17-year-old youth of Filipino descent, was stabbed at 16626 Malvane St. in the South San Jose Hills in the Valinda area and died at 6:43 a.m. on Friday, June 1." It went on: "He had been standing in a driveway with a Latino friend. Four or five Latino men or youths drove up to the pair, got out of their car and attacked them, stabbing both. Deputies arrived and called paramedics. Entena died; his friend survived."
That brief account describes a sudden and deliberate attack.
The men arrived together by car, got out and went after two young people who were simply standing in a driveway. The report does not say whether the attackers said anything first, whether they seemed to be looking for someone in particular, or whether they drove away afterward. It also does not describe the car. The fact that a group arrived together and attacked without any reported argument suggests that the attack may have been planned, or that the attackers may have mistaken the two for someone else, but the record does not say which, if either, was true.
In November 2007, a San Gabriel Valley newspaper report on another killing in Valinda listed Kedric among the people killed in the community that year, noting that he was "stabbed to death June 1 in the 16000 block of Malvane St." No story about an arrest in his case appears to have followed.
Beyond what the Times reported, almost nothing about Kedric Entena has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found. A 17-year-old would have been finishing high school or just out of it, with friends, teachers and teammates who knew him. He surely had family who remember who he was, but none of that has entered the public record. His friend, who was stabbed alongside him and survived, is one of the people who saw the attackers up close.
Valinda is an unincorporated community in the eastern San Gabriel Valley, near La Puente and West Covina, made up largely of single-family homes on quiet residential streets in the foothills known as the South San Jose Hills. Because it is not part of any city, it is policed by the Sheriff's Department, and homicides there are investigated by the department's Homicide Bureau.
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 Kedric Entena 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 Malvane Street in Valinda in June 2007, who saw a car carrying a group of men in the neighborhood early that Friday morning, or who has heard someone talk about the attack, 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).
