Ricardo Rivera was 24 years old when he died on Thursday, May 3, 2007, in Norwalk, a city in southeast Los Angeles County. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 10525 Everest St. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report described the case in a short post published on May 9, 2007. It said that Rivera, "a Latino man, was stabbed at 10525 Everest St. in Norwalk, and died at 5:10 p.m. Thursday, May 3." According to the report, "His roommate came home and found him on the front porch swing, bleeding." The same post added that "He died two days after at a hospital."
That line does not sit easily with the May 3 date of death given a sentence earlier, which suggests that one of the two details was recorded in error, or that the attack itself happened before the date that was listed.
The report also said that "Investigators found a pound of marijuana in Rivera's car and suspect some narcotics-related crime." That was the only hint of a possible motive ever made public. The post did not say whether anyone else had been at the house or whether detectives had a suspect in mind. No follow-up story about the case appears in the newspaper's archive, and no statement from sheriff's homicide investigators could be found.
Beyond those few lines, almost nothing about Ricardo Rivera has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for this story. His name is very common, and searches turn up many other men called Ricardo Rivera, including a homicide victim in Hartford, Conn., men arrested in Illinois and people whose obituaries were published in Florida, Texas and Connecticut. None of them has any connection to this death. The roommate who found him, along with his family and friends, would know far more about who he was than the brief record kept by the coroner.
Norwalk is a large suburban city in the southeastern part of Los Angeles County, crossed by the Santa Ana Freeway and the San Gabriel River Freeway. It is made up mostly of single-family homes on quiet residential streets, with shopping centers along its main boulevards. The city is home to Cerritos College and to the headquarters of the county's Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, and it contracts with the Sheriff's Department for police services, which is why deputies rather than a city police force handled this case.
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 Ricardo Rivera 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 knew Ricardo Rivera, who visited the house on Everest Street, or who was in that part of Norwalk in early May 2007 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).
