Juan Manuel Flores was 25 years old when he died on Sunday, Aug. 6, 2006, in Pasadena, a city in the western San Gabriel Valley northeast of downtown Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 360 North Arroyo Blvd. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Pasadena Police Department case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report recorded only the basic facts. It said that Flores, a 25-year-old Latino man, "died Sunday, Aug. 6, after being stabbed in Pasadena, according to Los Angeles County coroner's records." No longer story about the case appeared in the newspaper, and no public statement from Pasadena detectives could be found.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Juan Manuel Flores 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. Juan Manuel Flores is one of the most common names in the Spanish-speaking world, and searches turn up dozens of other men who carry it, including a convicted drug trafficker in El Paso, a man whose appeal was heard in a Texas court, a man charged in a North Carolina kidnapping and another accused of embezzlement in Lompoc. None of them can be connected to this death.
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 hurt indoors or on the street. It does not say what time of day he was hurt, whether he died at the scene or later at a hospital, whether anyone saw what happened, or whether investigators ever identified a suspect.
Because the death was recorded on a Sunday, he may have been attacked late on Saturday night or in the early hours of Sunday, but the record does not say so, and that remains only a possibility.
Pasadena is a city of about 140,000 people, known around the world for the Tournament of Roses Parade and the Rose Bowl, and home to the California Institute of Technology and the restored shops and restaurants of Old Pasadena. Arroyo Boulevard follows the Arroyo Seco, the broad natural canyon along the city's western side, where parkland, trails and older homes sit close together. Pasadena has its own police department, which investigates homicides within the city.
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 Juan Manuel Flores could be found in news archives or public records. More than 19 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who knew a 25-year-old man named Juan Manuel Flores in Pasadena, or who was on or near North Arroyo Boulevard in early August 2006, may hold information that could help investigators. 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 Pasadena Police Department, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).
