Ricardo Estrada was 39 years old when he died on Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2005, in North Hollywood. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 6309 Lankershim Blvd. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department North Hollywood Division case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report described him as "a 39-year-old Latino male" who "died Tuesday, Nov. 22, after being stabbed in North Hollywood." The report lists him as Ricardo Nmn Estrada. "NMN" is a common records abbreviation for "no middle name," which suggests that the word was never part of his name at all but was carried over from an official form. That short entry, drawn from coroner's records, is nearly everything that has been made public about his death.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Ricardo Estrada 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.
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.
Ricardo Estrada is a very common name, and searches turn up many other men who share it, including a Los Angeles artist, men whose obituaries were published in Texas, Florida, Missouri, Illinois and Whittier, and a man named in court records about a 1990 crime in San Bernardino County. None of them can be connected to this death. A man of 39 very likely left behind parents, brothers or sisters, friends and perhaps children who still remember him.
Lankershim Boulevard is the main street of North Hollywood, one of the oldest communities in the San Fernando Valley. The boulevard runs north and south through the neighborhood, past apartment buildings, auto shops, small restaurants and strip malls, and through the NoHo Arts District with its small theaters. A busy boulevard like Lankershim carries foot traffic and cars at most hours, and someone may have seen or heard something that night or day without knowing what it meant.
Los Angeles still recorded roughly 480 to 520 homicides a year in the mid-2000s, and many of those killings were never solved.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Ricardo Estrada could be found in news archives or public records. More than 20 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was on or near Lankershim Boulevard in North Hollywood in November 2005, or who knew Ricardo Estrada and spent time with him in the days before his death, 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 call the Los Angeles Police Department at 877-527-3247 (877-LAPD-24-7), or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).
