Maritza Enamorado was 33 years old when she died on Thursday, Nov. 17, 2005, in the Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, she died of stab wounds at 827 S. Carondelet St. Her death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department Rampart Division case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report described her as "a 33-year-old Latino female" who "died Thursday, Nov. 17, after being stabbed in Westlake." That brief entry, drawn from coroner's records, is nearly everything that has been made public about her death.
Beyond her name, her age and the place where she died, almost nothing about Maritza Enamorado 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.
She surely had family, friends or neighbors who remember who she 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 she was stabbed during a fight or a robbery, attacked by a stranger or by someone she knew, or hurt indoors or on the street. It does not say what time of day she was hurt, whether she died at the scene or later at a hospital, whether anyone saw what happened, or whether investigators ever identified a suspect.
Enamorado is a less common surname in the United States, but searches for Maritza Enamorado turn up many women who share the name on social media, most of them living outside the United States. None of them can be connected to this death. A woman of 33 almost certainly left behind parents, brothers or sisters and friends, and possibly children, who still remember her and still wonder what happened.
Westlake is one of the most densely populated neighborhoods in Los Angeles, just west of downtown. It is centered on MacArthur Park and its lake, and its streets are lined with older apartment buildings, many of them built in the early twentieth century, along with small markets, street vendors, churches and clinics. For decades the neighborhood has been home to many immigrant families, and the sidewalks are busy from early morning into the night. Carondelet Street is one of the residential side streets in the neighborhood, where many people live close together in apartment buildings. In a place so crowded, someone may have seen or heard something without understanding 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 Maritza Enamorado 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 South Carondelet Street in Westlake in November 2005, or who knew Maritza Enamorado and spent time with her in the days before her 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).
