Hamid Vala was 60 years old when he died on Monday, May 16, 2005, in Montecito Heights, in Northeast Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 5301 Via Marisol. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department Hollenbeck Division case.
The coroner's record describes him as a white man of 60. A public genealogy listing gives his dates as May 22, 1944, to May 16, 2005, which means he died less than a week before what would have been his 61st birthday. More of the circumstances are known from the records of the Los Angeles City Council than from any news story. A motion filed with the council in June 2005 stated that "at approximately 4:25 pm, 60-year old Hamid Vala was discovered stabbed to death in his apartment at 5301 Via Marisol Street in Los Angeles."
The motion added: "The motive is unclear and there are no suspects in this case."
The motion, introduced on June 17, 2005, in Council District 14, the district then represented by Antonio Villaraigosa, asked the city to offer a reward. It declared that "the murder of Hamid Vala is an especially disturbing crime" and that the person or persons responsible "represent an ongoing threat to the safety of the people of Los Angeles." The council acted on the item on June 28, 2005, and the city offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to the identification, apprehension and conviction of whoever was responsible. Under the terms of the motion, the offer was to stay in effect for sixty days after the City Clerk advertised it.
Beyond those official records, little about his life has been made public. No obituary or family memorial could be found, and the records do not say what work he did, whether he lived alone, or who found him. Because he was discovered in his own apartment, it is possible that whoever attacked him was someone he let inside, but that is only one possibility, and nothing released says so.
Montecito Heights is a hilly residential neighborhood near the Arroyo Seco, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. Its winding streets climb past older houses, apartment buildings and condominium complexes, with views across the valley of the Arroyo and toward the San Gabriel Mountains on clear days. It is a quieter part of the Eastside, where a killing inside a home stands out.
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 Hamid Vala 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 lived in or visited the buildings on Via Marisol in May 2005, who knew Hamid, his visitors or his routines, or who heard talk afterward about the killing of a 60-year-old man in his apartment there, 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 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).
