Soloman Santoyo was 10 years old when he died on Friday, August 20, 2004, in El Sereno, on the east side of Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 5101 Dartmouth Ave. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department case handled by the Hollenbeck Division.
The coroner's record describes him as a Latino boy. Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Soloman has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser for him could be found for this story, and no news report about his death turned up in the material gathered. A 10-year-old boy surely had parents, relatives, classmates and teachers who remember him, but none of their memories have entered the public record.
The killing of a child is among the rarest and most painful cases detectives handle, and it is unusual for such a death to leave so little public trace.
Because so little has been released, even the basic circumstances remain unknown. The record does not say whether he was hurt inside a home or outdoors, whether anyone else was injured, what time of day it happened, or whether he died at the scene or later at a hospital. It does not say whether investigators ever identified a suspect.
The coroner gave a specific street address on Dartmouth Avenue, which may mean he was found at or near a home. The record does not say whether he lived there.
El Sereno is a neighborhood in the northeastern corner of the city of Los Angeles, near the border with Alhambra and South Pasadena. It is a hilly, largely residential area of single-family houses, with Huntington Drive as its main commercial street and the campus of California State University, Los Angeles nearby. Many families have lived there for generations, and it has a strong sense of community, with churches, parks and small businesses where neighbors know one another.
Los Angeles still recorded roughly 480 to 520 homicides a year in the mid-2000s, and many of those killings were never solved.
A case like this one may still be remembered by many people in El Sereno: neighbors on Dartmouth Avenue, families from his school, and relatives who have carried the loss for more than two decades.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Soloman Santoyo could be found in news archives or public records. More than 21 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who lived on or near Dartmouth Avenue in El Sereno in August 2004, who knew Soloman or his family, or who heard talk afterward about what happened to him, 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).
