Alejandro Salcedo was 23 years old when he died on Sunday, July 4, 2004, in Pasadena. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 861 N. Madison Ave. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Pasadena Police Department case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report described him as "a 23-year-old Latino male" who "died Sunday, July 4, after being stabbed in Pasadena." That short entry is nearly all that has been made public about his death. He died on Independence Day, a holiday when many people are outdoors at gatherings and fireworks shows, though the record says nothing about where he had been that day.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Alejandro Salcedo 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.
Alejandro Salcedo is a fairly common name, and searches turn up many unrelated men who shared it, among them a young man arrested in Texas in 2025, another charged after a traffic death in El Paso in 2010, a 19-year-old remembered in a Las Vegas obituary and a dentist in Norwalk. None of them can be connected to the young man who died in Pasadena. The record gives a street address on North Madison Avenue, which suggests he may have been hurt at or near a home, though it does not say whether he lived there.
Pasadena is a city of roughly 140,000 people at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is known around the world for the Rose Bowl and the Tournament of Roses Parade on New Year's Day, and it is home to the California Institute of Technology and the restaurants and shops of Old Pasadena. Beyond those landmarks it is a city of many neighborhoods, from large historic homes to modest bungalows and apartment buildings. North Madison Avenue is one of the city's residential streets. Pasadena has its own police department, which handles homicides within the city limits.
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 Alejandro Salcedo 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 knew Alejandro Salcedo, or who was on or near North Madison Avenue in Pasadena in early July 2004, 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).
