Karla Martinez was 3 years old when she died on Friday, May 28, 2004, in Highland Park. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, she died of stab wounds at 5640 Ash St. Her death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department case, handled by the department's Juvenile Division.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report recorded her death in a single sentence drawn from coroner's records. It described Karla as "a 3-year-old Latino female" who "died Friday, May 28, after being stabbed in Highland Park." The same report lists a second child, Roberto Martinez, 2, who died the same day at the same address on Ash Street. The shared surname, address and date suggest the two children were siblings or lived in the same household, but the public record does not say so.
Beyond her name, her age and the place where she died, almost nothing about Karla Martinez has been made public.
No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found, and no news story about the deaths could be located in the material reviewed for this case. Martinez is one of the most common surnames among Latino families in Los Angeles, and searches for both names are crowded with adults who share them, none of whom can be tied to these children.
Because so little has been released, even the basic circumstances remain unknown to the public. The record does not say who was in the home, whether anyone else was hurt, what led to the attack, whether a suspect was identified, or whether either child died at the scene or later at a hospital. A child this young could not have been involved in any dispute, and the deaths of two small children at one address point to an attack inside a home, though that has not been confirmed in anything public.
Highland Park is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Los Angeles, set in the hills of the northeast part of the city along the Arroyo Seco. It grew up in the late 1800s and early 1900s and is known for its Craftsman and Victorian houses, its tree-lined residential streets and commercial corridors along Figueroa Street and York Boulevard. For decades it was home to many Latino working families, and in the years after 2004 it became one of the most closely watched examples of gentrification in the city.
At 3, Karla had barely begun her life. Whatever happened on Ash Street that day took away every year she might have had.
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 Karla Martinez 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 the Martinez family on Ash Street in Highland Park, or who remembers what happened there in late May 2004, 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).
