Roberta Orduno was 45 years old when she died on Friday, January 16, 2004, in Boyle Heights, on the east side of Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, she died of stab wounds at 1113 N. Stone St. Her death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department case handled by the Hollenbeck Division.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report described her as "a 45-year-old Latino female" who "died Friday, Jan. 16, after being stabbed in Boyle Heights." That short entry, drawn from coroner's records, is nearly all that has been made public about her death. The record gives a street address on North Stone Street, which suggests she may have been hurt at or near a home, though it does not say whether she lived there or who found her.
Beyond her name, her age and the place where she died, almost nothing about Roberta Orduno 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.
Roberta Orduno is not an extremely common name, but searches for it turn up only unrelated or unconfirmed records. People-search websites list a living woman of that name, now in her late sixties, among the relatives of several Los Angeles-area residents, and a 1971 Arizona newspaper mentions a Roberta Orduno in a list of new mothers. Neither can be connected to the woman who died on Stone Street.
Boyle Heights lies just east of the Los Angeles River, across the bridges from downtown. It is one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city, and over the past century it has been home to Jewish, Japanese American, Mexican American and other immigrant communities. By the early 2000s it was an overwhelmingly Latino, working class neighborhood of older houses, small apartment buildings, family businesses and busy commercial streets such as Cesar Chavez Avenue. It is known for Hollenbeck Park and for Mariachi Plaza. North Stone Street is one of the neighborhood's residential side streets. The area is patrolled by the LAPD's Hollenbeck Division.
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 Roberta Orduno 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 Roberta Orduno, or who was on or near North Stone Street in Boyle Heights in January 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 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).
