Bernardo Salazar was 18 years old when he died on Friday, April 11, 2003, in Bellflower. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 9130 Alondra Blvd. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which handles homicide investigations in Bellflower.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report recorded his death in a single sentence drawn from coroner's records. It described him as "a 18-year-old Latino male" who "died Friday, April 11, after being stabbed in Bellflower." No follow-up story appears to have been written, and no sheriff's news release about the case could be found.
He did not die alone. According to the same coroner's records, a second young man, Jose Alfredo Madrid, 24, also died of stab wounds at 9130 Alondra Blvd. on the same day.
The shared address and date suggest that both were hurt in the same attack, although the record does not say so, and it does not say whether the two knew each other, whether they arrived together or whether anyone else was hurt.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Bernardo Salazar 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. Bernardo Salazar is also a common name, and searches turn up many other men who shared it, including a real estate agent who works in nearby Downey and men whose obituaries appeared in Colorado, Texas and Northern California. None of them can be tied to this death.
Because so little has been released, even the basic circumstances remain unknown to the public. The record does not say whether the stabbing grew out of a fight, a robbery or a dispute between people who knew each other, or whether it happened indoors or out on the boulevard. It does not say what time it happened, whether witnesses saw it or whether investigators ever identified a suspect.
He was barely an adult. At 18 he may only recently have left high school, and the people closest to him would most likely have been family members and friends his own age.
Bellflower is a city in southeast Los Angeles County, between Downey and Lakewood. It was once a farming and dairy community and is now a densely built city of homes, apartments and shopping streets. Alondra Boulevard is one of the main east-west roads through the area.
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 Bernardo Salazar could be found in news archives or public records. More than 22 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who knew an 18-year-old named Bernardo Salazar, or who was on or near Alondra Boulevard in Bellflower in April 2003, 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 contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).
