Salvador Gonzalez was 22 years old when he died on Monday, August 12, 2002, in the Newhall area of Santa Clarita. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 24145 Race St. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department case.
The Los Angeles Times reported the killing the next day in a short news brief headlined "Man, 22, Found Stabbed to Death at His Home." It said he "was found dead of an apparent knife attack at his Newhall home on Monday morning." According to sheriff's Deputy Richard Pena, his body "was found about 7 a.m. by his mother in a shed at his home." A coroner's spokesman said he "had multiple stab wounds." The brief added that "investigators do not have a suspect," and asked anyone with information to call the sheriff's homicide line.
Those few lines leave much unanswered.
The report does not say when he was last seen alive, how long he may have been in the shed before he was found, whether anything had been taken or whether anyone in the household heard anything during the night. It does not say whether he knew his attacker, though a killing on the grounds of his own home suggests the person may have known where to find him.
Beyond that brief, no obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser for him could be found. Salvador Gonzalez is a very common name, and searches turn up many other men who share it, including a man arrested in an unrelated killing in Las Vegas, a tax preparer prosecuted in federal court and many men whose obituaries appeared in other states. None of them can be connected to this death.
Newhall is the oldest of the communities that make up the city of Santa Clarita, in the northern part of Los Angeles County beyond the San Fernando Valley. Its streets mix older homes with newer housing built as the Santa Clarita Valley grew into one of the county's largest suburban areas. The city contracts with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department for police services, and the department's Homicide Bureau investigated his death.
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 Salvador Gonzalez could be found in news archives or public records. More than 23 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who knew a 22-year-old man named Salvador Gonzalez in Newhall, or who was near Race Street in the hours before dawn on August 12, 2002, or the night before, 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).
