Niccola Marasigan Ticzon was 19 years old when she died on Friday, June 7, 2002, in Harbor City, in the southern part of Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, she died of stab wounds at 1344 W. 251st St. Her death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department Harbor Division case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report described her as "a 19-year-old Asian female" who "died Friday, June 7, after being stabbed in Harbor City." Three days later the LAPD issued a news release under the headline "Domestic Dispute Results in Stabbing Death," which gave a fuller account of what happened.
According to that release, at about 6:50 p.m. on June 7, "Harbor Area patrol officers responded to the scene of a domestic dispute that occurred in the 1300 block of west 251st street."
When they arrived, they found that Niccola, whom the release described as "a 20 year old resident of Harbor City, had been stabbed and critically wounded." Fire department paramedics took her to a hospital in the area, where she died of her injuries. The small difference in her age between the police release and the coroner's record was never explained.
Harbor Homicide detectives who took over the case reached a conclusion quickly. The release said they "determined that" her boyfriend, "the father of her two children, had stabbed her during a domestic argument." The man had left before officers arrived, and police said his whereabouts were unknown. According to the LAPD, he was known to frequent the North Long Beach area and was last seen heading in that direction. Detectives asked anyone with information about where he might be to come forward.
That is where the public record stops. No later police release, news story or court record could be found showing that the man was ever found, arrested or charged. If he was caught, it was never reported in any source available for this story. Niccola was a young mother of two, still a teenager by the coroner's count, and her children would have been very small when she died. No obituary or memorial page for her could be found, and her family's memories of her have not entered the public record.
Harbor City is a neighborhood in the narrow strip of Los Angeles that runs south toward the port, lying between Torrance, Lomita and Wilmington. It is a mix of apartment complexes, modest single-family homes and commercial strips, and it is home to the Ken Malloy Harbor Regional Park, with its lake and wetlands. The area has long been home to a diverse mix of working families.
Homicides in Los Angeles rose sharply in the early 2000s, climbing past 600 in 2002, and detectives carried heavy caseloads. Many killings from those years were never solved.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Niccola Marasigan Ticzon 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 Niccola or her boyfriend in Harbor City or North Long Beach in 2002, or who knows where he went after that June evening, may hold information that could help detectives. 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).
