Francisco Leopoldo Duran Jr. was 25 years old when he died on Saturday, January 19, 2002, in Pomona, in the eastern part of Los Angeles County. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 310 E. Foothill Blvd. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Pomona Police Department case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report recorded his death in a single sentence drawn from coroner's records. It described him as "a 25-year-old Latino male" who "died Saturday, Jan. 19, after being stabbed in Pomona." The entry gave a street address on Foothill Boulevard, a busy commercial road, but it did not say whether that was a home, a business or simply the place where he was found. The "Jr." in his name shows that he shared his name with his father, but nothing else about his family is part of the public record.
No follow-up story about his death appears to have been published.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Francisco Leopoldo Duran Jr. 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. Francisco Duran is a very common name in California and across the Spanish-speaking world, and searches turn up many other men who share it, including a jockey, several older men in obituaries in other states and a Pacoima family raising money for a funeral. None of them can be connected to the young man who died in Pomona in 2002.
Because so little has been released, even the basic circumstances remain unknown to the public. The record does not say whether he was stabbed during a fight or a robbery, attacked by a stranger or by someone he knew, or hurt indoors or on the street. It does not say what time of day he was hurt, whether he died at the scene or later at a hospital, whether anyone saw what happened, or whether investigators ever identified a suspect.
Pomona is one of the larger cities of the eastern San Gabriel Valley, near the county line with San Bernardino County. It is home to the Fairplex, where the Los Angeles County Fair has been held for generations, and to Cal Poly Pomona. Foothill Boulevard crosses the northern part of the city and once carried the historic Route 66 through this part of the valley. Pomona has its own police department, which investigates killings inside the city limits.
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 Francisco Leopoldo Duran Jr. 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 was near the 300 block of East Foothill Boulevard in Pomona in January 2002, or who knew a 25-year-old man named Francisco Duran, 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 contact the Pomona Police Department, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).
