Delia Carrillo Robles was 33 years old when she died on Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2001, in Pomona. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, she died of stab wounds at 616 E. Fairfax Lane. Her death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Pomona Police Department case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report recorded her death in a single sentence drawn from coroner's records. It described her as "a 33-year-old Latino female" who "died Wednesday, Nov. 7, after being stabbed in Pomona." It gave no other details about what happened. The record lists a street address rather than an intersection, which suggests she may have been hurt at or near a home, although it does not say whether she lived there. No follow-up story about her death appears to have been published.
Beyond her name, her age and the place where she died, almost nothing about Delia Carrillo Robles 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. Robles is a common surname, and searches for her name turn up a woman from Corona who was killed by a defective air bag in 2016 and women whose obituaries were published in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and Indiana. None of them can be connected to the woman who died in Pomona in 2001.
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.
Pomona is one of the older cities of eastern Los Angeles County, near the San Bernardino County line. It grew up around citrus groves and the railroad in the late 1800s and later became a manufacturing and residential center. Today it is a city of about 150,000 people, home to the Fairplex, where the Los Angeles County Fair has been held for generations, and to California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. Its neighborhoods are largely made up of modest single-family homes and apartment complexes, and many of its residents are working families. The city has its own police department, which investigates killings within its borders.
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 Delia Carrillo Robles could be found in news archives or public records. More than 24 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was near the 600 block of East Fairfax Lane in early November 2001, or who knew a 33-year-old woman named Delia Carrillo Robles in Pomona, 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).
