Wilfredo Alex Portillo was 23 years old when he died on Thursday, September 13, 2001, in Van Nuys, in the San Fernando Valley. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 6216 Cedros Ave. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles Police Department's Van Nuys Division.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report recorded his death in a single sentence drawn from coroner's records. It described him as "a 23-year-old Latino male" who "died Thursday, Sept. 13, after being stabbed in Van Nuys." The entry gave a street address, but it did not say whether that was his home, the home of someone he knew or simply the place where he was found. No follow-up story appears to have been written.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Wilfredo Alex Portillo 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. The name Wilfredo Portillo is shared by a number of men in the United States and Central America, and searches turn up a business owner in El Monte, a donor to a family fundraiser and men named in obituaries in Texas and elsewhere, none of whom can be connected to this death.
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.
He died just two days after the September 11 attacks, when news coverage across the country was focused almost entirely on New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. A stabbing recorded in a single line of coroner's data would have drawn little attention in those days.
Van Nuys is one of the oldest and most central communities in the San Fernando Valley. It is home to the Valley's main civic center, with courthouses and city offices, and to Van Nuys Airport, one of the busiest general aviation airports in the world. Its neighborhoods mix single-family homes with large apartment complexes, auto shops and commercial strips. In 2001 it was policed by the Van Nuys Division.
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 Wilfredo Alex Portillo 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 lived on or near Cedros Avenue in Van Nuys in September 2001, or who knew a 23-year-old man named Wilfredo or Alex Portillo in the San Fernando Valley, 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 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).
