Pasqual Santiago Cruz was 29 years old when he died on Sunday, Dec. 3, 2000, in Koreatown. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 256 S. Serrano Ave. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles Police Department's Wilshire Division.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report recorded his death in a single sentence drawn from coroner's records. It described him as "a 29-year-old Latino male" who "died Sunday, Dec. 3, after being stabbed in Koreatown." The entry gave a street address on South Serrano Avenue, 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 Pasqual Santiago Cruz 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. Cruz is one of the most common surnames in the Spanish-speaking world, and searches for his name turn up a restaurant owner in Baja California, a husband named in Chicago-area obituaries and other men in other states, 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.
Koreatown sits just west of downtown Los Angeles and is one of the most densely populated neighborhoods in the city. Wilshire Boulevard runs through it, lined with office towers, churches and the grand buildings of an earlier era, while the side streets are packed with apartment buildings, many of them older walk-ups and courtyard complexes. Korean restaurants, markets and businesses give the area its name, but a large share of its residents are Latino families and working people from Mexico and Central America.
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 Pasqual Santiago Cruz could be found in news archives or public records. More than 25 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who knew Pasqual, who lived on or near the 200 block of South Serrano Avenue in December 2000, or who heard talk of a stabbing in Koreatown on the first weekend of that month, 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).
