Marilea Magana Morales

Marilea Magana Morales was 13 years old when she died on Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2000, in Bell Gardens. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, she died of stab wounds at 6109 Gallant Street. Her death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's 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 13-year-old Latino female" who "died Tuesday, Oct. 17, after being stabbed in Bell Gardens." The entry gave a residential street address, but it did not say whether that was her home, the home of someone she knew or simply the place where she was found. The only other places her name appears online are websites that copied that same sentence. The stabbing death of a 13-year-old girl is rare in any community, and the absence of any news story about it is striking.

Beyond her name, her age and the place where she died, almost nothing about Marilea Magana Morales 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. She was a young teenager, likely still in middle school, and classmates, teachers and neighbors from that time would now be adults in their late thirties.

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.

Bell Gardens is a small, densely populated city in southeast Los Angeles County, along the Los Angeles River and the Long Beach Freeway corridor. It is made up mostly of modest single-family homes, small apartment buildings and busy commercial strips, and it has long been home to many working families. The city is perhaps best known outside the area for its large card casino. In 2000 it was a place where many families lived close together, where children walked to neighborhood schools and where news of a young girl's death would likely have spread quickly among neighbors.

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 Marilea Magana Morales 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 a 13-year-old girl named Marilea Magana Morales, or who lived near the 6100 block of Gallant Street in Bell Gardens in October 2000, may hold information that could help. A former classmate, a neighbor or a relative who has carried a memory for many years may have the piece that investigators need. 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 Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).