Fernando Mandujano Rosas was 27 years old when he died on Sunday, March 12, 2000, in Long Beach. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at Anaheim Street and Chestnut Avenue. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Long Beach 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 27-year-old Latino male" who "died Sunday, March 12, after being stabbed in Long Beach." The location it gave is a street intersection rather than a house number, which suggests he may have been hurt outdoors, on or near the street, although the record does not say so.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Fernando Mandujano Rosas 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. Fernando Rosas is a common name, and searches turn up many other men who share it, including a Portuguese historian, scientists, a San Diego teenager killed in 2018 and men whose obituaries were published in Texas, Washington and New York. None of them has any known connection 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.
Long Beach is the second largest city in Los Angeles County, a port city with its own police department, and Anaheim Street is one of its major east-west commercial streets. The corridor is lined with small businesses, restaurants, auto shops, churches and apartment buildings, and it runs through some of the city's most densely populated neighborhoods. Chestnut Avenue is a residential street a short distance north of downtown, and the blocks around the intersection are filled with older homes and small apartment buildings where many working families live close together. On a weekend the area is busy with people walking, shopping and waiting for buses.
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 Fernando Mandujano Rosas 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 27-year-old man named Fernando Mandujano Rosas, or who lived, worked or spent time near Anaheim Street and Chestnut Avenue in Long Beach in March 2000, may hold information that could help. A neighbor, a shop worker or a friend who heard about a fight or an attack that weekend may remember something useful. 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 Long Beach Police Department's Homicide Detail at 562-570-7244, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).
