Michael Ray Avila was 17 years old when he died on Thursday, Jan. 13, 2000, in Pico Rivera. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds on a bike path east of the San Gabriel River. His 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 only that he was "a 17-year-old Latino male" who "died Thursday, Jan. 13, after being stabbed." More detail came 15 years later, when the Whittier Daily News revisited the case. The paper reported that "a passerby discovered the body of Michael Ray Avila lying on a bike path east of the San Gabriel River the morning of Jan. 13, 2000." He was a Santa Fe Springs resident, and the coroner's office told the paper that he "died of multiple stab wounds."
According to Sgt. Paul Mondry of the Sheriff's Homicide Bureau, Avila had been seen with several people on Jan.
12 at Los Nietos Park on Charlesworth Road in Santa Fe Springs. Whittier police stopped Avila and others at the park at 5:15 p.m., and the group, which included both males and females, later left. About eleven hours later a resident called 9-1-1 after finding him on the bike trail about a mile north of Telegraph Road. Whittier police first handled the case because the spot was thought to be in Santa Fe Springs, and the Sheriff's Department took over when it turned out to be in Pico Rivera.
Mondry said the stabbing "doesn't appear to be a random attack." He told the paper, "I believe more than one person was there," adding that Avila might have been able to run if there had been just one attacker. Detectives interviewed the young people seen with him at the park, and they were not arrested. In 2015, Mondry said he had received information that "identified people possibly involved in the stabbing," and that evidence would be tested with current DNA technology. "We are trying to confirm via evidence who was involved," he said. The paper reported that Avila's mother had died. His name also appears in a 2021 newsletter list published by a chapter of Parents of Murdered Children.
Pico Rivera is a city of about 60,000 people in the southeast San Gabriel Valley, set between the Rio Hondo and the San Gabriel River. The river is bordered by a long paved bike path that runs through several cities, with homes, parks and industrial land close by. Santa Fe Springs and Whittier lie just to the south and east.
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 Michael Ray Avila 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 was at Los Nietos Park on the evening of Jan. 12, 2000, or who knew the young people Michael Ray Avila spent time with that winter, 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 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).
