Jonathan Flores was 30 years old when he was stabbed to death on Saturday, September 19, 2015, in El Monte. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds in the 12200 block of Magnolia Street. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department case, investigated together with the El Monte Police Department.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report described him as "a 30-year-old Latino" and gave a short account of how he was found. "El Monte police were called to the residential area about 2:21 a.m. A man walking by the location discovered the injured Flores and called the police." When officers arrived, "they found Flores lying on the sidewalk outside his home with stab wounds in his upper torso.
He was pronounced dead at the scene at 2:45 a.m."
The San Gabriel Valley Tribune reported that the passer-by notified police of a "person down," and placed the spot in the 12200 block of Magnolia Avenue, just east of Maxson Road. A sheriff's spokeswoman told the paper that "there is no suspect information and the motive is unknown."
Five days later, the Tribune published a few more details from Lt. Eddie Hernandez of the Sheriff's Homicide Bureau. "Jonathan Flores was with friends the night of Sept. 18 and reportedly told his girlfriend he would be home shortly," the paper reported. "But the 30-year-old Flores never showed up." Hernandez said the man who found him "looked closer and noticed Flores had been stabbed several times and wasn't breathing." The paper added that "investigators are trying to find out who Flores was with that night."
That last detail is the heart of the case as it stood in the public record. He was found just outside his own home, which suggests that he may have been attacked as he arrived, or very close to it, after leaving the people he had spent the evening with. The record does not say who those friends were, whether investigators ever identified them, or whether anything was taken from him.
No obituary or family fundraiser could be found that clearly belongs to him. Jonathan Flores is a very common name, and searches turn up many other men who share it, including a teenager killed in an unrelated case, none of whom are connected to this death.
El Monte is a city in the San Gabriel Valley, east of downtown Los Angeles, made up largely of working-class neighborhoods of single-family homes and apartments. Its civic motto calls it the end of the Santa Fe Trail, a nod to its history as a stopping place for travelers in the 1800s. The El Monte Police Department patrols the city, and as many smaller departments do, it asked the Sheriff's Homicide Bureau to help with the investigation.
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 Jonathan Flores could be found in news archives or public records. More than ten years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who spent the evening of September 18, 2015, with Jonathan Flores, or who was near Magnolia Avenue and Maxson Road in El Monte early the next morning, 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 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.
