Antonio Ricardo Mancilla was 41 years old when he died on Friday, November 7, 2014, after being stabbed in the San Fernando Valley. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds, and the coroner's record listed the address as 11908 Balboa Blvd. in Granada Hills. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles Police Department's Devonshire Division.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report recorded his death in a single sentence drawn from coroner's records. It described him as "a 41-year-old white male" who "died Friday, Nov. 7, after being stabbed in Granada Hills."
A short City News Service report published by Patch the same morning filled in more of the story. "A man died today after being stabbed during a bar fight in Northridge police said," it began. According to the report, "The man was attacked around 11:55 p.m.
Thursday in Jug Jugs, a sports bar and Korean restaurant in the 9500 block of Balboa Boulevard, and he died at a hospital," said Los Angeles police Officer Drake Madison. The report identified him as "Antonio Mancilla, 41, of Sylmar," and added that "No description of the assailant was immediately available."
The two records do not agree on the location. Patch placed the attack at a bar in Northridge, while the coroner's entry gave an address farther north on Balboa Boulevard in Granada Hills. The reason for the difference was not explained, and it may be that one record reflects where he was hurt and the other where he died or was later taken. Either way, the attack began late on a Thursday night and he died after midnight, which is why his date of death is listed as Friday.
The report leaves the most important questions open. It does not say what started the fight, how many people were involved, whether he knew the person who stabbed him, or whether other customers saw what happened. A bar fight shortly before midnight would usually have had people nearby, which suggests there may have been witnesses, though none have been described publicly.
Beyond his name, his age and his hometown, almost nothing about Antonio Mancilla has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for this story, and searches for his name turn up only other men who share it in Texas, Illinois, Florida and elsewhere.
Balboa Boulevard is one of the main north-south streets of the western San Fernando Valley, running through Northridge and Granada Hills past shopping centers, restaurants and residential neighborhoods. Northridge is home to California State University, Northridge, and both communities are largely suburban, with tree-lined streets of single-family homes. Sylmar, where he lived, lies at the northern tip of the Valley.
By the mid-2010s Los Angeles was recording roughly 250 to 300 homicides a year, among the lowest totals in decades, yet many of those killings still went unsolved.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Antonio Ricardo Mancilla could be found in news archives or public records. More than 11 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was at the bar on Balboa Boulevard in Northridge on the night of November 6, 2014, or who knew Antonio Mancilla in Sylmar, 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 call the Los Angeles Police Department at 877-527-3247 or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.
