Jose Manuel Navarro was 18 years old when he died on Sunday, Sept. 14, 2008, in East Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 6019 Northside Drive. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report said that "a Latino man was stabbed to death in the 6000 block of East Northside Drive about 1:45 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 14." It added that "two other men, also Latino, were stabbed and taken to hospitals where they were listed in stable condition. The motive for the attacks was unknown. No suspect description was given." An update later reported that "the L.A. County coroner's office has identified the victim as Jose Manuel Navarro."
The report asked anyone with information to call the Sheriff's Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500.
The fact that three young men were stabbed at the same place in the middle of the night suggests that Navarro and the two survivors may have been together, perhaps at a gathering or on their way home, and that the violence may have grown out of a single confrontation. The record does not say so, however, and it does not say whether the attackers were strangers or people the victims knew, or how many attackers there were. The two men who survived may be among the few people who saw exactly what happened.
Beyond those facts, almost nothing about Jose Navarro has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for him, and no news outlet appears to have followed up on the case. He was only 18, barely out of high school age, and he surely had family and friends who remember him, but none of that has entered the public record. His name is also very common. It is shared by a well-known East Los Angeles boxer who fought on the 2000 United States Olympic team and by many other men across the country, none of whom has any connection to this death.
East Los Angeles is a large unincorporated community just east of Boyle Heights and the city of Los Angeles. It has long been one of the centers of Mexican American life in Southern California, known for its murals, its busy commercial streets such as Whittier Boulevard and its tight-knit residential blocks of small homes. Because it is unincorporated, police services there come from the Sheriff's Department, whose East Los Angeles Station serves the area.
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 Jose Manuel Navarro could be found in news archives or public records. More than 17 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was on or near Northside Drive in East Los Angeles in the early hours of Sept. 14, 2008, or who later heard talk about the stabbing of three young men there, 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 (8477).
