Edbert Ordonez was 26 years old when he died early on Sunday, Aug. 5, 2007, in Pomona, at the eastern edge of Los Angeles County. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 1597 Balboa St. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Pomona Police Department.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report gave only a brief account. It said that Ordonez, "26, a Latino man, was stabbed multiple times at 1597 Balboa St. in Pomona and died at 12:07 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 5." The time of death means he was attacked late on Saturday night or in the first minutes of Sunday, but the report did not say how long he survived after he was hurt or whether he died at the scene.
His name later appeared on community lists of Pomona homicide victims that residents shared online under the banner "Take Back Pomona."
Those lists give his name, his age, the date, the Balboa Street address and the single word "Stabbing," and they number him as the 17th homicide victim in Pomona in 2007. They say nothing about a suspect or an arrest.
A Find a Grave memorial lists an "Edbert 'Ebu' Ordonez" who lived from 1980 to 2007. The years fit a man who was 26 in August 2007, and Edbert Ordonez is an uncommon name, which suggests that the memorial is his, though the saved record does not confirm it. If so, "Ebu" may have been the nickname his family and friends used.
Beyond that, almost nothing about his life has been made public. No obituary or family fundraiser with details about him could be found, and no news outlet appears to have written about his death beyond the coroner's entry. He surely had family, friends and neighbors who remember who he was, but none of that has entered the public record.
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 whether anyone saw what happened, how many people were involved, or whether investigators ever identified a suspect.
Pomona is one of the older cities of the Pomona Valley, about 30 miles east of downtown Los Angeles near the San Bernardino County line. It is home to Cal Poly Pomona and to the Fairplex, where the Los Angeles County Fair is held each year. Much of the city is made up of working-class neighborhoods of single-family homes, small apartment buildings and busy commercial boulevards, and it has its own police department rather than relying on the Sheriff's Department.
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 Edbert Ordonez could be found in news archives or public records. More than 18 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who knew Edbert Ordonez, who spent time with him on the evening of Saturday, Aug. 4, 2007, or who was on or near Balboa Street in Pomona around midnight that night, 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 Pomona Police Department, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).
