Moises Vargas was 25 years old when he died on Sunday, Jan. 1, 2006, New Year's Day, in the Palms neighborhood on the Westside of Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 10900 Charnock Road. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department Pacific Division case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report described him as "a 25-year-old Latino male" who "died Sunday, Jan. 1, after being stabbed in Palms." No news story about the killing could be found, but his family did place a death notice. A notice published through the Los Angeles Times and Legacy gives his dates as "Oct. 20 1980 - Jan. 1, 2006," which matches his age exactly, and announces a viewing at Holy Cross Mortuary in Culver City on Jan. 17, 2006, from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m.
A message left in the memorial guestbook remembered him warmly. "Moises was a very caring person," it said. "He had such a big heart."
Those few words are the only public description of who he was, but they suggest a young man who was loved and who had people around him who wanted others to know it. He had turned 25 just over two months before he died.
Beyond the notice and that tribute, little has been made public. The record does not say whether he lived on Charnock Road or was visiting, whether he was stabbed during a fight or a robbery, attacked by a stranger or by someone he knew, or whether he died at the scene or later at a hospital. It does not say whether anyone saw what happened or whether detectives ever identified a suspect.
Palms is one of the oldest neighborhoods on the Westside, founded in the 1880s and later absorbed into the city of Los Angeles. Today it is a dense, busy area of apartment buildings and older homes, sitting between Culver City and West Los Angeles near the Santa Monica Freeway. It is home to many young adults, students and working families, and its streets are lined with closely packed buildings where neighbors can often hear what happens outside.
He died on New Year's Day, at the end of a night when many people are out late celebrating, visiting friends or gathering at parties. Whether that played any part in what happened is not known, but it means there may have been more people awake and outdoors than on an ordinary night.
Los Angeles still recorded roughly 480 to 520 homicides a year in the mid-2000s, and many of those killings were never solved.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Moises Vargas could be found in news archives or public records. More than 19 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was in Palms near Charnock Road on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day 2006, or who knew Moises and the people he spent time with that holiday, 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 call the Los Angeles Police Department at 877-527-3247 (877-LAPD-24-7), or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).
