Carlos Meyan was 37 years old when he died on Sunday, Aug. 28, 2005, in Norwalk, a city in southeast Los Angeles County. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 12106 1/2 Foster Road. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau case.
The coroner's record describes him as a Latino man in his late 30s. Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Carlos Meyan has been made public. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for this story, and no news outlet appears to have reported on the death. He surely had family, friends or neighbors who remember who he was, but none of that has entered the public record.
His first name is very common, but his surname is not, and searches for the full name turned up nothing at all beyond the coroner's entry in the Los Angeles Times Homicide Report.
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 what time of day he was hurt, whether he died at the scene or later at a hospital, whether anyone saw what happened, or whether investigators ever identified a suspect.
The address the coroner gave, with its "1/2" designation, usually marks a second unit on a single lot, such as a back house, a converted garage or an upstairs apartment. That suggests he may have been found at or near a small residence on Foster Road, but the record does not say whether he lived there, was visiting, or was found outside.
At 37, Carlos would likely have been working and may have had a family of his own, though nothing in the record says so. The people who knew him would know where he worked, whom he lived with and whom he saw that weekend.
Norwalk is a city of roughly a hundred thousand people southeast of downtown Los Angeles. It grew quickly after World War II, when farmland and dairies gave way to tracts of single-family homes. The city is home to Cerritos College, a Metrolink commuter rail station, and large Los Angeles County government offices, including the headquarters of the county's Registrar-Recorder. Norwalk contracts with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department for police services, and sheriff's homicide detectives investigate killings in the city.
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 Carlos Meyan could be found in news archives or public records. More than 20 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who lived on or near Foster Road in Norwalk in late August 2005, who knew Carlos or the people he lived with, or who heard later talk about what happened to him, 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).
