Teresa Herrera Gudino was 25 years old when she died on Sunday, July 17, 2005, in Westmont, an unincorporated community in South Los Angeles County. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, she died of stab wounds at 1258 W. 87th St. Her death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report described her as "a 25-year-old Latino female" who "died Sunday, July 17, after being stabbed in Westmont." That short entry is nearly all that has been made public about her death.
Beyond her name, her age and the place where she died, almost nothing about Teresa Herrera Gudino 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.
She surely had family, friends or neighbors who remember who she 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 she was stabbed during a fight or a robbery, attacked by a stranger or by someone she knew, or hurt indoors or on the street. It does not say what time of day she was hurt, whether she died at the scene or later at a hospital, whether anyone saw what happened, or whether investigators ever identified a suspect.
Teresa Gudino is not a common name, but searches did turn up a woman of that name who organized and donated to fundraisers for other families many years later, as well as Gudino family obituaries in other states. None of them can be connected to the young woman who died in Westmont. At 25, she very likely left behind parents, siblings, friends and possibly children of her own, who still remember her.
The record gives a street address, which suggests she may have been hurt at or near a home, though it does not say whether she lived there. When a young woman is stabbed at a residence, detectives often look first at the people closest to her, but nothing has been made public about whether that happened here or whether anyone was ever questioned.
Westmont is an unincorporated area of Los Angeles County, governed by the county rather than by a city and patrolled by the Sheriff's Department. It lies just south and west of the city of Los Angeles, near Inglewood, and is made up mostly of small single-family homes and apartment buildings along a grid of numbered streets. Vermont Avenue and Normandie Avenue are among its busiest roads. West 87th Street is a residential street in that grid.
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 Teresa Herrera Gudino 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 knew Teresa Gudino, or who was on or near West 87th Street in Westmont in mid-July 2005, may hold information that could help investigators. 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).
