Erma Yolanda Castro was 26 years old when she died on Friday, Feb. 21, 2003, in Walnut Park, an unincorporated community in southeast Los Angeles County. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, she died of stab wounds at 7712 Seville Ave. Her death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department case.
Erma was working that morning as a secretary at a real estate office. According to a Los Angeles Times story published five days later, she "was working alone at 100% Realty Inc. on Friday morning when someone killed her." A customer who came into the office found her body at about 11:30 a.m., Sheriff's Lt. Joe Hartshorne told the newspaper.
The office had a security camera, but it did not help. The Times reported that "a camera was mounted outside the front door of the office at 7712 Seville Ave., but it wasn't working."
On Tuesday, Feb.
25, 2003, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to the person who stabbed her. The size of the reward, and the speed with which it was offered, suggest that investigators had no clear suspect in the first days after the killing and were hoping someone in the community would come forward.
The details that were made public leave many questions open. The record does not say whether anything was taken from the office, whether she knew the person who attacked her, whether anyone was seen entering or leaving the building that morning, or how long she had been alone before the customer arrived. It also does not say how long she had worked at the office or what her life was like outside it. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser for her could be found for this story, and searches for her name turn up only other women named Erma Castro in Texas, Missouri and elsewhere. She surely had family and friends in the area who remember her, but their memories have not entered the public record.
Walnut Park is a small unincorporated community in southeast Los Angeles County, lying between the cities of Huntington Park and South Gate. Because it is not a city, it is policed by the Sheriff's Department. It is a largely residential area of modest single-family homes and small apartment buildings, home to many working families, most of them Latino, with small businesses, offices and shops along its main streets.
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 Erma Yolanda Castro could be found in news archives or public records. More than 22 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who visited or passed the office at 7712 Seville Ave. on the morning of Feb. 21, 2003, or who knew Erma and the people around her, 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. At the time, the Times asked anyone with information to call homicide detectives at (323) 890-5500. 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).
