Ronnie Charles Aparicio was 45 years old when he died on Friday, Nov. 10, 2000, in Palms. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 3817 Vinton Ave. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles Police Department's Pacific Division.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report recorded his death in a single sentence drawn from coroner's records. It described him as "a 45-year-old Latino male" who "died Friday, Nov. 10, after being stabbed in Palms." The entry gave an address on Vinton Avenue, but it did not say whether that was where he lived. No follow-up story appears to have been written.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Ronnie Charles Aparicio 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. Several men named Ronnie Aparicio appear in obituaries and records from Florida, Ventura County and elsewhere, and none of them can be tied to this death. A people-search listing connects the full name Ronnie Charles Aparicio to relatives in Los Angeles, which suggests he may have had family in the area, but that listing does not say anything about his life or death.
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.
Palms is one of the older neighborhoods on the Westside of Los Angeles, sitting between Culver City, Mar Vista and Cheviot Hills, just south of the Santa Monica Freeway. Over the decades many of its original houses were replaced by apartment buildings, and today it is one of the most densely populated parts of the Westside, home to students, young workers, longtime renters and families from many backgrounds.
In a neighborhood where so many people rent, residents often move away within a few years. People who lived on Vinton Avenue in November 2000 may now be scattered across the region, but some may remember the night police came to that block.
Homicides in Los Angeles rose sharply in the early 2000s, climbing past 600 in 2002, and detectives carried heavy caseloads. Many killings from those years were never solved.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Ronnie Charles Aparicio could be found in news archives or public records. More than 25 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who knew Ronnie, who lived near the 3800 block of Vinton Avenue in November 2000, or who heard talk afterward of a stabbing in Palms, 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).
