Jose De Jesus Herrera-Roldan was 28 years old when he died on Sunday, March 19, 2000, in East Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 4952 Whittier Blvd. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department case.
The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report recorded his death in a single sentence drawn from coroner's records. It described him as "a 28-year-old Latino male" who "died Sunday, March 19, after being stabbed in East Los Angeles." The address it gave is on Whittier Boulevard, the community's main commercial street, which suggests he may have been hurt in or near a business or on the street itself rather than inside a home, although the record does not say so.
The only other places his name appears online are websites that copied that same sentence.
Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Jose De Jesus Herrera-Roldan 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 full name, with its two surnames, is distinctive, yet it does not appear in any news story, death notice or court record that could be found.
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.
East Los Angeles is a large unincorporated community just east of the city of Los Angeles. It has no city government of its own, and the Sheriff's Department provides its policing. For generations it has been one of the best known centers of Mexican American life in the United States, a place of modest homes, small apartment buildings, churches, murals and family businesses. Whittier Boulevard is its main commercial corridor, lined with clothing stores, restaurants, bakeries, bars and shops, and it became famous in the 1960s and 1970s as a gathering place for car clubs and Sunday night cruising. In 2000 the boulevard was busy at almost every hour, which means that many people may have been nearby on the day he was hurt.
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 Jose De Jesus Herrera-Roldan 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 a 28-year-old man named Jose De Jesus Herrera-Roldan, or who worked, shopped or spent time near the 4900 block of Whittier Boulevard in March 2000, may hold information that could help. 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).
