Elmer Rodas Garcia, 51, was found before dawn on May 27, 2025, on an embankment off the southbound San Diego Freeway at Manhattan Beach Boulevard in Lawndale. California Highway Patrol officers were notified around 3:38 a.m.; Los Angeles County Sheriff’s units and Redondo Beach police also responded before the CHP took investigative purview. His body lay just beyond the guardrail near a cluster of tents alongside heavy freeway traffic.

The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner identified him by the afternoon of May 27 and ruled the death a homicide caused by a gunshot wound to the back; records referenced case number 2025-08741 and noted the formal pronouncement occurred on Tuesday. Authorities did not disclose his city of residence, and the location where he was found remained the investigation’s focal point rather than a known home address. As of the identification announced on June 2, 2025, no suspect had been publicly named, no arrest announced, and no description tied to the shooting released. Relatives organized a fundraiser in Spanish to help repatriate his remains.

Does anyone who frequented the 405 corridor near Manhattan Beach Boulevard around late May 2025 have information that could help investigators?