Hugo Castillo

Hugo Castillo was 28 years old when he died on Thursday, July 21, 2016, in Echo Park. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds in the park itself, near Lemoyne Street and Park Avenue. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles Police Department case under LAPD Rampart.

About 10:35 p.m., Castillo and a few friends were hanging out near the park's bathrooms when one of the friends went inside, Los Angeles Police Det. Ray Martinez told the Los Angeles Times. A man then came out of a stall and stabbed Castillo. Police believed the attacker "may have overheard the group talking and mistakenly thought that the men were making fun of him," Martinez said. The man ran north on Lemoyne Street. Castillo was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 11:25 p.m.

Police described the suspect as a light-skinned Latino man between 29 and 39 years old, about 5 feet 9 or 10, with a medium build, tattoos on both arms and a shaved or bald head. Police said he may have been homeless.

A friend who started a memorial fundraiser on GoFundMe told the story in the first person, as if in Hugo's own words. As the group waited for their last friend, he wrote, a stranger who had glared at them on his way out of a stall came back. "All he said was 'What did you call me?' and with no hesitation he hit me on my chest." After a short scuffle, someone shouted "He has a knife." The friend wrote that "the police have no leads aside from a description" and that Hugo "was at the wrong place at the wrong time." He left behind his wife, two children "who he loved more than anything in the world," two brothers, a sister, his mother "and plenty of friends who considered him a brother." In January 2017, a motion filed with the Los Angeles City Council also recounted the attack, stating that Castillo "was hanging out with friends in the north end of Echo Park, near the restrooms, when an individual approached him and punched him."

Echo Park, the park that gave the surrounding neighborhood its name, is one of the oldest and best-known parks in Los Angeles. It is built around Echo Park Lake, known for its lotus beds and paddle boats. The surrounding neighborhood is a mix of hillside homes, apartment buildings and small businesses.

By the mid-2010s Los Angeles was recording roughly 250 to 300 homicides a year, among the lowest totals in decades, yet many of those killings still went unsolved.

No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Hugo Castillo could be found in news archives or public records. More than nine years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. His friends saw the man who attacked him, and police released a description. Anyone who was at Echo Park Lake on the night of July 21, 2016, who saw a man run north on Lemoyne Street, or who knew a man matching that description who spent time around the park, 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. Rampart detectives could be reached at 484-3650 at the time of the death. Anyone with information can call the Los Angeles Police Department at 877-527-3247 or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.