Salvador Ayala

Salvador Ayala was 26 years old when he was stabbed to death on Saturday, Oct. 31, 2009, in Highland Park. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 119 1/2 E. Avenue 45. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles Police Department's Northeast Division.

He was one of two men killed in the same attack. The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report said that "Ayala and Javier Mejia, a 43-year-old Latino, were drinking with a third person when they got into a dispute. The third person stabbed both men, said LAPD Det. Jose Carrillo." Mejia also died. "Authorities did not identify the assailant, who they said was still at large," the report said.

The detective's account suggests that the three men knew one another, or at least were comfortable enough to be drinking together, which may mean the killer was a friend, a neighbor or an acquaintance. But the record does not say what the argument was about, what time it happened, whether anyone else was there, or how the attacker left. It does not say whether detectives knew who the third man was and could not find him, or whether his identity was never learned.

Beyond his name, his age and the place where he died, almost nothing about Salvador Ayala 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. Salvador Ayala is also a common name, shared by a medical researcher, a fiction writer and many men named in obituaries across the country, none of whom has any connection to this death.

The fact that two men were stabbed to death by the same person and that the attacker was described as "still at large" makes the case stand out. No later report says that changed, and no court record connected to either death could be found.

Highland Park is a hillside neighborhood in northeast Los Angeles, along the Arroyo Seco between downtown and Pasadena. Its numbered avenues climb away from North Figueroa Street, the main commercial corridor, through blocks of Craftsman bungalows, small apartment buildings and older homes. For decades it was a working-class, largely Latino community, and a light rail line connects it to downtown.

Homicides in Los Angeles fell steeply in the late 2000s and early 2010s, yet many killings from those years were never solved.

No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Salvador Ayala could be found in news archives or public records. More than 16 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who knew a 26-year-old man named Salvador Ayala or his companion Javier Mejia, or who was near the 100 block of East Avenue 45 in Highland Park on Oct. 31, 2009, may hold information that could help. Someone who saw a man leaving the area that day, or who heard about an argument among friends that turned deadly, could help detectives. 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).