Jasir Ayuso

Jasir Ayuso was 23 years old when he died on New Year's Day, Monday, January 1, 2007, in Lake Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 39103 164th St. East. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau case.

The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report listed him as "a 23-year-old Latino male" who "died Monday, Jan. 1, after being stabbed in Lake Los Angeles." A later roundup on the Times' Homicide Report blog said he "was stabbed and clubbed to death at 39103 164th St. East and died at 8:37 a.m. Jan. 1." Years afterward, when the Times built an animated map of homicides in Los Angeles County, his was the first death shown: "The first on the map is Jasir Ayuso, 23, who died Jan. 1, 2007, after he was stabbed in Lake Los Angeles."

The Daily News, which gave his age as 25, reported that he "was found by his parents stabbed to death outside their Lake Los Angeles home in the 39100 block of 164th Street East." According to that report, "Ayuso's parents told deputies they last saw their son alive Sunday night. The couple left the home Sunday and returned Monday morning to find him dead in a car in the driveway." The paper asked anyone with information to call sheriff's homicide detectives.

Later that month, the Daily News returned to his death in a story about crime and policing in Lake Los Angeles. It said that "On Jan. 1, the body of Jasir Ayuso, a 25-year-old Latino man, was found stabbed and beaten at his home." Neighbors told the paper that "homicide investigators and sheriff's deputies swarmed the block the day the body was discovered, but they haven't seen any detectives visit the area since." Los Angeles County homicide Lt. Dan Rosenberg said detectives were actively investigating the case. One neighbor, who gave only his first name, Chris, told the paper: "You're lucky if you see a police car on this block once a year."

Lake Los Angeles is an unincorporated community in the Antelope Valley, in the high desert east of Palmdale. The Daily News described how it was named for a man-made lake "when it was first built by developers in the 1960s," and noted that "The lake has long since been allowed to evaporate, as has the vision of the town becoming a vacation wonderland." Homes there sit on large desert lots, and residents rely on the Sheriff's Department for law enforcement.

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 Jasir Ayuso could be found in news archives or public records. More than 18 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. A young man was killed in his family's driveway on the first morning of the year, while his parents were away. Anyone who was on or near 164th Street East in Lake Los Angeles on New Year's Eve 2006 or the morning of January 1, 2007, or who saw Jasir that Sunday night, may know something 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).