John Doe #176, 26
Juan Jose Sibrian, 21
Juan Jose Sibrian, a 21-year-old male, died Monday, Feb. 12.
Samuel Antonio Rodriguez, 26
Samuel Antonio Rodriguez, a 26-year-old male, died Sunday, Feb. 11.
Rogelio Perez Ortega, 74
Rogelio Perez Ortega, a 74-year-old Latino male, died Friday, May 19, in Boyle Heights, according to Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner's records.
Heidi Kyle Von Beltz, 60
Heidi Kyle Von Beltz, a 60-year-old white female, died Wednesday, Oct. 28, in Woodland Hills, according to Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner's records.
Maria Delrefugio Chavez, 40
A Santeria spiritual leader who performed healing rituals at a Montebello business was named Tuesday as the suspect in the disappearance and killing of a woman six years ago.
Maria Delrefugio Chavez’s skeletal remains were found Aug. 7, buried behind a house in the 700 block of Elsberry Avenue in unincorporated Valinda in the San Gabriel Valley. The El Monte woman had been missing since 2009. (The L.A. County Sheriff's Department has placed a so-called security hold on the case, so authorities are withholding some information. Because of that, the Homicide Report is using the date Chavez's remains were found as her death date.)
Sheriff’s detectives said they believe Pablo Pinto Mata, 46, killed Chavez.
Chavez got to know Mata when she patronized Los Angeles Import, a botanica he owned in the 2400 block of Whittier Boulevard, Sheriff’s Department Lt. Vic Lewandowski said.
Mata acted as Chavez’s spiritualist, and though …
Jacob Aaron Burns, 21
Jose Luis Sanchez-Vasquez, 48
Jose Luis Sanchez-Vasquez, a 48-year-old male, died Friday, Feb. 10.
Lacrecia Lavera Hill, 24
Lacrecia Hill, a 24-year-old black woman, was found dead Friday, May 20, in the 900 block of East E Street in Wilmington, according to Los Angeles County coroner's records.
[Editor’s note: An earlier version of this post, based on information from the coroner's office, incorrectly named the victim as Latrecia Hill.]
Hill's body was discovered about 6:50 p.m. among recyclables delivered to a trash-sorting station, a Los Angeles Police Department spokesman said. After the finding, the coroner’s office responded to the station, as well as Harbor Area homicide detectives.
Coroner’s records show Hill’s body suffered unknown trauma.
According to KTLA, Hill's family said that she was living with her grandmother in Long Beach at the time of her death. She was last seen May 15 at her home around 10:30 a.m.
Hill told her family she was going to a party later that day. She called her …
Lynsie Ekelund, 20 [Updated]
The remains of Lynsie Ekelund, a 20-year-old white woman, were found Wednesday, Nov. 3, in a hillside in Santa Clarita, according to Los Angeles County coroner's records.
[Updated Nov. 12, 2:59 p.m.: An earlier version of this post, based on initial information from authorities, described the homicide victim as an "Undetermined Doe No. 19."
When the body was found, it was severely decomposed and coroner's officials had yet to identify the person. However, investigators believed the body was that of Ekelund, a woman who went missing nine years ago. Through dental records, coroner's officials confirmed Friday that the remains belonged to the woman.]
After years of denials, the main suspect in Ekelund's disappearance revealed he had killed the young woman after he attempted to rape her at his apartment.
Christopher McAmis, a 31-year-old white man, had long maintained that he dropped Ekelund off near her suburban northern Orange …
Natasha Dionne Nelson
The charred body of a female, identified only as Jane Doe #62, was discovered Monday, Oct. 11, according to Los Angeles County coroner's records.
No age, location or cause of death were immediately reported by the coroner.
Notes in the case indicated that a scan of the body did not find any projectiles. However, the body's condition made it difficult to determine whether trauma had occurred. The Times will report more details once they are available.
[Updated Oct. 15: Firefighters putting out a small brush fire north of Castaic near the 5 Freeway at Templin Highway discovered a body in the smoldering ashes about 5:39 a.m., authorities said.
Ed Pickett, a Los Angeles County Fire Department supervising dispatcher, said the fire was knocked down in about an hour.
Firefighters found the body as they were dousing embers, said Robert Diaz, a spokesman for the Fire Department.
Due to …
Jane Doe #77
A white woman, identified by the coroner only as "Jane Doe #77," was found dead Saturday, Nov. 7, in an alley in the 200 block of West 126th Street in Willowbrook, according to authorities.
She was discovered after Los Angeles County firefighters extinguished a fire at the scene and found her burnt body, according to a sheriff's news release.
Coroner's records describe her body as "charred" and list the death as a homicide. No age was given by the coroner.
-- Megan Garvey
Laylanee Melony Rivas
Adrian Alejandro Dimas-Maya
A male identified by the coroner only as "John Doe #85" died Saturday, May 30, after sustaining blunt force trauma, according to the Los Angeles County coroner.
No address, age or race was given for the male, whose body has been burned according to coroner's records.
Updated Jan. 18, 2018:The coroner has identified John Doe #85 as Adrian Alejandro Dimas-Maya