Damon Eugene Bluthenthal

Case background and investigation

Damon Eugene Bluthenthal, a 50-year-old resident of San Pedro, was reported missing from his home on December 24, 2024. His family filed a missing persons report with the Los Angeles Police Department's Harbor Division on Christmas Eve, and for five days his whereabouts were unknown. On the morning of December 29, 2024, Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies responded to a parking lot at 1920 S. Acacia Avenue in Compton, near Artesia Boulevard and close to the Artesia station on the Metro A Line, where Bluthenthal was found unresponsive. Compton Fire Department paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.

The Los Angeles County medical examiner ruled the death a homicide. According to CBS Los Angeles, the coroner determined that Bluthenthal died of suffocation, and investigators also documented multiple stab wounds and physical injuries indicating he had been in a struggle. Some outlets, including MyNewsLA and ABC7, described him as having been stabbed to death. Sheriff's homicide investigators concluded that the parking lot was not where he was killed: Lt. Steve De Jong said the evidence showed Bluthenthal 'was murdered at a different location and discarded' on Acacia Street. Detectives have not disclosed a suspected motive, and no suspects have been publicly identified.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau took over the investigation, and by late October 2025 detectives were publicly asking for help, acknowledging that little information about the case had been released. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a $15,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible, following a motion associated with Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell, whose district includes Compton.

On June 30, 2026, eighteen months after the killing, sheriff's officials and Bluthenthal's family held a press conference to renew the appeal for tips and announce that the $15,000 county reward had been renewed. His mother, Jaqueline Bluthenthal, described losing her only child as 'the most difficult loss I have ever faced in my life,' telling reporters, 'I'm the mother whose heart will never mend,' and pleading with anyone who has information to come forward. 'Damon was murdered, and at the hands of his killers, he suffered,' she said. The case remains unsolved. Anyone with information is asked to contact the LASD Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500 — investigators named in press coverage include Detective Gail Durham and Sergeant Frank Alvarado — or to submit anonymous tips to Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).