$15k reward renewed in 2024 Compton homicide investigation as family pleads for answers

A $15,000 reward has been renewed as Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department detectives continue working to locate a suspect wanted for the 2024 homicide of 50-year-old Damon Eugene Bluthenthal. 

The investigation began back on Dec. 29, 2024, when deputies were called to a parking lot near the Metro station in the 1900 block of S. Acacia Street, near Artesia Boulevard, for reports of an unresponsive person. Upon arrival, deputies and first responders pronounced Bluthenthal dead at the scene. 

During a news conference on Tuesday, LASD officials said that their investigation revealed that Bluthenthal was "murdered at a different location and discarded" on Acacia Street. 

Investigators say that Bluthenthal had been reported missing to the Los Angeles Police Department five days before his body was found. He was last seen at his San Pedro residence, deputies said. During their investigation, detectives said that it was determined by the Los Angeles County Coroner that Bluthenthal's primary cause of death was suffocation, but that he also had "physical injuries indicative of someone who had been in a struggle" and that he was stabbed multiple times. 

During the news conference, Bluthenthal's two children delivered a plea for justice via video, while his mother spoke directly to the crowd. 

"This has been the most difficult loss I have ever faced in my life. Damon was murdered, and at the hands of his killers, he suffered during his final moments," Jacqueline Bluthenthal said. "It shatters me to realize that I couldn't help him when he needed me the most. My son was my baby boy. My only child. No mother should endure the agony of cremation and/or burying their child."

She said that Damon was a remarkable man who didn't deserve what happened to him.

"Please, please. If anyone has any information, please come forward," she said.

The reward was approved by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. 

Anyone with more is asked to contact LASD's Homicide Bureau investigators at 323-890-5500. Anonymous tips can also be submitted to Crime Stoppers by calling 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).