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The daughters of US Army veterans whose bodies were found in a homeless camp on the edge of downtown are raising concerns about the handling of the mother’s case at the Los Angeles Police Department.
Lucrecia Macias Barajas, 46, was discovered on May 12 by one of her three daughters. Authorities say another body of an unidentified man was also found inside along with two living dogs.
Videos filmed by the resident showed her daughter crying to the ground after making a tragic discovery, and later begging the officer to remove her mother’s body.
LAPD characterized the death as a suspected drug overdose, and said that in the time of the incident it had not investigated the issue as a murder.
However, the daughters of the dead women say LAPD was too fast to eliminate foul play.
According to her daughter, in the other suspicious circumstances surrounding death, the entrance to the shelter structure was secured from the outside with a lock. They also said people in the area had heard a woman screaming for help a few hours before her body was found.
Hans Salinas, 25, told The Times that he and his girlfriend fell asleep in his car in a parking lot not too far from the shelter when the sound of the man and woman who woke him up around 3:30am on Sunday.
“She was screaming. “Help me, help, I need help,” he said.
Salinas said the screams were coming from the direction of a makeshift tent. He said he didn’t intervene because he was afraid he would be attacked.
It wasn’t the next day that he and his girlfriend, Josie Vega, 25, live in the area.
“To find that poor woman, such a mother,” Vega said. “And the day after Mother’s Day.”
The Flower and Candles Memorial honors Lucrecia Macias Barajas on Huntley Drive.
(Juliana Yamada/Los Angeles Times)
LAPD officials said the department is planning to investigate family concerns.
In a written statement to the Times, Los Angeles Councillor eunisses Hernandez’s office said Hernandez, a district that includes Westlake, is in touch with LAPD to “ensure that families get the answers they deserve.”
Barajas’ daughters called for the age to not be identified, saying they feared their safety.
The girls showed reporters a police detective card with the words “overdose investigation” written on it. They also said the app they use to track their mother’s phone showed that she had arrived at the camp two hours before Salinas heard the screams.
The same app tracked his mother’s phone down to the park three blocks away from the crime scene.
One of Lucrecia Macias Barajas’ daughters refused to quit her name, indicating that the last place her mother’s phone was blocked from the crime scene. .
(Juliana Yamada/Los Angeles Times)
The daughters also accused police of not securing a crime scene, allowing them to lack evidence, including tent-like structures and security cameras attached to their mother’s mobile phone.
Videos taken by residents and obtained by TV news station NBC4 show someone pulling down their cameras.
They also said the dog, a pit bull mix and shepherd mix, stayed with her body for at least eight hours after her body was discovered. The daughter who discovered her mother’s body said that the dog had been bitten by the body, but officials were unable to confirm this.
She said her mother’s body was not removed from the makeshift shelter until early Tuesday, when animal services appeared to take the dog away.
Animal Services in Los Angeles said they responded to the location and picked up two dogs held for evidence. They introduced further questions to police detectives investigating the case.
The homeless camp where the bodies were found was located near the end of Huntley Drive, a cul-de-dead cul-de-sac on the hill, less than 500 feet from the Miguel Contreras Learning Complex and within 500 feet across from the Los Angeles Unified School District’s administrative office.
Residents in the area said a man who lived in the shelter has been in the neighborhood for over three years and what they say is a “drive-thru” drug business.
They said that LAPD was raised in LAPD about a man and a makeshift home, but nothing was done.
At least two signs on the street indicate that this area is designated as a special enforcement zone of 41.18. This means people will ban camping in the area.
Residents said the man continued to remain in the area, continuing to sell drugs freely with little consequence from police and the city, despite signs that he was placed there in July 2022.
A Los Angeles County medical inspector said the man had not been identified and the autopsy of the two deceaseds has not yet been released.
On a recent afternoon, not too far from where people placed candles and flowers as a memorial to Barajas, a homeless man who refused to give his name said he knew the dead man as “Pablo” and said the woman who died in the same street in January was his girlfriend.
Prosecutors identified the woman who died in the RV fire as 23-year-old Angela Castillo.
Death brings new scrutiny to urban areas that have been plagued by gang violence, drug use, homelessness and systematic retail theft. City officials said progress has been made to address the issue. According to LAPD crime statistics, reported crimes have declined in recent months, except for robbery and break-in.
City officials said that although they received reports about the camp regarding the Miguel Contreras Learning Complex, people on Huntley Drive were not attracted to their attention by LAPD or LAUSD. They said the tent where the two bodies were found was on private property and hidden from sight. However, videos from various news stations show that the tent can be seen from the street.
Councillor Hernandez’s office said in a written statement that the death was not only “terrifying” but also a “unacceptable tragedy.”
“Our office works closely with the city’s department, outreach team and trusted community partners to ensure that those affected receive trauma-based, culturally competent support,” she writes. “This catastrophic loss highlights why there is a need for actual investment in harm reduction centered around dignity, public health, long-term stability, housing-first policies, and wrap-around services.”
This week, at Rampart Village, two miles west of Huntley Drive, Barajas’ daughters stood by each other, leaning against the beige walls of their apartment. The oldest of the three had a framed photo of her mother wearing a bracelet and a ring on every finger, and in a military uniform.
The daughters say their mother was born in Nicaragua and fled the country’s civil war in 1986 with two siblings and their parents.
The daughters said that their mothers were someone who cared deeply for others and often placed family and friends in front of them.
They followed in the footsteps of their father, who served in the Nicaraguan army, saying they served in the Army in the late 90s or early 2000s.
They believe that their mothers began using methamphetamine around 2017.
However, the daughters learned that their mother used the medication to maintain her energy as she was battling stage 3 lymphoma while caring for them and their three siblings.
“She didn’t say anything to us,” said her eldest daughter. “She kept the part quiet.”
“If I catch her sleeping a lot, she’ll say, ‘I’m sick.’ “She was always worried that she wouldn’t hurt us, not telling us the truth.”
The remains of the tent camp hang from the Huntley Drive branch on May 20, 2025 in Los Angeles.
(Juliana Yamada/Los Angeles Times)
The daughters say this was when her mother ended up on the streets and became obsessed with females. Barajas said he lost his job and home and moved with his parents. But she had to leave the house. Because the landlord said there were too many people living there. She said she left the child with her parents.
Barajas later calmed down and said on video, he returned with his family, but was helping the homeless people who were by her side during tough times.
It is a question the girls are still trying to answer that led her to a makeshift shelter on Westlake’s Sunday, but they believe that what happened there was more than just a drug overdose.
In the meantime, families continue to raise funds for GofundMe funeral costs, and are urging the city to do more for the homeless population and final camp.
“What we do is not bring her back, but we don’t want another girl to cry because her mom passed away in one of those places,” said one of the youngest daughters.
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