A man and a woman were found dead near the Riverside County courthouse early Thursday after police answered a person-down call in downtown Riverside and opened a homicide investigation that remained unsolved by the end of the day.
The killings quickly turned a central block of downtown into a taped-off crime scene in one of the city’s busiest government corridors. Riverside police said detectives were still trying to determine what happened, whether the two victims knew each other and who was responsible. Officers had not released the victims’ names, ages or hometowns by Thursday night, and investigators said they were still seeking surveillance video and witness accounts from around Main, 12th and Orange streets as they worked to build a timeline.
Police said officers were dispatched just after 2 a.m. Thursday, March 12, to the area near Main Street and 12th Street after a report of a person down and a possible stabbing. When officers arrived, they found two wounded people in separate but nearby locations. One body was on a sidewalk along the courthouse juror parking lot, and the second was found around the corner on another sidewalk. Riverside Fire Department paramedics responded and pronounced both victims dead at the scene. Detective Steven Espinoza, a department spokesperson, said the inquiry was assigned to the Robbery-Homicide Division. He said the first dispatch information included mention of a stabbing, but investigators had not yet publicly confirmed by later Thursday whether both victims were killed that way or whether a weapon had been recovered.
Officials also left several core questions unanswered. Espinoza said police did not yet know the relationship between the victims, had not identified a suspect and had not released any description of a person being sought. He said detectives were reviewing evidence from the block and trying to trace the victims’ last known movements before officers arrived. “My understanding is that they are looking for a suspect at this time,” Espinoza said in local television interviews, adding that investigators were seeking footage and any description that might help identify who was involved. He also appealed for help from the public, saying anyone who heard or saw anything in the courthouse area during the early morning hours should contact police. By late Thursday, no one had been taken into custody and no motive had been announced.
The setting added to the shock around the case. The sidewalks where the bodies were found sit beside one of downtown Riverside’s main civic centers, an area surrounded by court buildings, parking structures, offices and steady weekday foot traffic. After sunrise, the usual stream of workers, jurors and commuters instead found yellow tape, patrol vehicles and blocked streets. Broadcast helicopter video showed blue canopies over evidence areas and investigators marking the pavement while traffic was pushed away from the block. Orange Street between 10th and 12th streets was shut down for hours as detectives and crime scene crews moved between the two locations. The visible scale of the response suggested a broad evidence search even as police released only a limited public account of what had happened.
Some nearby workers said at least one of the victims appeared to be a familiar presence around the courthouse zone, though police had not confirmed that by Thursday night. A man who works in the area and declined to give his name told ABC7 that one victim had slept near the jury parking lot for years and was known to people nearby. “Everybody loves him,” the man said, adding that workers sometimes brought him blankets and food. Police did not confirm whether either victim was homeless or living in the downtown area, and they did not say how the two came to be near the courthouse at that hour. That gap between neighborhood impressions and official confirmation became one of the case’s most striking features as word of the killings spread through the business district.
The next formal steps are expected to come through the coroner and through the continuing homicide investigation. Riverside County coroner officials are expected to identify the victims once relatives are notified and to determine the official causes and manners of death. Those findings could answer one of the main questions still open Thursday, which is whether both people died from stab wounds or from some other type of trauma. Detectives are also expected to keep reviewing surveillance video from nearby government buildings, parking facilities and businesses, along with any witness statements gathered from the area. If police identify a suspect, prosecutors would then decide whether criminal charges are warranted. Until then, the case is likely to remain open while officers wait for forensic testing, autopsy results and additional evidence.
By Thursday evening, the story remained defined as much by what was unknown as by what had been confirmed. Police knew where the victims were found and roughly when the emergency response began, but they had not said what led to the violence, whether the man and woman were together before the attack or how the assailant may have left the area. In a district built around public offices and daily routine, that uncertainty gave the case an unsettled feel. Detectives spent the day trying to turn two bodies on two sidewalks into a clear sequence of events, a motive and, eventually, the name of the person they believe is responsible.
As of Thursday night, Riverside police had not announced an arrest, identified the victims or released a suspect description. The next major public developments are expected when the coroner identifies the dead and investigators provide an update on the evidence collected near the courthouse.
Author note: Last updated March 12, 2026.