One year ago today, 36-year-old Philip DiMartino was murdered inside his apartment at 138 Hermann Street.
Today we check back in on the case, and find an unfortunate lack of progress that has left DiMartino’s friends and family searching for answers.
DiMartino’s body was found on Monday, August 2nd, 2010 by a co-worker from real estate firm Archstone who had become concerned after DiMartino failed to show up for work.
The Medical Examiner’s Office determined that DiMartino had died from “sharp force injuries with blunt force injuries,” having suffered 48 stab wounds, mostly to his back. Police believe he had been killed three days earlier, on Friday, July 30th.
Police also later revealed that they had found two notes, written in Spanish, inside DiMartino’s living room. Based on the notes, they believe the suspect could be a hispanic male. They also have reason to believe the killer may have cut his own hand during the murder. Finally, police noted that they found no signs of forced entry at the apartment.
DiMartino’s sister Lisa tells Haighteration that Philip, who was gay, was last believed to have attended happy hour at popular Castro bar Badlands on Friday, July 30th. He may have attended another bar after that, Lisa says, but she can’t say with certainty.
SFPD spokesman Officer Albie Esparza tells us that although the case is still open and actively being investigated, they have no leads and no new information to report. A $25,000 reward authorized by the Mayor’s Office in January has apparently not produced results.
Now, a year after the murder, DiMartino’s family and friends are hoping to shine new light on the case.
We recently asked Lisa if she has any more of a sense of what happened that night.
“Unfortunately, no,” Lisa says. “That is why we want to keep this out there and hope that someone, somewhere might have information, no matter how small.”
Meanwhile, to mark the anniversary, some of Philip’s friends will be meeting at Dolores Park at 3pm this afternoon to begin a 3-hour memorial stroll through the city. Along the way, they’ll be canvassing the neighborhood from Hayes Valley to the Castro, posting flyers about Philip in the hopes of generating new leads.
If you have any information about the case, contact SFPD at:
SFPD Homicide Detail: (415) 553-1145.
Anonymous SFPD Tip Line: (415) 575-4444.
Or, text-a-tip to 847411 or (TIP411). Type “SFPD” and then your tip.
We’ll be sure to keep you updated with any further developments in the case.