A woman was fatally stabbed Wednesday night, and a police search Thursday forced a nearby campus to temporarily relocate students.
SYLMAR, Calif. — A fatal stabbing at a Sylmar home rippled into Thursday morning when a police search for the suspect led to a neighborhood perimeter and the temporary relocation of students from a nearby elementary campus.
What began as a homicide investigation late Wednesday became a wider public safety event by daybreak. Police said a woman in her mid-30s was found stabbed at a residence near Beaver Street and Dronfield Avenue, and investigators soon focused on her boyfriend as the suspect. As officers searched nearby streets hours later, school routines changed, residents watched patrol cars line the block and the case took on a second layer: not just the killing itself, but the effect of the search on the surrounding community.
According to police, officers were called to the home shortly after 9 p.m. Wednesday on a report of a stabbing. They found the victim with multiple stab wounds and rushed her to a hospital, where she later died. Witnesses told officers the victim’s boyfriend had run from the area after the attack. By early Thursday, the search had widened well beyond the original address. Officers moved into the area near Hubbard Street and Eighth Street, roughly four miles from the scene, and began checking the neighborhood block by block. The suspect was later arrested there. Reports later identified him as Sergio Jimenez, 31, and the victim as Nancy De La Torre, 35.
As the search unfolded, one of the clearest public signs of the investigation was the impact on Gridley-Montanez Dual Language Academy. School officials said students and staff were moved to Maclay Middle School while police activity continued nearby. The district said extra support would be available, including school police presence and mental health resources for students affected by the incident. Parents arriving near the campus described a scene packed with officers, emergency vehicles and uncertainty about how long the disruption would last. The campus later reopened, but for several hours the homicide case altered the normal rhythm of a school morning and turned a police operation into a community event.
Police have described the case as domestic violence involving a couple who lived together. That detail gives the investigation a clearer frame, even as major questions remain unanswered. Authorities have not publicly said what argument or event may have led to the stabbing, whether there had been earlier warning signs, or what evidence detectives recovered inside the residence. Early reports placed the stabbing near Beaver Street and Dronfield Avenue, while other coverage referred to the broader 13000 block of Dronfield Avenue. In either version, the killing happened in a dense residential part of Sylmar where homes, apartments, schools and commuter routes sit close together, making the investigation highly visible almost at once.
After the arrest, the case entered a more formal stage. Police said Jimenez was booked on suspicion of murder and was being held in lieu of $2 million bail. Detectives are expected to continue interviewing witnesses and assembling the record prosecutors will use in deciding how the case proceeds. That work usually includes reviewing medical findings, examining the crime scene, tracing the suspect’s movements after the attack and locking down a minute-by-minute timeline. No fuller court calendar was included in the early public reports, and authorities had not yet released an expanded narrative of what happened inside the home before officers were called.
The neighborhood response mixed shock, sadness and the practical strain of a police perimeter during the morning rush. Residents saw officers posted on corners, families redirected from their normal school route and crime-scene tape stretching across an otherwise quiet area. A parent who spoke to local media said the scene was chaotic. That reaction fit the images broadcast from Sylmar: a residential community suddenly dealing with both a violent death and a search that lasted into daylight. By late Thursday, the suspect was under arrest and the school disruption had ended, but the emotional weight of the case was still hanging over the blocks around the scene.
Police said the investigation was continuing Thursday as detectives worked to complete interviews and prepare the case for prosecutors. The next milestone is expected to come when formal court proceedings are scheduled after booking.
Author note: Last updated April 10, 2026.