Just after midnight Friday, officers responded to a welfare check of a man down on the ground at the Courtyard at Central Parks apartments on north Cornelia and west Donner avenues.
When the police found the man, who was later identified Uvaldo Silva-Avalos, with multiple stab wounds.
Medics arrived shortly after and declared him dead at the scene.
Homicide detectives learned that Silva-Avalos, who was a tenant at the apartments, was going through the recycling when an unknown man stabbed him.
There is no suspect information and the reason for the murder is unknown.
Detectives are asking anyone with information to call the Fresno Police department.